For Indiana Pacers forward Paul George, Turkey Day was as good a day as any to give his teammates a wake-up call.
According to a report by Nate Taylor of the Indy Star, George called and led a players-only meeting, the first of his seven-year career, on Thanksgiving, a day after a 96-85 loss to the Atlanta Hawks dropped them to 7-9 on the season.
“I wanted to get the guys together and kind of wanted to get them to just start seeing the game differently,” said the three-time All-Star. “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 pin down.’ No reason why we can’t communicate on the offensive end.”
George had high hopes for the Pacers and their offense under new head coach Nate McMillan heading into the year. But that lethargic start has them ranked 22nd in the league in offensive rating and 17th in defensive rating (per NBA.com) with George also going to the media to express his frustration.
Whatever was said in the meeting was apparently effective as Indiana blew out Brooklyn on Friday by the final of 118-97 in their highest-scoring non-OT performance of the season. Hopefully, the meeting was able to usher in something of a turning point for the team moving forward.
H/T theScore
