Bleacher Report has been chronicling Paul George’s comeback in a video series titled “The Road Back.” In the first episode, we heard directly from Paul and his parents about the night of his horrific leg injury in the USA Basketball Showcase and the first few weeks of his rehab.
The second episode, released this morning, primarily features other members of the Pacers organization. Several of George’s teammates (including David West, Roy Hibbert, George Hill, and Solomon Hill), head coach Frank Vogel, and President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird recall where they were when they heard about George’s injury.
“I started getting a series of text messages,” Vogel recalls. “I knew right away something bad had happened.”
West, who was watching the game at his home in North Carolina, said he had “a sick feeling” from the moment he saw the injury. George Hill, who was out to dinner at Benihana’s, said he refuses to watch a clip of the injury.
Over the course of the episode, George’s teammates, Vogel, and Bird reflect on George’s absence from the lineup.
“We see him working, so that’s motivating,” Hibbert says at one point.
To a man, George’s teammates express admiration for George’s drive to come back as soon as possible.
The latter half of the episode focuses on George’s comeback.
It includes a clip of George meeting with Dr. Riley J. Williams, the Team USA physician who treated George after his injury, at All-Star Weekend in New York City on Feb. 14. In that revealing clip, George and Williams discuss the recent speculation about George’s potentially imminent return.
On Feb. 3, Bird had suggested that George could return as soon as March 1. On Feb. 13, George’s comments to Yahoo Sports reporter Marc Spears suggested that he could return to the Pacers’ lineup by mid-March.
“The media ran with it,” George tells Dr. Williams.
“I don’t want to rush it, but if the opportunity presents itself (and) I’m feeling good, I’m thinking (positively about) trying to get some games under my feet.”
When George returns remains to be seen, but all Pacers fans can take solace in the that fact that, as Bird puts it, George clearly “can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
You can watch the full episode in the embedded player above.
