Paul George thinks he could have won the NBA Championship with the Indiana Pacers had he not gotten injured
Paul George was one of the best players in the NBA during his time with the Indiana Pacers. The Los Angeles Clippers forward, who is about to enter his 14th NBA campaign, spent the first seven seasons of his career in Indiana.
There, he was terrific. The Pacers reached the Eastern Conference Finals twice (2013 and 2014) while George was a four-time All-Star with the franchise. He ascended from late lottery pick to All-NBA talent in the Circle City.
In both instances that the blue and gold reached the Conference Finals with George on the roster, they ran into the Miami Heat. At the time, the Heat had LeBron James, Dwanye Wade, and Chris Bosh on the roster, and the Pacers were unable to take them down in either series. They fell just short of the finals.
In 2014-15, James left Miami to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that changed the dynamic of the Eastern Conference. It was more open. Unfortunately for the Pacers, George broke his leg playing for Team USA in the summer of 2014, and they never got a chance to capitalize on an unstable conference.
George recently sat down with Stephen A. Smith for an interview, and the star wing revealed that he believes Indiana could have won a title had he not gotten injured.
"After the year we lost to Miami, in Indiana. That summer is when I broke my leg. I was talking to somebody yesterday, I was talking to MIchael Beasley about this yesterday. That was the most devastating part of my career from a standpoint of, I felt after that year (2014) I had a great run playing against Miami, playing against [LeBron]. I felt like going into that next year, I was going to play with that FIBA team, I was going to learn from other stars, I was going to take stuff from them. Add value to myself going into the next season. I was really looking forward to that summer of getting better and finally figuring it out, how to get over the hump with my team in Indy," George said before noting that his injury took the life out of the team.
"I honestly believe that we would have won a championship had I been healthy going forward at some point in Indiana," he told Smith on the Stephen A. Smith Show.
That year, the Pacers went 38-44 with George playing just six games. He averaged 8.8 points per game.
To this day, George has not made the NBA Finals despite being one of the NBA's best players in some seasons. He chalked that up to bad luck when asked by Smith.
"I think the only thing that I can answer to that is just unfortunate events. And for me, it's just been injuries," he said of not having made the finals. "Every chance and opportunity that I've had since Indiana has fallen short because of an injury."
George has averaged 21.3 points per game in the playoffs during his career, including 22.6 in the year prior to his injury. Despite coming up short, he was a strong performer on the big stage. The Pacers just couldn't take down James and co.
"For me, it's just been injuries that plagued a lot of my postseasons," he said. The whole interview can be found here.
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