Doyel: Paul George and Myles Turner? Pacers have something special

INDIANAPOLIS – This is how it happens. This is the only way it happens. Paul George is great, but not great enough. Nobody is, not in today’s NBA where a team with one superstar is a team destined for mediocrity. A team with two superstars? Now you have something.

The Indiana Pacers have something.

They have a new coach and some fun new pieces, but those are details — important details, but details nonetheless — for a franchise whose second superstar announced his arrival Wednesday night in the Pacers’ 2016 opener.

Welcome to the big time, Myles Turner.

Welcome to something wonderful, Indiana Pacers.

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Turner, a really nice rookie of a year ago, is nice no longer. He is nasty now, a dominant force at both ends, and he paired with Paul George — also nasty, also dominant at both ends — to carry the Pacers to a 130-121 overtime victory against the Dallas Mavericks.

It’s just one game, of course. Let’s pump the brakes a little bit, look around the league, acknowledge that crazy things can happen in a sample size of one measly game — the impossibly talented Golden State Warriors were blown out by 29 Tuesday night on their home floor — and have some perspective.

Nah, let’s not.

Let’s mash the gas pedal and start to dream. We all knew the Pacers would be better this season. Jeff Teague for George Hill at point guard is a net gain, though holy cow was Teague destroyed on defense Wednesday by Mavericks guards Deron Williams and J.J. Barea. Thaddeus Young for Ian Mahinmi, which is essentially what has happened with Turner moving from the four to the five, is a net gain. Al Jefferson (and C.J. Miles, a starter last season) to the bench gives the second unit some major offensive muscle alongside Rodney Stuckey.

Thanks to Larry Bird’s best offseason in years, the Pacers got better. Even before Wednesday, we knew that. The only question was: How much better?

And for that, there was really just one question that needed to be answered: How much better will Myles Turner be this season?

The answer came Wednesday. A lot better. So much better. He had 30 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots. Shaquille O’Neal and Anthony Davis are the only other players since 1983-84 to have 30 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks in a game during their age-20 season.

This was better — 30, 16 and four? You kidding me? — but here’s the thing. He’s just one star, and not even the best star on roster. That remains Paul George, who wasn’t the most prolific Pacer on Wednesday (Turner was), but who did provide 25 points, eight rebounds and six steals.

A year ago, George had to go it alone in the final minutes of close games. Until the playoff series against Toronto, the stress was just too much. It’s almost impossible, carrying a team into the final minutes and then having to hit an extra gear down the stretch. George tried last season and mostly failed, not demonstrating a consistent flair for the clutch.

He demonstrated it Wednesday. George hit his last three shots of the game, two 3-pointers and a muscled-up layup. He also found Turner for the shot of the game, a back-breaking 3-pointer with 1:18 left in overtime that gave the Pacers a 122-118 score. The game looked over, and then it was over when George hit a 3-pointer on the Pacers’ next possession to make it 125-118. Turner flushed home a tomahawk dunk and it was 127-118.

Before that, Turner had scored five points in the final five minutes of regulation, and he was altering shots at the other end when he wasn’t completely pinning a Harrison Barnes against the backboard.

Jeff Teague likes leading Pacers' faster tempo

All told, Turner and George scored 18 of the Pacers’ final 28 points.

And this is how it happens, I’m telling you. It starts with Paul George, but it cannot end there. If that’s the way it looks to George — if that’s the way it is — he’ll leave. As much as he wants to join Reggie Miller in the pantheon of local legends, even replace him, he wants to win an NBA title even more. That’s why he hasn’t signed the extension the Pacers are willing to give him right now. Well, that and the fact he can get more money if he waits for the next CBA, currently being negotiated, to resign.

Point is, George isn’t staying for the next decade if he has to be a one-man show.

For one night, the most important night — the only night of the season so far — he doesn’t look alone. George has a player who can take the pressure off him all game long, and then shoulder even more of the load in the final minutes.

This small-ball system looks like it will work for these two players, too. Turner is a matchup nightmare for opposing centers: too quick and skilled on the perimeter, yet every inch of 7 feet. George is a point forward, and every inch of 6-9. With Thaddeus Young providing the Pacers a legitimate stretch-four, we had our first look on Wednesday night at Larry Bird’s small-ball dream coming to fruition.

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There are issues, of course. Growing pains, perhaps. Teague needs help on defense and he was too careless with the ball. The Pacers didn’t have an answer for Barea on the pick-and-roll, and while he’s a nice player, let’s be real. He’s J.J Barea: short and 31 years old and a career 8.5 ppg scorer. But on Wednesday he had 22 points and six assists, helping contribute to Teague having the lowest plus-minus in the Pacers' starting lineup. Plus-minus can be misleading, but not on Wednesday. Turner was plus-25, George and Ellis plus-24 each.

Teague was minus-4.

That was a flaw, but not a fatal one for the Pacers. Not on a night they needed two fingers to count all their superstars

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter:  @GreggDoyelStar or atfacebook.com/gregg.doyel

Pacers at Nets, 7:30 p.m. Friday, FSI