Pacers' George led players-only meeting on Thanksgiving
The Indiana Pacers were 7-9 and losers of three of their last four games heading into Friday's matchup with the Brooklyn Nets.
With a revamped roster befitting an elite, uptempo offense, All-Star forward Paul George gathered the troops on Thanksgiving to get his teammates on the same page, going over why they weren't putting points on the board and how they could fix the issue.
"I wanted to get the guys together and kind of wanted to get them to just start seeing the game differently," George said after Pacers shootaround, according to the Indy Star's Nate Taylor. "If there's action going on strong side, why can't we talk and say, 'Hey, I'm going to set you up for this back screen or I'm going to get to you for this pindown.' No reason why we can't communicate on the offensive end."
Indiana failed to exceed the 100-point mark in all three of its defeats, and didn't even break 90 in losses to both the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors. The team ranked 19th in the Association in points per game at 103.4, and 24th in offensive efficiency (100 points per 100 possessions) prior to taking on the Nets.
George, who organized his first players-only meeting since going 10th overall in the 2010 draft, was unable to suit up for his squad to take on the Nets due to a sore left ankle. It wasn't the best timing so soon after the meeting, yet at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, it was obvious his team got his message loud and clear.
The Pacers ended the night with 25 assists, converting an incredible 55.2 percent of their field-goal attempts en route to a 118-97 blowout. Six players scored in double figures, including Glenn Robinson III, who dropped a season-high 20 points in 39 minutes.
George will sit Indiana's next two games because of his injury.
"The decision was if he couldn’t go tonight, we’re going to hold him for a few days so that everything can heal up with him," head coach Nate McMillan said of George. "We have (four) games in the next 10 days. After that, we’re back to every other day. The plan was to try to give him some time where we were not having a lot games in a row."