Paul George Says LeBron James Prevented Him from NBA Title, 'S--t, I Might Have Had 1'
Philadelphia 76ers veteran forward Paul George divulged Tuesday that he wonders if he might have won an NBA championship with the Indiana Pacers if not for the presence of LeBron James.
During an appearance on the Pivot Podcast (21:32 mark), George said the following about James blocking the Pacers' path to the NBA Finals in 2013 and 2014:
"I'm thinking about it the other day, like, had there not been a LeBron James, s--t, I might have had one. Had we not played LeBron James or there was no LeBron James, we might have had one in Indiana. ...
"We played Carmelo, got Carmelo out of there. ... Played a tough Wizards [team] with John [Wall] and Bradley Beal. Nobody could come through us. Atlanta was a stacked team. Nobody could go through us."
With George leading the way, the Pacers reached back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals in 2013 and 2014, but ran into LeBron and the Miami Heat.
Indiana pushed Miami to seven games in 2013 before the Heat prevailed, and the Heat followed that up by eliminating the Pacers in six games in 2014.
James and the Heat won their second of back-to-back championships in 2013 before falling to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals, which was LeBron's final act in Miami before returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency.
George spent his first seven NBA seasons in Indiana from 2010 to 2017. During that time, PG-13 was a four-time All-Star, and the Pacers made six playoff appearances.
While the Pacers teams that went to the ECF during George's tenure weren't star-studded by any means, they were deep and cohesive with David West, Roy Hibbert, Lance Stephenson and George Hill playing key roles.
As good as those Pacers teams were, it was tough to contend with Miami's Big 3 of LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, as the Heat went to the Finals all four years they were together.
George left the Pacers eight years ago, and the franchise is finally back in the position it once was when he was in the fold.
After shocking the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five games, Indiana is back in the Eastern Conference Finals for a second straight year, and it will have a chance to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000.
