Paul George to return on Pacers’ biggest game of season

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It’s official. Paul George is coming back, and it’s going to be in the Pacers’ biggest game of the season against the Miami Heat on Sunday night.

A little more than 8 months after breaking his leg in horrific fashion, George will return in his new No. 13 uniform for about 10-15 minutes, according to Pacers coach Frank Vogel. The comforting thing is that he has apparently been “mentally ready” for months and just been playing himself into shape, which he is not exactly in yet.

Team president Larry Bird made it clear that PG13 is not close to 100%, but felt it was important to get some games under his belt before the end of the season. The fact that the Pacers are fighting for their lives to get into the playoffs is not a consideration, the team insists, and even PG said himself that the point of returning now rather than next season is so that he can get his feet wet and figure out what he needs to work on over the summer.

So Pacers fans, don’t expect the Paul George of old to walk through that door Sunday night or for the rest of the season. But his return will provide a much-needed emotional spark for the Pacers, who appear to be the only team apart from the Charlotte Hornets (whom they thrashed last night) to be not fighting as hard as they ought to be for the final two playoff spots in the East.

They’ll certainly need the lift from PG’s return against Miami tomorrow, because the Heat have lost 3-straight and fallen to 9th place — a game ahead of the Pacers. It was a wild night, with Charlotte edging Philly by a single point to stay in it and tied with the Pacers at 33-43; Boston overcoming Toronto in OT to sneak into 8th; and Brooklyn getting blown out by Atlanta to be just half a game ahead of Boston.

So if the Pacers win tomorrow, that will push them up to 9th and in a tie with Miami, but the Pacers will have the tie-breaker because they’d also win the season series 3-1. They’d also be half a game behind Boston for 8th and a game behind Brooklyn for 7th. With Boston having 2 more games against Cleveland and a rematch with Toronto left in their schedule, it gives the Pacers a slight opening to squeeze in.