Tuesday morning's shootaround was certainly memorable.
The Pacers notified the media on Monday that George Hill had been upgraded to questionable for Tuesday's game against the Pelicans. Hill had missed the first 28 games of the season with a left knee contusion, but began practicing in the past couple weeks. So naturally, Hill's upgraded status raised suspicions that the "Hometown Hero" would make his regular season debut on Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
When Hill met with the media following Tuesday's shootaround, however, he didn't have a definite answer on whether he would play. When the Indianapolis Star's Candace Buckner first asked him the question, he said politely, "I'm not sure...(we'll) try to figure out later tonight."
A few questions later, a couple camera crews wandered over and inquried about Hill's status, eliciting more or less the same response.
"I'm not sure," Hill told them. "Still questionable."
So imagine our collective surprise a few minutes later, when we met with head coach Frank Vogel.
"George said he's still not sure whether he's going to play tonight," I told Vogel, intending to lead into a question about what factors he would weigh when determining Hill's availability.
A bemused Vogel raised his eyebrows.
"He said that? I guess I'm not sure either, then."
Vogel quickly cleared up the matter, saying that Hill would in fact play on Tuesday, coming off the bench in limited minutes. Whether Hill was just playing a little practical joke on the media or legitimately didn't have definitive word from the coaching staff on his status is unclear. He'd already gone back into the locker room by this time.
But regardless, the final verdict from shootaround is good news for Pacers fans.
"We feel like he's healthy enough to play," Vogel said of the decision. "His conditioning is still going to be a concern. We'll just keep an eye on it. Won't play him huge minutes, but it'll be a good situation to sort of get his feet wet."
Hill and Vogel both said that he hasn't experienced any soreness or setbacks since returning to practice. While Vogel confirmed Hill has looked sharp and assertive on the offensive end in practice, he cautioned against expecting too much too early from the Pacers' veteran point guard.
"Right now, he's just kind of finding a rhythm," Vogel said.
That's one of the the reasons Vogel elected to bring Hill off the bench — an experiment that likely won't last very long — "maybe one game, maybe two, we'll see how it goes."
For Hill, making his return to the lineup in front of a home crowd might well give him a little extra motivation.
"I'm happy to be here for the holidays with some family and friends," Hill said. "We're going to take care of tonight's game and then focus on our families for Christmas."
With George Hill back on the court, it will certainly be a happier holiday season for the Blue-and-Gold faithful.