The Indiana Pacers have somehow survived, for the most part, without their star Paul George. I hope everyone isn’t getting to the point that they are sick of hearing about this story because, it just gets more and more ‘exciting’ by the day. There was the possibility of George coming back to the court as early as last week, but before that he was worried about ‘messing up the chemistry‘ and the most recent news was his coach said PG was not ready. Oh yeah, don’t forget, team president Larry Bird believes he will play this season but those are just the highlights.
Now insert Pacers teammate, Roy Hibbert.
Hibbert has made a claim saying he’s seen the former All-Star do some amazing things he’s supposedly not ‘ready to do’.
Following from NBA.com’s David Aldridge.
He is a 6-foot-8 ghost who walks among them, a franchise player who flashes his old form often in scrimmages — “I’ve seen him do windmills,” teammate Roy Hibbert said — but is still not back on the court. He was supposed to return March 14, according to him, and then he was supposed to return March 21, according to ESPN. Both predictions were wrong. And so the Pacers enter the final fortnight of the season still waiting, still hoping, that their franchise player can return.
“Seeing the things he does in practice, it’s awesome,” Hibbert said. “He’s coming. But I don’t know what’s going on with, I’m not a part of it. The training staff hasn’t told us what they’re planning on doing, and the front office doesn’t. So they collectively talk. But the things he does in practice looks like the old PG, so whenever he comes back he’ll be good … People are going to be surprised. He’s going to have a big play his first couple of possessions back.”
At the end of the day, this will end soon. Either the season will end, which happens in about 2 weeks, or George will be back before the season ends. Until that time, we just sit on our hands, waiting for the moment he comes back to the Pacers.
When he returns, what will he return to though? A team that is fighting for their playoff lives and then he’ll have to fight in the playoffs against the number 1 seeded Atlanta Hawks? For what? Their chances are super slim compared to the Hawks who are ready to get into the playoffs and they are starting to play like it. George might be preparing his body for a BIG comeback but I just hope he doesn’t rush it.
