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George Learning to be Selfish Again

Thirty-three games into the season, Paul George is still trying to figure out how to operate within the Pacers' offense. When to assert himself and look for his shot, when to look for his teammates. When to settle for a jumper, when to attack the basket. When to be the guy who scored 48 points in a game at Utah last month, when to be the guy capable of triple-doubles.

That identity crisis was evident throughout the Pacers' 94-82 victory over Detroit at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Saturday, but there was no mistaking his intention throughout the final five minutes, when he scored the Pacers' final 21 points and lifted them from the dregs of a game played in the mud to a closing sprint across the finish line.

He finished with 32 points and 14 rebounds, his second straight superlative performance following 12 consecutive sub-par efforts. It followed a 31-point outing against Milwaukee on Thursday, offering hope for a return to the form that had made him the NBA's Player of the Month in November.

There's no published NBA record for consecutive points in a game by one player, but George might have been close. San Antonio's Manu Ginobili scored 24 in a row against Atlanta on Feb. 21, 2007. More relevantly, he provided a dramatic send-off to a stretch in which the Pacers play nine of their next 11 games on the road, including the next four.

"You always want to go into a road trip with confidence," C.J. Miles said. "You need that extra swagger, that extra confidence, knowing you're playing well. Guys have that extra bounce in their step. You need that."

George found his swagger at just the right time, both for himself and his teammates. They were leading just 73-71 with less than five minutes remaining. At that point he had hit just 2-of-11 shots and committed seven turnovers.

But then it turned. And kept turning.

It started with two free throws, after drawing a foul on a drive to the basket with 4:47 left.

"Just seeing the ball go down helped a lot," he said.

He followed by rebounding Reggie Jackson's missed jumper and racing fullcourt down the left lane for a driving layup, forcing Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy to call timeout.

On the Pacers' next possession, he hit a 3-pointer on a called play off a screen. He followed that with another 3-pointer out of the halfcourt offense, shooting perfectly in rhythm and up on his toes. His confidence brewing, he came back with a 20-foot step-back jumper on the wing off the dribble. He added another 3-pointer in transition on the next possession, giving the Pacers an 88-73 lead and inspiring another Detroit timeout.

George closed with a 19-foot pull-up jumper, a 17-footer after dribbling behind his back to create space and, finally, two technical free throws after a thoroughly fed up Van Gundy was called for a technical foul with 22.6 seconds left.

George was in the middle of the action even after the final buzzer sounded. Marcus Morris shoved him while reaching for an inbounds pass in the final seconds. George turned and squared up with Morris, nose to nose. Morris gave him a two-handed shove in the chest, which cleared the benches and led to a few tense moments. No punches were thrown, however, and the issue was dead in the Pacers' locker room.

George could be called selfish for taking the Pacers' final seven shots, but no complaints were heard from coach Frank Vogel or his teammates. They're fine with him dominating the offense, as long as he's assertive and not forcing shots or committing turnovers. In fact, they seem to prefer a little more selfishness.

He's been turnover-prone lately because he's been conscious of sharing the ball, and sometimes looks to pass when he should be looking to score.

"I'm always aware of what's going on around me," he said. "I start out hot and get myself going and then I look at the stat sheet and guys are getting four or five shots.

"There's a reason we got Monta (Ellis) here and C.J. around. Those guys can score the ball and be playmakers as well. I've always been caught between how to be aggressive for myself as well as let other guys be aggressive as well."

He seems to have arrived at a resolution, however.

"It's my job to put pressure on the defense and be aggressive," he said.

It would be easy if George were simply going one-on-one against a defender, but he's encountering layers of defenders on his treks to the rim, or when dribbling off screens. That's where it gets complicated.

"You can see it sometimes, some of the stuff he's trying in the paint now," Miles said. "He's trying to figure which ones to attack more and which ones to dump off. They're coming after him every time he's turning the corner, because one guy can't stay in front of him.

"He's still trying to get a feel for it, and guys are trying to get a feel for being available for him, too. It's not all on him."

So perhaps a little selfishness is a virtue for him. Vogel told him earlier in the day to look for his shot when driving the lane and to try to finish through contact at the rim. That approach led to his second consecutive game with double-figure foul shots – 12 this time, his ninth game of the season with 10 or more. It's probably no coincidence he had no turnovers in his seven fourth-quarter minutes, when he paid less attention to his teammates and hit all seven shots.

"I think that's part of what his turnover problem is: pre-determining what he's going to do," Vogel said, referring to George's 46 turnovers over the past nine games.

George's closing burst would have been meaningless, however, had the Pacers not backed it with solid defense throughout the game. The Pistons aren't a good shooting team – 28th in the league in field goal percentage entering the game – but the Pacers get some of the credit for holding them to 35 percent shooting from the field and a 3-of-20 effort from the 3-point line. They contested most shots and allowed just 11 second-chance points.

After giving his team New Year's Day off, Vogel treated Saturday's morning shootaround session like a regular practice, with emphasis on defense. It's become a recurring theme for the Pacers when they hit rough patches: defense moves them forward again.

"This was a defensive pride game," Vogel said. "All our focus was on bringing a little edge to the floor, because we shouldn't give up 58 percent (field goal percentage against Milwaukee) and 120 points. That ain't good enough. Our whole emphasis today was bringing it on the defensive end."

That meant bringing Solomon Hill off the bench once again. Hill, idle most of the season, played rotation minutes of 16 or more for the fourth consecutive game. He finished with four points and five rebounds and, more importantly, solid defensive work that included consecutive blocks of Stanley Johnson's jump shots on a fourth-quarter possession.

"We're getting back to the (way) we used to play," Hill said. "(The shootaround) was straight defense. This year as we try to transition to playing smaller ball, I think we get caught up in our offensive woes. There's a lot more opportunities for us if we defend and get out on the break."

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