Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"

[Purch]

“Before we were hungry,” he said. “We started the year off hungry, the bad taste from the year before was in our mouths and everyone was on a mission. Once we started to win, the game was coming too easy. We were running away from our opponents and we just kind of forgot that edge.”

And that doomed them.

“It was a point where we came into games thinking we could just turn it on, regardless if we started bad or not. And I think that kind of put us in a funk to where teams were starting to really play us and get ready for us,” he said.

“We weren’t the team chasing opponents. We were being chased and we couldn’t find that balance between getting that edge back we started the season with.”

Despite it all, they did manage to get to the conference finals. And for George, that’s worth remembering.

“We were still a great team. We still had pieces, despite the year we had. We had the pieces to win a championship,” he said. “Ultimately we couldn’t put it together at the right time. Had we started the playoffs in November or December we’d probably be holding up a trophy. We peaked too early.”

:coleman:

[imnew09]

They never peaked. The East just sucks

[JohnMax]

Portland started out hot out of the gates

[Roundball_Rock]

They never peaked. The East just sucks

The Pacers went 6-4 against the West's top 5 teams. Before the all-star break the Pacers were 40-12; after it they went 16-14. Prior to the all-star break they went 2-0 against LAC, 1-1 against POR, 1-0 against SAS, 0-1 against OKC and 1-0 against HOU. That totals to a 5-2 mark. Overall, the Pacers went 18-12 against the West. How does that compare to the other top teams?

Records against the West in 2014

IND 18-12 (60%)
SAS 38-14 (73%)
OKC 36-16 (69%)
LAC 36-16 (69%)
POR 31-21 (60%)
HOU 31-21 (60%)
MIA 20-10 (67%)

They had the same winning percentage against the West as the Rockets and Portland, who were the #4 and #5 seeds in the West. The Heat were comparable to OKC and LAC against Western teams.

[choppermagic]

Perhaps, but at least he recognizes that they lost an edge or intensity that contributed to their problems, instead of just blaming something else (schedule, etc.). Maybe they can address it this year.

[imnew09]

The Pacers went 6-4 against the West's top 5 teams. Before the all-star break the Pacers were 40-12; after it they went 16-14. Prior to the all-star break they went 2-0 against LAC, 1-1 against POR, 1-0 against SAS, 0-1 against OKC and 1-0 against HOU. That totals to a 5-2 mark. Overall, the Pacers went 18-12 against the West. How does that compare to the other top teams?

Records against the West in 2014

IND 18-12 (60%)
SAS 38-14 (73%)
OKC 36-16 (69%)
LAC 36-16 (69%)
POR 31-21 (60%)
HOU 31-21 (60%)
MIA 20-10 (67%)

They had the same winning percentage against the West as the Rockets and Portland, who were the #4 and #5 seeds in the West. The Heat were comparable to OKC and LAC against Western teams.

Yea, in the East Pacers were #1, in the West, prolly #4, 5, 6 seed. Thank you for your efforts for proving my point

[Roundball_Rock]

Yea, in the East Pacers were #1, in the West, prolly #4, 5, 6 seed. Thank you for your efforts for proving my point

That is a fair assessment. What I think is people go overboard by saying the Pacers would miss the playoffs or get trounced in the first round.

[Mr. Incredible]

Paul George had a horrendous second half of the season.

[The Magics]

I think the main issue was that PG peaked too early in that stripper.

Will the Pacers be able to contend minus Lance, but with the additional experience facing adversity?

[JohnFreeman]

Spurs would have wrecked them

[pastis]

Yea, in the East Pacers were #1, in the West, prolly #4, 5, 6 seed. Thank you for your efforts for proving my point


not mentioning that EC teams are playing once in a while a tough west team, while all West teams are in the wild west war a whole year. EC teams rested as hell. Joke conference:applause:

[COnDEMnED]

Either that or someone peaked on a teammates girlfriend.

[Nick Young]

They never peaked. The East just sucks
truth

[Spaulding]

Spurs would have wrecked them

Ya. Funny how PG assumed they would have beat the Spurs.

[Smook A.]

Paul George had a horrendous second half of the season.
Yup. He shot 39.6% from the field after the all-star break. His worst month was March, where he shot a dreadful 37%.

[GimmeThat]

you might as well blame the coach/captain of the team.

because veteran teams getting a good record pre-ASG then cruise through the second half to be prepared for the playoff isn't unheard of.

[I<3NBA]

or maybe teams just started game planning PG. ever thought of that?

[B-hoop]

That is a fair assessment. What I think is people go overboard by saying the Pacers would miss the playoffs or get trounced in the first round.

They would have missed the playoffs considering how they played on the second half of the season.