Paul George Says Pacers “Outplayed” Heat In Game 4

The Pacers fell 102-90 to the Heat last night, and now face a 3-1 deficit as they head back to Indiana. In a game in which Miami never trailed, Paul George said after the game the Pacers outplayed the Heat, and blamed the loss on the officials.

Here’s what George said in the press conference following the game. The video also features a classic response from LeBron James after hearing about George’s comments:

George claiming the game was won at the free throw line has merit if you’re simply looking at the stat sheet, which is actually what he was doing when he made those comments. The Heat shot 34 free throws compared to 17 attempts for the Pacers. Except Miami’s win was not due to any unfair officiating as George implies. The Heat were the more aggressive team and earned those extra attempts at the free throw line. George’s second comment about how both teams equally attacked the basket is simply wrong. According to senior vice president at STATS, SportVU, Brian Kopps, the Heat blew the Pacers away in terms of overall :

@EthanJSkolnick In Game 4, Heat: 27 drives for 33 pts, Pacers: 11 drives for 10 pts. George: 0 drives, LeBron: 10 drives #SportVU @CoupNBA

— Brian Kopp (@bkoppstats) May 27, 2014

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So, the free throw discrepancy might have contributed to the Heat winning Game 4, but it was because Miami was consistently taking the ball to the basket, while the Pacers settled for jumpers. When you look at the series as a whole, it makes no sense for George to be blaming the referees:

In this series, the Pacers have shot 94 FTAs to Miami's 87.

— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) May 27, 2014

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The Pacers won Game 1 with a balanced offensive attack, and was one quarter away from taking Game 2 as well. They squandered a 15-point lead in Game 3 and let the game get out of hand in the second half last night. Through four games in this series, the Heat have simply been the better team, especially when it’s mattered the most in the fourth quarter.

If the Pacers want to pin the blame on officiating, that’s fine, but it’s not the reason why they’re facing elimination at home tomorrow night.