George Improves His Game, and Has an Award to Show for It With his 27-point, 10-rebound, 8-assist performance in a 110-87 win over the Milwaukee Bucks Sunday night, LeBron James served quick notice that his imminent most valuable player Award will be mere window dressing on what is looking like yet another march to the N.B.A. finals for the Heat. The fact that James scored his 27 on only 11 shots from the field - the fewest he's taken in a playoff game - made it all the more impressive. A few hours earlier, Indiana's Paul George was putting the finishing touches on an incendiary performance of his own. By way of his first playoff triple-double (23 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists), George - who was presented with this year's most improved player Award on Tuesday - led the third-seeded Pacers to a 107-90 win over Atlanta in Game 1 of their playoff series. But where James dazzled with a mix of pinpoint 3-pointers and aggressive drives, George made hay by doing something he's traditionally been reluctant to do: drawing fouls, and drawing them often. With a blend of transition takes and aggressive half-court drives, George earned a whopping 18 trips to the free-throw line. That's the most a Pacer has garnered in a playoff game since Jermaine O'Neal in 2005, and the second-most all time behind Reggie Miller's 19 against the Knicks in the 1994 Eastern Conference finals. George would make good on his first 17 attempts, which tied Miller's 1994 mark. That George was focused at the line should come as no surprise: He shot a career-high 81 percent this season, improving for the third year in a row. But as accurate as George has been, his inconsistency in earning attempts has long left his team - and its fans - scratching their heads. During the regular season, George averaged a middling 3.5 free throw attempts per game - below Isaiah Thomas and Tyson Chandler, and just above the likes of Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Carl Landry. Good players all, but none with the physical gifts and offensive abilities of George. Although George has improved slightly since entering the league in 2010 (1.7, 2.8, and 3.5 free throw attempts per game in his first three seasons, respectively), his attempts per 36 minutes have held steady at 3.3 for two years running. Meanwhile, despite a blossoming repertoire on offense - where he's become a focal point in the absence of an injured Danny Granger - George's shooting has taken a bit of a hit, with his field goal percentage (42 percent), 3-point percentage (36 percent), and true shooting percentage (53 percent) all down from a year ago. The reasons for George's dearth of free throws may be diffuse, but a look at his shot selection proves somewhat instructive. After attempting 34 percent of his shots at the rim a year ago, George's attempts within five feet fell to 27 percent during the regular season. Not surprisingly, such a drop-off has been meet with slight increases in mid-range jump shots (up from 22 percent of his attempts a year ago to 24 percent this season) and three pointers (36 percent of his attempts a year ago, 40 percent this season). There are plenty of reasons why George was the runaway winner for most improved player. Defense, rebounding, distributing - all have seen significant upticks in George's third season. George has been motivated in part by his performance against the Heat in last year's East semifinals: "My whole summer was dedicated to that series," George said. A lot of things that I watched on tape that I could've done, that I didn't do, all came down to not being confident dribbling the ball, so that was something I spent a lot of time doing this summer... Now I'm confident. I'm a confident player now. If the Pacers hope to force a rematch with Miami they'll need more of that Paul George.