“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.”
Results 1 to 15 of 18
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07-21-2014, 01:17 PM #1Poop
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Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
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07-21-2014, 01:36 PM #2Expert Analyst
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
They never peaked. The East just sucks
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07-21-2014, 01:46 PM #3NBA rookie of the year
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
Portland started out hot out of the gates
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07-21-2014, 01:49 PM #4Consensus Top 20-30 AT
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
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?
Originally Posted by imnew09
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.
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07-21-2014, 01:52 PM #5I rule the local playground
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
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.
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07-21-2014, 01:55 PM #6Expert Analyst
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
Yea, in the East Pacers were #1, in the West, prolly #4, 5, 6 seed. Thank you for your efforts for proving my point Originally Posted by Roundball_Rock
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07-21-2014, 02:01 PM #7Consensus Top 20-30 AT
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
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. Originally Posted by imnew09
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07-21-2014, 02:23 PM #8Decent college freshman
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
Paul George had a horrendous second half of the season.
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07-22-2014, 07:21 AM #9Saw a basketball once
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
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?
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07-22-2014, 07:26 AM #10First Kobe fan on ISH
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
Spurs would have wrecked them
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07-22-2014, 07:28 AM #11Dirk top 15 all time
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
Originally Posted by imnew09
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
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07-22-2014, 07:52 AM #12Good college starter
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
Either that or someone peaked on a teammates girlfriend.
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07-22-2014, 07:57 AM #13Banned
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
truth Originally Posted by imnew09
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07-22-2014, 08:10 AM #14It's Okay
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
Ya. Funny how PG assumed they would have beat the Spurs. Originally Posted by JohnFreeman
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07-22-2014, 08:19 AM #15Red Nation
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Re: Paul George explains Pacers collapse "We Peaked too early"
Yup. He shot 39.6% from the field after the all-star break. His worst month was March, where he shot a dreadful 37%. Originally Posted by Mr. Incredible
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