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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT v PACERS


May 23, 2014


Paul George


MIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q.  It’s been a couple days.  So how are you feeling?
PAUL GEORGE:  Good.  Ready to go, hopefully.

Q.  Ready to.  Does that mean you passed?
PAUL GEORGE:  I'm still going through the protocol, the league protocols to get clear.  Still wait for the doctors.

Q.  Any lasting effects like blurred vision or anything to that extent?
PAUL GEORGE:  No.  Everything has been pretty good so far.

Q.  What have the less couple days been like for you as you try to fight back from this concussion?
PAUL GEORGE:  I mean, just going through all the stuff that I need to go through to get cleared, battling through that as well as trying to stay sharp at the same time.
So it's a little bit of both.  It's been a rough two days, but I've been able to rest a little bit this week.

Q.  Paul, it seemed like your statement after the game the other night about having blacked out kind of set this whole process in motion.  As you look back, was that the right choice of words?  Did you actually black out during the game?
PAUL GEORGE:  Yeah, but I probably should have kept that to myself.  It just made a mess.  That's something that, going forward, just keep that between myself and the training staff.

Q.  Can this team win in Miami if Paul George is not on the court?
PAUL GEORGE:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  We've got so many weapons on this team.  When one guy goes down, this team really comes together.
Although I want to be out there and would like to be out there, I still feel confident, not being out there, that we'll still be able to come away with a win.

Q.  Can you put a percentage on the probability of you playing on Saturday?
PAUL GEORGE:  I want to say 100.  I want to say 100, but I could possibly and should possibly play.

Q.  You'll have to practice Saturday morning and kind of go through that process.  Do you expect to be fatigued if you play Saturday night because of what you have to go through to pass the test?
PAUL GEORGE:  No, no.  I'm going to approach it the best way I can to make sure I finish out all the tests I need to as well as get rest and time to be able to play come Saturday night.

Q.  How many tests have you gone through so far?  Have you done some of them?
PAUL GEORGE:  Yeah, I did about two or three tests so far.  Just a little bit of stuff left in order to be cleared.

Q.  How many more do you have to do?  Do you know?
PAUL GEORGE:  I'm not even sure.

Q.  How long have you been symptom free?
PAUL GEORGE:  About two days now.  I mean, right after it happened, I was kind of just hitting the last stages of it, but we had to go through the whole protocol to make sure I was good.

Q.  Paul, is this your first concussion?  How was it at practice? 
PAUL GEORGE:  Yeah, this is the first one I've ever had.  Today was just getting up shots.  I got the red jersey on so not even doing contact.  Just making shots.

Q.  Did your teammates kid you about your red jersey?  Are you like the quarterback?
PAUL GEORGE:  Yeah, they've been calling me Peyton.  That's perfect.  I'll wear this until the end of the year.

Q.  Paul, has the demeanor of this team changed from last year to this year?  It just seems like you guys are more ready for this stage, you guys are handling it better?  Is that true?
PAUL GEORGE:  Yeah, we're more focused, especially playing against this team in this series.  We're more focused this time around.  The loss that we took was really uncharacteristic because we've learned so much as a team.
But I do feel like we're night and day in terms of of how good we are this year compared to last year.

Q.  Do you feel like, if you had not had that blurred vision or whatever down the stretch, that you guys would have won the game?  Do you feel that was a factor in the outcome?
PAUL GEORGE:  I do.  For the second half, I didn't shoot as many, but I think I was 3 for 4, 3 for 5, and I was feeling a rhythm.  I was starting to knock down some shots.  I didn't get a shot for the rest of that seven, eight minutes because it was kind of blurry out there.
So I do feel like it had a little effect of how the game ended.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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