Lance Stephenson was playing in just his second game back from injury on Saturday, missing 14 straight before briefly appearing in Wednesday’s contest against the Spurs, while coming off the bench.
But given that this one was against his former Pacers team, Stephenson played as though he hadn’t missed a beat.
He engaged in a bit of the non-basketball nonsense he was known for in Indiana, body checking Roy Hibbert and knocking him down in the process.
Both Stephenson and Hibbert downplayed the incident afterward.
From Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer:“I didn’t hit him that hard,” Stephenson said. “He flopped. You can’t knock down big Roy. C’mon now.”
Hibbert downplayed the contact from a player he considers a close friend, joking that Stephenson must have been lifting weights.
Stephenson once again came off the bench, and finished with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting in 20 minutes of action. But he was on the sidelines for the last half of the fourth quarter and all of the overtime session. He said he wants to be in Charlotte after a week where his name came up in trade rumors, and that’s good if it’s true. Because no one is going to give up real assets in a deal for him as long as these little incidents continue; his current level of on-court production simply doesn’t warrant the risk.
[via For The Win]