Doyel: The Pacers' only hope is a greedy Paul George

INDIANAPOLIS – Greed is good when you’re Paul George and your teammates are the 2016-17 Indiana Pacers. Greed is smart. Hell, greed isn’t even greed. Not in this scenario. In this scenario?

Greed is the Pacers’ only chance.

Paul George is that marvelous, his supporting cast is that mediocre, and the stakes are that high. And his teammates are that clueless, thinking they need to be the ones with the ball in their hands when the game is on the line.

That’s what happened Tuesday night, when the Pacers lost 115-114 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In a game dominated by George, the Pacers didn’t go to him enough in the final 4 minutes and coughed up a game they had to win.

And afterward, Paul George was ticked off.

“To be honest, man, I don’t think I got the ball enough down the stretch,” George was saying in the locker room. “I don’t think I got the ball enough down the stretch.”

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Look, he’s right. Paul George complains a lot, too much, about the referees and the crowd and the coaching. That dilutes his message when he has a complaint and he’s right. And he’s right here. On a night George was going all Gordon Gekko on Minnesota – greed is good – the Pacers decided to ride the final few minutes with Thaddeus Young and Monta Ellis turning the ball over and Myles Turner getting fouled and converting two free throws and then Jeff Teague trying a what-was-THAT shot with 16 seconds left and the Pacers trying to protect a 114-112 lead.

The referees then made a mess of the final 5 seconds, calling a foul on Teague because he was near Ricky Rubio when Rubio was losing control of the ball after colliding with his own teammate. Rubio made all three free throws.

Ballgame.

Officiating mistakes? They’re going to happen.

The Pacers forgetting who their star is in the final minutes of a must-win game? That can’t happen. But it did, and so the Pacers are seventh in the Eastern Conference, with any finish from fifth place to 10th possible.

We saw a glimpse of greedy George on Tuesday night, but not nearly enough, and here I’m not referring to the final play, when the Timberwolves doubled him 25 feet from the basket and George found Ellis – who had made eight of his first 10 shots – alone on the wing for a 3-pointer. Ellis missed it long at the buzzer, but George made the right play there.

For much of the game Tuesday night, George was in the attack mode he displayed for seven games in that playoff series last season against Toronto. In that mode – spin it any way you want: attacking, ball-stopping, selfish – George is a revelatory talent. He had 37 points on Tuesday night and on defense he embarrassed Timberwolves star Andrew Wiggins in the same way he embarrassed Raptors star DeMar DeRozan in the playoffs. Wiggins scored 17 points on 6-for-17 shooting, with twice as many turnovers (four) as assists (two).

But look at what I’m saying: Paul George was marvelous, the game was at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, and the opponent was a team 15 games below .500 and missing its third-leading scorer (Zach LaVine, 18.9 ppg).

And the Pacers lost.

George is stuck now, stuck on a team so bad that it is almost historically mediocre. The Pacers’ record after 74 games: 37 wins, 37 losses. And consider the stretch that ended Friday, when the Pacers had alternated wins and losses for 15 games — a franchise record and just one off the NBA record.

After scoring 25 points in the first half, George was attacking less in the second, save for the time he literally went one-on-five – splitting two Minnesota defenders near the foul line and then scoring on the other three at the rim – to give the Pacers a 108-101 lead with 4:34 left.

George is sensitive about being perceived as selfish, too sensitive if you ask me. Five days ago he was saying after the 125-117 loss to the Denver Nuggets that some people – or some person – don’t like it when he shoots too much. He was asked if those people, or that person, was in the Pacers locker room. George said: “No comment.”

So of course those people, or that person, is in the Pacers locker room.

Look, if the 2016-17 Pacers were a better constructed team – if team President Larry Bird had given coach Nate McMillan a reliable NBA shooting guard, if he’d given McMillan a bench – this would be a moot point.

But Myles Turner seems to have hit a wall. He has played 73 games and almost 2,500 minutes, and he has done it at center. In the past 12 games he is averaging 10.4 ppg and shooting 45 percent from the floor and 10 percent on 3-pointers.

Young, the Pacers’ stretch-four, has become no-stretch, all-four. He injured his left wrist in early February and returned after missing eight games, but he won’t be OK until next season. Before the injury, Young was averaging 11.5 ppg and shooting career-best 39.6 percent on 3-pointers, attempting 111 in 49 games. Since returning, Young is down to 7.4 ppg, can’t shoot free throws (he’s 6-for-18) and rarely tries a 3-pointer, putting up just five of them in 17 games. He tried one on Tuesday night. Air ball.

Teague has become the point guard Bird envisioned after acquiring him this offseason, averaging 15.3 ppg and 7.3 assists entering Monday, and those numbers will rise given his 20-and-10 line. George isn’t completely alone. The Pacers have Paul George and Jeff Teague, and then they have a player whose best days are in front of him (Turner), a player whose best days are behind him (Ellis) and a player whose best days aren’t possible given his wrist injury (Young).

And don’t get me started on the Pacers’ bench.

Frankly, the current Pacers don't belong in the playoffs. If they’re lucky they’ll fall short, get a shot in the lottery, pick one of the five or six difference-making studs in the upcoming draft, and have something to smile about next season.

But the Pacers aren’t thinking like that. They want the postseason, which is admirable. But the way to get there is for Paul George to take as many shots as he damn well pleases – and for his teammates to get the memo:

This is Paul George’s bus. Hop aboard, or get out of the way.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel