Jeff Zillgitt

USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI — Instead of looking at the box score for superficial answers, Paul George and the Indiana Pacers need a mirror and extra time in the video room.

In the aftermath of the Miami Heat's convincing 102-90 victory against the Pacers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, George spit out irrational, likely fine-inducing comments and neglected to take responsibility for Indiana's substandard defensive performance.

"Looking at the stat sheet, we outplayed them," George said.

At that point, George jumped in head first into an alternate reality, pinning Indiana's loss on the referees.

"You got to give them credit," he said. "They won this game at the free throw line. They really just were able to get to the line more than we were, but I thought we outplayed them tonight."

This is the second consecutive game George has blamed referees. After Miami's Game 3 victory, the All-Star small forward said he wasn't impacted by the effects of a concussion from Game 2 because "I spent most of my night on the bench" in foul trouble. He added, "It's hard to make a couple of shots and then get sent to the bench, especially when — I won't get into it. It's tough."

Those passive-aggressive comments slipped undetected for the most part. He was just plain aggressive after Game 4 in which the Heat took 34 free throws and made 30 while the Pacers were 11-of-17.

"I mean, you can't tell me we don't attack the basket as much as they attack the basket. You can't tell me we're not aggressive. Maybe we're too aggressive," George said.

Then, he dropped the line that could deduct $25,000 from his bank account: "Maybe this was just home cooking," he said.

George had more. "(It's) just demoralizing when a game is lopsided," he said. "I mean, I'm sorry to say, but that was the case, again. How rare is it we shoot 50%, turn the ball over around 13 or so times, outrebound a team and lose a ball game? This one? I thought we did a great job. I just thought we did a great job. We rallied at the end to try to make a push. But, again, they made 30 free throws, and that put them over the edge."

When Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were told what George said, Wade answered first. James picked up the box score and scanned it. Wade said a few words. But eyes were on James. One could sense the thought process cranking in James' brain.

As soon as Wade finished, James chimed in.

"We did only have five turnovers, seven steals and 20 points off their turnovers," James said.

Then, he spoke the truth.

"That has nothing to do with the free throw line," he said.

Maybe when George reviews video and sees how the Pacers were a step late on getting to Heat players cutting to the basket, late closing out on shooters and allowing James and friends too many easy shots inside the paint, he'll back away from his flawed analysis. How about no points from Roy HIbbert? Lance Stephenson didn't score his first point until 4:34 remained in the third quarter.

The Pacers are consumed by frustration and mishandling the situation both on and off the court. Stephenson made a giant mistake by saying James' trash-talk aimed at Stephenson was a "sign of weakness."

James hammered the Pacers with 32 points, 10 rebounds and five assists and refused to get involved in a back-and-forth before or after the game.

Did Stephenson's comments provide motivation?

"No, I don't need any motivation. I'm motivated enough to try to get back the Finals," said James, whose Heat are one win away from a fourth consecutive trip to the championship round. "That's motivating enough, and being one of the leaders of this team, I have to do my job. I have to do my part to help us win. That's what it's all about."

The moment to tear into Stephenson was there, and James declined.

George took care for it James, calling out Stephenson.

"Sometimes you've just got to watch what you say. ... We've just got to be smarter with situations and just voicing our opinion sometimes," George said. "When you make comments regarding trash talking and just being caught up between another player in a matchup, you got to bring it. You got to bring it.

"I'm pretty sure a lot of people were going to be tuned in to see what Lance was going to do because of what he said. Maybe there's a lot of pressure on him. And everybody goes through situations where you just struggle. Just because of what was said and what was done, it just wasn't a good time for him."

It's not a good time for any of the Pacers, George included, despite his team-high 23 points.

The Heat understand what it takes to win on the court and why what's said makes no difference. Stephenson wanted to play mind games with the Heat and James, and Miami isn't a team that does that.

"We played (the Boston) Celtics a lot, and they made it more than just about basketball, and they beat us in the mental game as well as the physical game," Wade said. "We learned that the only way we're going to beat them is if we beat them playing the game of basketball. They're great at that mental game.

"So from that point, we try to leave that alone. We try to beat you at basketball. We don't go into the back‑and‑forth talking because that's not what we're here for, and that's not going to win us a game. So we try to beat you at basketball."

Maybe the Pacers will learn that one day. Until then.