The return of my idol George

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA –I was in San Jose, California last Sunday, April 5, at the house of my cousin-in-law Domingo Almonte, Jr. when we watched on TV the return of the youthful and promising superstar of the Indiana Pacers, power-forward Paul George. Yes, George played his very first game last Sunday after eight months of absence when he suffered a serious injury on his right foot last year. He was injured during a scrimmage with the US national team as it prepared for the Spain 2014 World Cup.

The injury so alarmed fans because experts said it could take at least a year before he can return to the hard court. But he surprised everyone, including me, by making a comeback after only eight months of lay-off. I watched him score 13 points with two rebounds, two assists with just 15 minutes of playing time to help his struggling Pacers win against the 2013 champion, Miami Heat, 112-89, at their own turf in Indianapolis to the delight of the partisan crowd. The win increased his team’s chance to clinch one of two final spots in the Eastern Conference playoffs. As of this writing, his team with five remaining games is in a dogfight with other four teams (Miami, Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets) jockeying for the final spots in the post-season.

The Pacers held the sixth spot in the East in early March and lost nine of its 12 games sans George. That lumped them with the four teams that are now on an uphill fight. I believe that with George this time, the Pacers will surely sail through the playoffs like in the past without difficutly.

I’m not a Pacers admirer but simply an avid fan of George whom I consider as the next Larry Bird, or Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. George, a two-time NBA All-Star member averaging 21.7 points per game last season, could very well add another wrinkle to the race in the final regular season. His return might still lead his team to the Final Four like what he did in the 2013 Eastern Conference finals when the Pacers reached the seventh and final match against the Fil-Am Erik Spoelstra-coached Heat. Unfortunately they lost the championship to the Heat, a win engineered by Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

I noticed that George now sports a different number, switching to number 13 from 24. Whether that number proves to be unlucky remains to be seen but I think George will still lift his team to the playoffs this year. If that doesn’t happen, it will happen next year. He’s one of a kind in the NBA and obviously the jewel of the Pacers.

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SAN DIEGO, CA. — I was back here on Monday (April 6) and watched the U.S. NCAA Championship Game on TV at the house of my cycling friend, Gerald Valdez of Sual. The Duke University quintet defeated the dark-horse Wisconsin University in a thrilling match, prevailing, 68-63, after a 31-31 score all at the first half. This is Duke’s fifth national crown under the tutelage of America’s well-known and respected basketball tactician Mike Krzyzweski, the guy who mentored the gold medal performances of the United States national squad in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Spain World Cup. This confirms that Krzyzweski is undoubtedly the world’s genius maestro in amateur basketball. Down by eight points, 47-39, halfway in the second half, he organized his boys to engineer a huge rally at the homestretch to eventually win the tile.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 PETER 4: 11

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