Lance Stephenson is who he is because he plays with emotion, with a chip on his shoulder.
But what he did against the Heat was stupid.
It started in the third quarter when Stephenson and Dwyane Wade picked up a double technical for a little shoving match (seen below). Frankly, the double tech on that was a cop-out by the refs — I would have let it go, if anyone deserved one it was Wade — but once the ruling comes down you have to know you have a “T” you have to rein it in a little.
Stephenson didn’t. With five minutes to go in a close game Stephenson made a nice move and scored, then as he ran back by Wade he got in his face and chirped. He said some words that caught the referee’s ear (or at least it was how he said nothing). Stephenson got another technical for it, that got him tossed. No, it wasn’t a good call, but that’s not the point for Stephenson.
It was his emotions getting the better of him — it doesn’t matter if you don’t like the call, once he got his first technical he could not get in Wade’s face like that. Stephenson is too key to this Pacers team in creating half-court offense to get ejected in important games like this (he had 15 points on the night).
David West said the same thing postgame, and said it to Stephenson.
David West said they addressed Stephenson’s emotions as a group postgame. “He’s just got to mature. He’s got to put his big boy pants on."
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) March 27, 2014
The Pacers need Stephenson and he made a stupid mistake that could have hurt his team.
But it didn’t. The Pacers picked up an 84-83 win in one of the best games of the season. But the games are only going to get more intense, more emotional, and Stephenson has to keep his head about him.