If you want to be a champion, you have to be able to handle pressure. If you can’t handle the pressure of being the #1 seed, how do you expect to handle a pressure of a Game 7? Maybe, that is why the Pacers were blown out in Game 7 last year against the Heat.
Paul George on no longer being atop the East: "Now, we can just go out and play. …I think it was wearing on us trying to keep the #1 seed."
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) April 2, 2014