Facing elimination once again, Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals was supposed to be do-or-die for the desperate Indiana Pacers.
Instead, the team looked flat for much of the night on both ends of the floor, went down by 26 points by half time, and the game was well out of reach by mid-third quarter.
Despite having the best record in the East during the regular season, it has been a tumultuous year for the Pacers. They limped their way into the playoffs and struggled mightily against the Atlanta Hawks in the first round before seemingly turning things around (at least by their standards) against the Washington Wizards in the second round. Ultimately, though, they were no match for LeBron James and the Heat and weren’t anywhere close to as competitive as they have been in previous years.
If there was one player on the Pacers who did whatever he could to disrupt the Heat as much as possible, it was undoubtedly Lance Stephenson. The guard once again relied on some interesting tactics to try to get into the head of James:
Unfortunately, it all seemed to be a distraction to the Pacers as much as it was for the Heat. Some had a blast watching him in action, while others were quite harsh about Stephenson’s antics:
Just blew on him again — Dan Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) May 31, 2014
“@douggiefresh21: Lance has no chill!”/but it’s so funny
— Channing Frye (@Channing_Frye) May 31, 2014
Dawg! — Jordan Hamilton (@J_Goin_HAM) May 31, 2014
I would think at some point somebody on the heat team is going to put hands on Lance lol sheesh
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) May 31, 2014
That was definitely intentional…..lol — Austin Rivers (@AustinRivers25) May 31, 2014
Lol
— trevorariza (@TrevorAriza) May 31, 2014
Lol — Jeff Teague (@Teague0) May 31, 2014
Lance knew not to make eye contact. Clown? Yes. Fool? No RT @J_Steve_22: Lmaoooo here is the video. Look at Udonis https://t.co/kb1I2TSVgt”
— Dan Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) May 31, 2014
Lance Stephenson doesn’t seem to know he is throwing millions of $$$ out the window with his moronic antics…
— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) May 31, 2014
Lance is a jackass. Throw him out. This was coming for 2 games.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 31, 2014
Refs have allowed Lance to behave like a total jackass for 2 games. Funny the NBA cares so much about hard fouls, but this crap is fine.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 31, 2014
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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.
I think it’s great that a team has a guy that says, “I’m going to fuck you up.” One of the many differences between James’ Miami teams and James’ teams when he was stuck surrounded by pacifist stiffs in Cleveland.
Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen must be the only guys watching that thought Lance was making a play on the ball. He raised his hand after Cole already had the ball, didn’t get near it, didn’t swipe down or towards the ball. He absolutely knew what he was doing. The refs gave him the benefit of the doubt by not ejecting him, probably fair enough, but flagrant was the right call.
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