Between taking out Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and pushing LeBron James and the eventual champion Heat to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, the NBA Playoffs this past spring were a coming-out party for Pacers swingman Paul George.
If anyone wondered how he’d handle his sudden burst into the national consciousness, it hasn’t taken long to find out.
George, alongside mammoth center Roy Hibbert, has carried the Pacers to the top of The Post’s NBA Power Rankings as the league’s lone unbeaten team. George has been sensational through Indiana’s first five games – including scoring 21 points in Wednesday’s 97-80 victory over the Bulls.
The 6-foot-9 forward is now averaging 25.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting 48.3 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from 3-point range and also playing excellent defense. And what once was a spirited debate as to who was the better player, George or Anthony, is quickly becoming an afterthought. With his stellar two-way play, there’s little question that George has solidified himself as the third-best small forward in the NBA, trailing only James and Kevin Durant.
With an improved bench that could get even stronger if Danny Granger can eventually get back on the floor, the Pacers seem to be on a mission to make sure a series-deciding Game 7, like the one they lost in Miami in the conference finals in June, would take place in Bankers Life Fieldhouse next spring.
1. Pacers: Indiana has already won a pair of back-to-backs, including Wednesday’s impressive win at home over the Bulls, and Hibbert is averaging five blocks per game. An intriguing matchup lies ahead when they face the Nets in Brooklyn on Saturday.
2. Spurs: For all of the talk about the moves all the other championship contenders have made, the Spurs just continue to crank out wins, and are well on their way to what feels like their 47th season in a row with 50 or more victories.
3. Rockets: Houston has done a lot right in the first week of the James Harden-Dwight Howard partnership, including jumping out to a 4-1 record. But if the Rockets truly want to be title contenders, they have to play better perimeter D than they did in giving up 137 points to the Clippers.
4. Warriors: Through five games, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson – wonderfully nicknamed the “Splash Brothers” – have already combined to hit 37 3-pointers. There may not be a more fun team to watch play in the NBA.
5. Thunder: Oklahoma City looked lost without Russell Westbrook, including getting destroyed by the Timberwolves in Minnesota. But now that Westbrook is back and looks as good as ever, the Thunder once again look like a force to be reckoned with.
6. Heat: The two-time defending champions have had their stops and starts over the season’s first week, including their stunning loss to Philadelphia last Wednesday. But the Heat are back on track after getting a couple of wins in a row, and whenever you have LeBron James, you can’t be down for long.
7. Clippers: Which means more to you: That the Clippers have beaten the Rockets and Warriors soundly, or that they’ve lost to the Lakers and Magic? I say the latter, which is further proof this team still has work to do mentally to stay focused.
8. Nets: Like the Clippers, the Nets have a terrific win in their home opener against Miami, but also looked sluggish and out of sorts in losses to Cleveland and Orlando. The Nets need to follow Kevin Garnett’s advice and become a more consistent outfit moving forward.
9. Mavericks: The Monta Ellis-Dirk Nowitzki pairing is off to a great start. When those two are on the floor together, the Mavericks are scoring a ridiculous 116.6 points per 100 possessions while allowing 93.1. Perhaps Monta will, in fact, have it all in Dallas.
10. Timberwolves: All basketball fans are praying Minnesota can stay healthy this season. There will be few more enjoyable teams to watch with a Rick Adelman offense run through Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin, Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic. So far, so good.
11. Bulls: Chicago has lost to the Heat in its home opener, to the opening-week inferno that was the Sixers and to the Pacers – all on the road. With that in mind, I’m steering clear of the grumblings about the Bulls’ slow start.
12. Magic: One of the teams expected to tank, Orlando has two terrific wins in a row over the Nets and Clippers at home. The Post’s unanimous rookie of the year pick, Victor Oladipo, is also off to a nice start, including a highlight-reel 360 degree dunk against the Nets on Sunday.
13. Hawks: Joe Johnson and Josh Smith have moved on, but the Hawks are basically the same team they have been the past several years: A talented but uninspiring group that will be a lower seed and lose in the first round in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
14. Pistons: There’s still plenty of time for all of the pieces to fit in Detroit, and there are plenty of reasons for optimism. One of them? Young bigs Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe are playing well next to one another.
15. Trail Blazers: After general manager Neil Olshey went out and made several shrewd, under-the-radar moves to shore up Portland’s awful bench from last season, the mandate has been clear that it’s time for this team to make the playoffs behind LaMarcus Aldridge and 2013 Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard.
16. Pelicans: If you’re a fan of the NBA and can afford it, buy a subscription to NBA League Pass just to see Anthony Davis play as much as possible. After dealing with injuries as a rookie, Davis is off to a spectacular start (21.2 points, 11.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 2.2 steals, 4.0 blocks per game).
17. Bobcats: Nice pair of wins for Charlotte on Tuesday in New York and Wednesday against Toronto, especially without Al Jefferson. Longtime assistant Steve Clifford looks like a great coaching hire for Michael Jordan’s team.
18. 76ers: Their time atop the standings didn’t last long, but those first three wins for the Sixers will give their fans a lot of good memories as the many losses begin to mount.
19. Suns: Like the Sixers, the Suns’ 3-0 start will earn them a lot of goodwill with their fans. The next question is how much will they be able to get for veteran point guard Goran Dragic in a trade.
20. Grizzlies: It’s been a rough start for the Grizzlies under new coach Dave Joerger, but it would be surprising if the grit-n-grind guys down in Memphis don’t get things going in the right direction sometime soon.
21. Cavaliers: If Cleveland wants to be a playoff team, it needs to win games like the one it dropped Wednesday in Milwaukee. Still, the biggest development with Cleveland – literally – has been Andrew Bynum being able to get on the floor and beginning to shake the rust off.
22. Bucks: After signing several veteran players this summer, the Bucks look like they will once again be treading water somewhere between eighth and 10th place in the Eastern Conference. They’d be better off if they bottomed out.
23. Raptors: The best part about the start of the season for Raptors fans has been seeing Knicks fans react to Andrea Bargnani. It’s certainly better than wondering why Toronto didn’t foul at the end of Wednesday’s loss to the Bobcats.
24. Lakers: They looked terrific in their season-opening win over the Clippers at home. That may be the highlight of what otherwise seems like it will be an extremely long season in Lakerland – especially with the Clippers soaring at the same time.
25. Knicks: They looked dreadful through their first four games – and that was before Tyson Chandler was lost for the next 4-6 weeks. On top of that, listen to this partial list of opponents over the next four weeks: Spurs, Hawks (twice), Pistons, Clippers, Trail Blazers, Rockets, Pacers, Nets. In a word? Yikes.
26. Wizards: After rough starts each of the past two seasons, the one good thing about Washington’s slow start is it only took the Wizards four games to get their first win.
27. Kings: Sacramento got a feel-good win in their home opener, a game attended by NBA Commissioner David Stern and a true celebration of a city that came together in order to keep its team. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be another long season in California’s capital.
28. Nuggets: It’s been a rough beginning of Brian Shaw’s tenure as head coach, with a close loss to the Kings followed by blowout losses to the Trail Blazers and Spurs. After winning 57 games a season ago, the Nuggets look like they have a real chance of missing the postseason.
29. Celtics: Brad Stevens is going to be an excellent NBA coach, and eventually will win a lot of games in Beantown. But right now, with the current Celtics roster? He’s in for a lot of losses over the next six months.
30. Jazz: In the Tankapalooza 2014 sweepstakes, the Jazz have raced out to an early lead, thanks to their loss in Boston on Wednesday that dropped them to 0-5. The Jazz have a lot of young talent, but are going to struggle to win games.