The Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat are the only two teams in the East with preseason title aspirations who haven’t fallen apart in the season’s first month. They’re two of just three teams above .500 in the East (the Hawks are the third), but there are 12 teams at .500 or above in the West. Despite the lopsided Conferences, the Pacers beat one of those West teams, the Timberwolves, and Paul George punctuated his big night with a sick windmill dunk after a steal.
George was 10-for-16 on the night, including a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range as he scored a team-high 26 points in Indiana’s 98-84 victory over a ‘Wolves team that’s now one of four .500 teams out West. All four of those teams (Phoenix, Memphis, and the Lakers are the others), would have home-court advantage in the increasingly top-heavy East. Even the Hawks aren’t at the level of Indiana or Miami. It’s way too soon to look ahead to April and May, but a rematch of last year’s back-and-forth 7-game Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and the Heat could be on the very distant horizon.
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