Indiana Pacers swingman Paul George has officially been crowned the NBA's Most Improved Player for 2013.

The 6'9" third-year forward, who made his first All-Star appearance this year, averaged a team-high 17.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.8 steals (compared to 12.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals last year), while also destablishing himself as one of the league's best perimeter defenders.

The 23-year-old George received 52 out of 121 frist placed votes and finished with 311 points overall, ahead of the Hornets' Greivis Vasquez (146 points) and the Bucks' Larry Sanders (141). He becomes the fourth Pacer to receive the award, with his predecessors being Jalen Rose, Jermaine O'Neal and Danny Granger, whose injury woes this season enabled George to step into a leadership role.

This was a strange win for George. Not to say he has not improved a whole lot, but some might say he has not even been the most improved player on his own team (with that honor going to Lance Stephenson, who went from bench warmer to solid starter). Some expert predictions didn't even mention George's name -- apart from Vasquez and Sanders people were more focused on the 76ers Jrue Holiday, the Rockets' James Harden, the Trailblazers' JJ Hickson and the Magic's Nikola Vucevic.

In George's defence, he did improve on all his numbers (notwithstanding more minutes and an increased role), and was the leading scorer on a team that locked up the third seed in the East without Granger. And his defense has been spectacular at times. Throw in that triple-double (I know it doesn't count) in game 1, and he doesn't look like such a bad choice.

It was good to hear him say that he is not satisfied and wants to be on an All-NBA team next season and eventually in the MVP conversation. That's a lot of confidence, and the Pacers will need that if they are ever going to come close to challenging Miami and the beasts of the West.

Congratulations!

Paul George is back! Well, kind of. PG24 still couldn't hit a shot from the field, finishing just 3-13 from the field, but the third-year All-Star made up for it from the line, going 17-18, and finishing with a triple-double by adding 11 rebounds and 12 assists. The spectacular stat sheet stuffer powered the Pacers to a 107-90 victory against the Hawks in the first game of their first round series.

PG24 wasn't the only star of the night though. All five Pacers starters scored in double figure. George Hill had 18, Roy Hibbert had 16, and David West and Lance Stephenson had 13 each. Tyler Hansbrough was a hustle machine off the bench, with all five of his boards coming on the offensive end.

It was a solid win for a team that was been struggling had been down by 20 points in all six of its previous games. It was a new start, and it was a good one. That said, in a 7-game series like this, things can turn around very quickly, and if the Hawks steal game 2, things could get ugly very quickly for the Pacers, who have not won a game in Atlanta in 11 tries.

But for now, the Pacers can be glad to be back on track. The Hawks will no doubt make adjustments, and they will have to as well.

The Indiana Pacers (49-32), the Eastern Conference's 3rd seed, will take on the Atlanta Hawks (44-38), the 6th seed, in the first game of the first round of the NBA Playoffs on Sunday afternoon.

The two teams split the 4 regular season meetings this season, with Atlanta winning the first two in November and December and the Pacers winning the last two in February and March. On paper, the Pacers appear to have the stronger lineup. The Hawks rely on their big men Al Horford and Josh Smith, but the Pacers should have enough size to contend with them with Roy Hibbert and David West clogging up the middle. Ian Mahinmi, Tyler Hansbrough and Jeff Pendergraph provide backup size in the event of foul trouble to the Pacers' starting bigs.

In the backcourt, Jeff Teague is growing into his own, which could present problems for the Pacers especially if George Hill does not return to 100%. The Pacers' starting PG is said to be battling groin and hip problems, which will limit his speed and mobility against the quick Teague.

The Pacers bench remains a big question mark because of its inconsistency, while the Hawks have some names on their roster that could do damage if called upon. It makes me wonder to what extent Pacers coach Frank Vogel will shorten the rotation and give more minutes to his starting unit, which is according to statistics one of the best in the NBA.

Most analysts have the Pacers winning in 5 ot 6 games, with only a handful thinking sweep or a full 7 games. However, only one ESPN analyst, Henry Abbott, picked the Hawks to win in an upset over 7 games.

Personally, I think this will be a hard fought series and the Pacers are by no means a lock to advance to the second round. The Pacers are still regarded as the best defensive team in the league, but they have been horrible lately in shutting down opponents. They head into the playoffs having lost 5 of their last 6 games, with the lone win being a crazy come-from-behind victory against the Cavs in which they were down by more than 20 points.

Vogel admitted to there being problems with the D that needed to be fixed and said that guys were either fatigued or banged up. Well, they had an extra day of rest due to the Boston game being canceled and all starters aside from Lance Stephenson played in the finale, which means a lot of guys have not played a game since the April 14 loss to the Knicks. Perhaps this time off has given them time to rejuvenate and tweak a few things here and there for the playoffs.

Roy Hibbert appears to have found his offensive touch, which is great news, but Paul George appears to be heading in the opposite direction with a string of awful performances. The Pacers will need both of them to be in top form for this series.

It's a curious series because the Pacers have been playing so poorly as of late, even though the Hawks don't exactly appear to be on fire either. That said, it appeared as though the Hawks tanked their last two games of the season so they would face the Pacers instead of the Brooklyn Nets, and keep themselves out of the Miami Heat side of the bracket.

The first two games of the series will be key. Will we see the Pacers team that suffocated opposing offenses for the majority of the season or the terrible swiss-cheese defense we witnessed towards the end of the season? And on the flip side, will the Pacers offense be as good as it had been towards the end of the season or as atrocious as it was when the team was playing its best D?

We will have to wait and see.

For my 2 cents, I am predicting that the Pacers will tough it out in 6.

The NBA has canceled the Pacers' clash with the Celtics on Tuesday night in Boston following the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon today, which has so far killed 3 and left more than a hundred injured.

The game will not be rescheduled given that the Pacers and Celtics are both locked into their respective seeds for the playoffs -- the Pacers at No. 3 and the Celtics at No. 7. This means both teams will finish their season with just 81 games.

For the struggling Pacers, this cancelation gives them the rest they seek, but also takes away an opportunity to get back on track with a strong showing against a veteran team. They will play only one more game in the regular season -- a home game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.

I've been too depressed with how the Pacers have been playing to post regularly. The Eastern Conference's 3rd seed has lost four of their last five games, and it would have been five of five but for that miraculous comeback against the Cavs.

On Friday against the Nets, the Pacers dug themselves into a massive 20+ point deficit again before mounting a furious rally that fell short in the final minutes. Final score, 117-109. Tonight, they just weren't good enough against the Knicks, dropping a 90-80 decision on the road.

Despite the horrific losses, the Pacers have wrapped up the 3rd seed thanks to a Toronto victory over Brooklyn, and will most likely face the Chicago Bulls in the first round. Unless Derrick Rose walks through the door, that's looking like a great matchup for the Pacers right now, though with the way they've been struggling it's not a sure thing.

The Pacers are now 49-31 for the season and finish the last two games against the Celtics on the road and the 76ers at home. They don't need either win, and as coach Frank Vogel suggested, they will likely rest key players for the playoffs. Paul George is in a massive slump and a bunch of other guys look visibly fatigued. I hope this is something a few days of rest can solve because right now it's not looking great for a team that looked really dangerous just a couple of weeks ago.