Do you remember what Paul George was like before his gruesome injury?
Do you remember the 2013 playoffs, when he showed everyone how much better he was than supposed MVP candidate Carmelo Anthony?
Do you remember how he accepted and met the challenge of defending LeBron James in those Pacers-Heat playoff wars? And how much respect James had for him?
Well, Paul George isn’t that player anymore. He’s better.
A better scorer. A better shooter. A better rebounder. A better playmaker. All while giving away nothing on the defensive end, prompting Pacers coach Frank Vogel – with an understandable level of bias – to call George “the best two-way player in the game.”
And Vogel’s Pacers are better, too, at least aesthetically. No more ground and pound. No more standing around on offense. No more 85-81 marches through the mud.
A roster overhaul and a commitment to small ball has the Pacers at 11-5, second in the Eastern Conference. They have won five in a row and 11 of 13 since an 0-3 start. Now playing at a top-10 pace, all of their offensive numbers are up from last season. And their defense hasn’t suffered at all, actually improving in some areas.
But the primary reason the Pacers are contenders in the East again is George, whom many wondered if he would ever regain his All-Star form after his lower leg snapped in a Team USA scrimmage in August 2014.
Without George last season, the Pacers were unwatchable. They lost six in a row after a season-opening win over Philadelphia and never really approached .500 again. Underrated point guard George Hill missed half the season. New arrivals Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Miles struggled to make plays for plodders David West, Roy Hibbert and Luis Scola.
George returned late in the season, playing the final six games in a last-gasp effort to make the playoffs that came up short. He showed some brief flashes of his former self but for the most part resembled someone looking for a light switch in the dark, simply feeling his way.
Without a trip to the postseason, George was thrown right back into the idle time that came with rehabilitation, a stretch that saw him play 92 minutes in 17 months. And he says it may have been the best thing that ever happened to him.
“I think a year away from the game, you learn and you grow,” he said. “Regardless if I was on the court or not, you just get a chance to observe. I worked hard this summer going into the season, but I felt like that year away was what I needed.”
George said that two aspects of his game have gotten dramatically better. One is obvious. Even as an All-Star in 2013 and 2014, George’s overall shooting was below 43 percent and his 3-point shooting was around 36 percent. This season, his overall number is just shy of 46 percent and his 3-point shooting is above 45 percent, both career highs.
“That was the only thing I could do at a point was to shoot the basketball,” he explained matter-of-factly.
The other improvement is not as obvious but probably more important. As a spectator for nearly a year and a half, George made himself a student of the game. He watched teammates and opponents for tendencies. He saw situations where his specific skills could help. He developed his ability to allow the game to come to him rather than imposing his will.
“Just being more patient,” he said. “I see things more differently, I let things kind of just play itself out.”
The results are astounding. George is tied for third in scoring at 27.2 points and his 8.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists are career highs and both second on the Pacers. He is ninth in 3-point shooting (.455), 11th in points per shot (1.42) and ninth with a PER of 26.19, which dwarfs his previous best of 20.1.
In the offseason and training camp, there was a lot of apprehension about making George a stretch-4 to maximize Indiana’s smaller lineups. The 6-9 George was averse to it, prompting Pacers president Larry Bird to say, “He don’t make the decisions around here.” The two eventually reached an accord, with Bird and Vogel explaining to George that by spending time at the stretch-4, he gave many of his teammates matchup advantages rather than just himself.
Recently, it has been the 6-6 Miles playing more of the minutes as a stretch-4 – and giving the Pacers the speed and space they were looking for with their dramatic philosophical offseason change. In his first season in Indiana, Miles couldn’t throw a head of lettuce into a shopping cart; his overall shooting never climbed above 40 percent. This season – often playing the same position that West occupied – he is shooting 43 percent from the arc and averaging 15.4 points. Much of his improvement can be attributed to the presence of George.
The offense figures to get better as perennial 20-point scorer Monta Ellis gets more acclimated and Stuckey shakes off an ankle injury. Perhaps most surprising, though, is that the commitment to small ball hasn’t affected Indiana’s defense at all.
At a much slower pace a season ago, the Pacers were tied for third in defense (97.0 ppg), third in opponents’ shooting (.435) and ninth in opponents’ points per shot (1.17). This season, they are fourth (95.6), ninth (.430) and fifth (1.14), with lower figures in each category, a credit to George (97.0 defensive rating) but also the return of Hill, solid defensive work from big men Ian Mahinmi and Jordan Hill, and Vogel’s acumen on that side of the ball.
Indiana’s only appearance on national TV thus far was a win over Miami nearly a month ago. As they often have, the small-market Pacers have been operating under the radar, obscured by glitzier teams despite their top-five status. But Indiana’s only losses in November have been at Cleveland and Chicago, and they avenged the loss to the Bulls this week despite being down a couple of big men. The Pacers began a four-game western swing with Sunday’s win over the Lakers – which, of course, was obscured by Kobe Bryant’s retirement announcement.
Indiana returns home Dec. 8 to face the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who may still be unbeaten by then. If the Pacers win that game, someone will finally notice.
TRIVIA: Which team holds the NBA record for most consecutive seasons making the playoffs? Answer below.
THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: In Monday’s New York-Miami game, the Knicks’ desire to intentionally foul Heat center Hassan Whiteside turned into a game of tag.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone, on working injured big men Kenneth Faried and Joffrey Lauvergne back into the playing rotation:
“I used to work in the circus, so juggling is nothing new to me. Chainsaws. Fire. Whatever you want.”
TANKS A LOT!: The 76ers went 0-4 this week, squandering fourth-quarter leads of six points at Minnesota, 11 points at Boston, seven points at Houston and five points at Memphis. “A time’s going to come where we finally put everything together and come up with a victory,” forward Robert Covington said. When? Keep reading.
LINE OF THE WEEK: Paul George, Indiana and Washington, Nov. 24: 37 minutes, 14-19 FGs, 7-8 3-pointers, 5-6 FTs, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, four turnovers, 40 points in a 123-106 win. George’s streak of games with 26-plus points ended at eight in his previous contest, so he started a new one with a season high. Yes, we know James Harden scored 50 points, but he also had nine turnovers and it was against Philadelphia.
LINE OF THE WEAK: Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers at Golden State, Nov. 24: 25 minutes, 1-14 FGs, 1-7 3-pointers, 1-2 FTs, six rebounds, two assists, two steals, three turnovers, four points in a 111-77 loss. This was the worst shooting performance of Bryant’s career and contributed to an astounding stat: According to Elias, this was the first time in 5,301 all-time games that the Lakers did not have anyone score more than 10 points.
TRILLION WATCH: Another solid week for the heroes of zeros. There were 2 trillions from Bucks center Miles Plumlee on Monday and Pacers guard Glenn Robinson III on Friday. And there were 3 trillions from Hawks guard Justin Holiday on Tuesday, Rockets guard Ty Lawson on Friday and Nets forward Sergey Karasev on Saturday. But the week’s winner was Suns guard Archie Goodwin, who had a 5 trillion Monday at San Antonio. The season leader remains Hawks guard Lamar Patterson and his 8 trillion at Miami on Nov. 3.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Cleveland at Miami, Dec. 5. The novelty of LeBron James returning to South Beach has worn off. But the Heat look like they have put together a team that can challenge the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference. A win here would go a long way toward convincing skeptics.
GAME OF THE WEAK: LA Lakers at Philadelphia, Dec. 1. At 2-14, the Lakers are the worst team in the Western Conference. With a record-tying 0-18 start to the season and record 28-game losing streak dating to last season, the Sixers may be the worst team of all time. Sounds like an ideal setting for the start of Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour.
TWO MINUTES: Warriors star Stephen Curry now has the second-longest streak of consecutive games with a 3-pointer at 91, moving past Dana Barros this week. Curry has 90 3-pointers through 18 games, which is just four less than the Miami Heat and nine more than the Brooklyn Nets. … The Sixers aren’t the only team experiencing the growing pains of a young roster. Following a surprising 6-5 start, the Nuggets have lost six in a row, prompting coach Mike Malone to say, “We have to be a lot more mentally tough and we have to find a way to play for 48 minutes. It is not a 30 minute game; it is not high school anymore. Until we play a 48-minute game, we are going to continue to lose.” After Cleveland’s starters – who are actually missing three starters – outscored Orlando’s, 99-44, Magic coach Scott Skiles said, “It was kind of men against boys.” Skiles has moved guard Victor Oladipo to the bench and started using more of forward Andrew Nicholson. And the Bucks were supposed to make another precocious leap this season but are sputtering at 6-11 and near the bottom of the league in defense. “I think our age is the biggest problem,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Not understanding what’s going to take place, not being able to read what’s going to happen. For those young guys, they have to go through it.” On Sunday, Kidd benched Michael Carter-Williams and Jabari Parker for vets Jerryd Bayless and O.J. Mayo. … The Hawks are 11-8 and host Oklahoma City tonight. Their ninth loss last season did not occur until Feb. 2. … While Indiana’s shift to small ball has been a success, the same strategy is not going so well in Washington, where the streaky Wizards have lost three, won three and lost four en route to a 6-8 mark. They are 25th in scoring differential at minus-5.9. On Saturday, their best defensive effort of 
the season ended with being sucked in by a hammer play and surrendering a wide-open game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer by Toronto’s Cory Joseph. “We’ve got to cut the negativity we have coming from players, coaches, staff, media,” center Marcin Gortat said. “It’s not even fun coming here anymore. So much negativity. I understand we’re losing games, but damn.” … When Sixers rookie point guard T.J. McConnell scored and was fouled in the first quarter at Memphis on Sunday, it marked his first trip to the line in 478 minutes this season. Of course, he missed. … Pacers center Ian Mahinmi made just five of his first 24 free throws this season, so the Bulls thought it would be a good idea to intentionally foul him in the fourth quarter Friday. Mahinmi blew up the strategy by making 7-of-10. … The Clippers have DeAndre Jordan, who is second in the NBA in rebounds at 12.4 per game, and Blake Griffin, who is in the top 25 with 8.5. Only Cleveland and Miami have better rebounding tandems. Yet the Clippers have not outrebounded an opponent and are 29th in rebound differential at minus-4.8. … In the offseason, the Pelicans re-signed center Omer Asik for $52 million over five years. In 10 games, he has four scoring donuts and has grabbed double-digit rebounds once.
Trivia Answer: The Syracuse/Philadelphia franchise made 22 straight playoff appearances from 1950-71. … Happy 55th Birthday, Darren Daye. … Sam Hinkie says driving 108 mph and getting into streetfights is all part of the process.
Chris Bernucca is the managing editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.