With a 19-3 start, the Indiana Pacers have continued to establish themselves as one of the few legitimate title contenders in the NBA, building on the success of their run to the final game of the Eastern Conference Finals last spring. The team's players are earning more notice from diehard and casual fans alike, and Paul George and Roy Hibbert could be on the brink of becoming household names. It's a good time to be part of the Pacers.

Apparently, this new level of popularity has its perks. After Indiana's very impressive 90-84 win over the Miami Heat at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Tuesday night, Paul George got the opportunity to play HORSE against a very famous fan and admirer: Justin Timberlake. Check out the Instagram video below from Rich Nye of Indiana's WTHR (via All Ball via EOB):

Timberlake is in Indianapolis to perform at the arena on Wednesday night as part of The 20/20 Experience World Tour. While it's unclear who won the HORSE contest, Timberlake does appear to have considerable skills. In addition to this video and his long history of participating in celebrity games, Timberlake has had his skills vouched for by none other than BDL editor Kelly Dwyer. According to Kelly, who was at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Tuesday covering the game, Timberlake hit six straight three-pointers from the top of the arc during his post-game shootaround. Apparently the guy has more talent than we ever could have imagined.

Yet this game wasn't the extent of Timberlake's experience with the Pacers. After the jump, check out a video of Danny Granger, George Hill, and George performing Timberlake's hook (poorly) to Jay-Z's "Holy Grail" (NSFW lyrics at link).

All credit to Timberlake for being a good sport about the whole thing, but something tells me it's not fun to listen to some people butcher your song. Of course, after nearly 15 years of large groups singing 'N Sync at karaoke nights, he's probably used to it.

As far as I can tell, the only problem with this Timberlake-Pacers friendliness is potential tampering. As a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, Timberlake can't make any overtures to players about joining his team. Please investigate this issue, NBA office, because we have to find some mistake in Timberlake's life choices. A man can only make fun of "In Time" so often.

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Eric Freeman

is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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