George's recovery 'shocks' those who had endured injuries

Matt Harpring has watched Paul George this season and sees a basketball miracle.

Harpring, a former NBA player for 11 seasons, has much of the same feelings that many fans have when it comes to George’s performance: He's in awe of George’s ascension back to superstar status.

“I’m shocked,” Harpring, a television analyst for the Utah Jazz, said in a telephone interview Thursday. “I give him a lot of credit for hard work. It is a lot of hours behind the scenes. I’m a big fan of people who just bust their butt.”

Harpring understands. He played just four games in 1999-2000 due to an ankle injury, then suffered a season-ending knee injury after 31 games in 2003-04. Harpring knows what it takes to stay on the court in that first year back and what George will battle through the final 29 games of the season.

George is just one of eight forwards in the past 20 years to miss at least half a season after performing either at or near an All-Star level at roughly the same age. The other seven are Richard Jefferson, Anfernee Hardaway, Kevin Love, Ryan Anderson, Wally Szczerbiak, Corey Maggette and Harpring.

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Most of those players were unable to do what George has done this season in averaging 23.3 points and 7.1 rebounds through 53 games entering Friday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The other seven players had various injuries, none suffering a broken leg as George did. But last year, George spoke with Harpring when George first started doing basketball activities. One bit of advice Harpring gave was to increase his workload when he returned to the court from  rehab to keep his body strong.

George has openly shared the grueling training sessions he went through last summer to prepare himself to once again lead the Pacers. But last month, George admitted that his body, in particular his legs, felt fatigued having the responsibility of playing more than 30 minutes a game.

“I thought everything was going to be great,” George said then. “I knew I was still a little limited, but I thought I was going to be able to manage that through a full season. But I hit a wall and definitely hit reality that this is going to be a rough journey.”

One of George’s biggest goals this regular season is to play all 82 games, a feat he has yet to do in his six-year career. In order to say upright and produce, George said he has spent more time with the training staff, used more ice before and after games to keep inflammation down and rested as much as he can.

Harpring had a similar routine for the 2004-05 season when he played for the Utah Jazz. The year before, his season was cut short after 31 games because he needed microfracture surgery on his knee. Harpring played 78 games after the surgery and averaged 14.0 points and 6.2 rebounds. But what Harpring learned most that season was how much of his time needed to be dedicated to fighting off pain and fatigue.

“After a (major) injury, you never feel good again the next morning,” Harpring said. “It becomes a full day thing of icing and stretches and strength exercises. It’s a constant grind and it probably will be for Paul for a while.”

For other players such as Love and Jefferson, who both play for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, the biggest adversity they faced was restoring the mental approach needed to be successful again. Love missed most of the 2012-13 season with fractures in his right hand.Jefferson missed a large portion of the 2004-05 season with a broken wrist.

Both said it took months to have full trust in their bodies and that they would expect a significant injury to a leg would be even more devastating for their psyche.

“I think a leg injury is always a little different than any other extremity because you’re so concerned with how it happened and hitting the ground and how you fall,” Jefferson said three weeks ago. “Paul has done a great job. It goes to show what you can accomplish when you’re not only mentally strong, but also when you do the work to get back physically.”

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An injury and a long recovery process can also provide a new perspective and a greater appreciation for athletes. Harpring said just stepping on the court in an NBA game after two microfracture surgeries on his knee was enough to make him feel incredibly grateful.

“The injury really humbles you and makes you, for a lack of a better word, human,” Harpring said. “You realize basketball is a luxury and God gave you gifts that not many people have.”

A similar moment for George happened Sunday.

He was introduced to a sellout crowd in Toronto as a starter for the Eastern Conference in the NBA All-Star Game. George said he realized how much he missed that feeling last year when he could barely dribble a ball. Playing in that game, and scoring 41 points (one shy of the record), was an emotional night for George.

Despite the burden of playing through soreness, fatigue and progressing through a journey he has never done before, George hopes he can set a new precedent and be the model example for future players who sustain what many consider to be a career-changing injury.

George understands he is one of just a few players to return from a major injury and set career-high statistics in the next full season.

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“I hope that motivates and that’s in the back of guys’ minds that face big-time injuries, that they can always push and get to where they were,” he said last month. “I never set my goals low. I know coming into this season I was like, ‘Man, I wanted to be the MVP.’ I’ve always been confident and never set my goals low, regardless of what the doctors or trainers say what it would be like.”

Harpring is rooting for George.

Yet he knows he never truly returned to the player he was before his knee injury. Jefferson never did, either. Love did have a career year following his hand injury, but his production has gone down in the past two seasons in Cleveland.

Harpring is hopeful George continues his rise. But he wants people to appreciate what George is doing and what he is trying to accomplish after his recovery.

“What he has done is miraculous in my mind,” Harpring said. “I thought he’d come back, but not at the level he’s come back. It makes me happy and it should make him proud of himself.”

Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

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