Paul George of the Indiana Pacers looked every bit the star of the show during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat in American Airlines Arena Wednesday night, but LeBron James, who had already notched his ninth career triple double, was not allowing George to steal his thunder.
With just over two seconds left on the clock, LeBron raced to the top of the 3-point line, took an inbounds pass from Shane Battier, and blew past an over-aggressive George for a game-winning layup. James, once mocked for his late game failures, made the game-winner look exceptionally easy, and following the game did not look like he had just scored the most dramatic bucket of the 2013 postseason so far.
"Two teams fought hard," James said. "We were able to make one more play."
Paul George finished the night with 27 points, five assists and four rebounds in addition to guarding James all night in the 103-102 loss. George had put the Pacers ahead after drawing a foul on a 3-point attempt with 2.2 ticks remaining on the clock. Down by two points at the time, George calmly sank all three free throws to put Indiana up by one before James closed the show. George also sank a ridiculous 32-foot 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left on the clock to send the game into overtime.
Despite the heroics of James, and the courageous effort by George, the story of the night may well have been Pacers head coach Frank Vogel’s decision to remove Roy Hibbert from the game for the final possession. Hibbert, a seven feet, two inch behemoth may have been able to prevent James’ easy basket, but Vogel had him on the bench for fear of Chris Bosh getting free for a midrange jump shot.
When asked about Hibbert being out of the game Vogel said, "I would say we would probably have him in next time.”
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