Paul George is back.
The Pacers star swingman announced his return Saturday morning on Instagram with none other than a photo of his game shoes.
Finally, George can exhale knowing that he’s going to play this season. He’s been pushing for more than a month but he wasn’t quite ready, the team decided.
“I’ll probably won’t be able to sleep tonight,” he said. “I’m excited.”
[Watch video of George, Larry Bird, and Frank Vogel discuss Paul’s return.]
April 5th is the date, with the Miami Heat, the opponent during his last NBA game (the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals), in town. Though George isn’t on any minute restriction and does not have any limitations, he will be kept to 10 to 15 minutes. George will come off the bench, coach Frank Vogel said, and will not play in crunch time.
George suffered the horrific injury on August 1 in Las Vegas while playing with Team USA. With Team USA Physician Riley Williams by his side, George was taken to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas and Dr. David Silverberg performed the surgery.
In surgery, Dr. Silverberg inserted a titanium rod in the bone of his right leg, which is 14mm in diameter and 420mm long (16.5 inches). It should not impact him in any way.
Pacers physician Dr. Tim Hupfer revealed that in October, George had a second operation “to help increase the stress across the fracture and stimulate the healing.”
“His fractured is well-healed, but it’s been a rehab process,” Dr. Hupfer continued, ” … and the next step in the rehab is for him to go out and play.”
George was cleared to take part in all of practice on February 26 so he’s had more than a month of on-court time to get comfortable, regain some confidence as well as his conditioning. Game rhythm and timing, two things coach Vogel emphasizing a lot when a player is out with an injury, must still come.
Playing in games before the season was over was atop George’s priority list. Some things you just can’t simulate in practice and against your own guys, and he wanted to see where he was at and what he must work on over the offseason.
President Larry Bird said the decision to bring him back all about Paul, and not the team and their hopes to make the playoffs. The playoffs, however, are absolutely their goal.
“If we move the basketball, we’ll make the playoffs,” Bird said. “As simple as that. Every time we move the ball to the open man, we win basketball games. When we don’t, when we dribble and pound the ball, we lose.”
Including Sunday, George will have six regular-season games to play in before the offseason. That’s a reasonable amount for him to gain more confidence in his leg, shake off some rust, and then work on things he felt and saw from the game tape.
Oh, and it’ll also be the debut of No. 13. Remember, George changed his number over the summer so he’s now PG-13.
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Paul George to make season debut April 5th against Miami | Vigilant Sports