Golden State Warriors

Paul George: Pacers 'don't have the personnel' to mimic the Warriors

Published Dec. 11, 2015 8:04 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Indiana Pacers were the popular pick to break the Golden State Warriors' 27-game win streak. Paul George has been playing better than anyone not named Stephen Curry, and the Pacers' transition to a more uptempo, small-ball system suggested they could keep up with the Warriors.

Wrong.

The final score, 131-123, wasn't indicative of how badly the Dubs dominated the Pacers. Golden State entered the final frame with a 28-point lead, and if not for a slip-up by their bench, they would've maintained that lead, or something close to it.

The humbling loss led Paul George to tell the Indianapolis Star's Candice Buckner that the Pacers got caught up in trying to match the Warriors, and that's something they can't afford to do without similar personnel:

George is right. This is perhaps the most difficult part of facing the Warriors. Teams are now trying to play their style of basketball, using wings as power forwards, shooting more 3-pointers and pushing the pace -- but it doesn't work unless you are the Warriors, or have the two-way talent that teams like the Spurs, Thunder and Cavs.

“We got to be real with ourselves. We’re not the Golden State Warriors. We have to come to that,” George said. “We’re not trying to mimic them. I think their style of play is what we want to be like. We want to spread the floor and have guys be able to make plays on the perimeter, but we don’t have the personnel they have.”

Instead, Indiana is a team saddled to a third straight loss, which coincides with a down-and-out stretch on the defensive end as the Pacers allowed the third consecutive opponent to eclipse 120 points.

“We don’t play as well as everybody think,” Mahinmi said. “And not as good as we think we should play.”

Besides those fews teams -- and perhaps a couple other -- no one can really match the Warriors' shooting or defense or positional versatility, so teams are better suited playing to their strengths and hoping that they can catch Golden State on an off-night.