I would say the Indiana Pacers player making the most noise in their series with the Miami Heat is probably Roy Hibbert. The Pacers big man has been playing phenomenally and is getting a lot of positive attention.
A guy getting noticed for completely different reasons is Lance Stephenson.
Stephenson has quickly gained notoriety as being the immature clown who gave LeBron James the choke sign after James missed a technical free throw in the Pacers’ blowout win in Game 3. Stephenson quickly apologized and it clearly didn’t bother LeBron.
“I’ve been there before, I’m not going to stoop down,” James said. “Lance Stephenson? You guys want a quote about Lance Stephenson? I’m not going to give him the time.”
Someone it did bother was Heat veteran Juwan Howard. Howard reportedly went looking for Stephenson before the Heat practice on Saturday and when he could not find him, he had some choice words for Stephenson’s teammates.
“Tell him I’m going to (expletive) him up,” Howard said to Dahntay Jones, Paul George and another Pacers employee.
That was not the end of it though. On Sunday during pregame warm-ups, Howard went over to Stephenson and got in his face and started yelling and pointing his finger. The two were separated by Pacers assistant coach Brian Shaw and that was seemingly the end of it.
“We’re just two men who have a difference of opinion. That’s all,” Howard said after the game. “As far as our differences go, it’s over with. It’s the past now.”
This is not the first time the two have gone at it either. Howard was ejected from a game back in February for fighting with Stephenson (ironically on Valentine’s day).
I honestly think this whole thing is hilarious. It is two guys that never play, one who has been in the league for centuries and the other is too young and stupid to know when to keep his mouth shut. I don’t see this escalating much more because surely both coaches have told these guys to quit it, but I’m going to hope for some garbage time in the remaining games just for the chance that Stephenson or Howard says something the other doesn’t like and this irrelevant feud can continue.
