The bruising Heat-Pacers war last night featured a number of physical plays. Perhaps the most amusing for viewers featured Dwyane Wade and Lance Stephenson. They both got technicals early in the second half, and a second altercation — that upon further review, at least according to Jeff Van Gundy, didn’t seem that bad — led to Stephenson getting ejected. It didn’t matter, as the Pacers won in the end, but their back-and-forth is going to be amazing if — or more likely, when — the two teams meet in the Eastern Conference Finals.
First, the two got into a shoving tiff midway through the third period. That led to a technical for both guys.
But then Stephenson mean mugged Wade following a lefty layup with under three minutes to play in the fourth. Wade FLASHed (get it) a wry smile at Lance, then threw up his hands towards ref David Jones — who was right there to see the whole exchange. Jones assessed Stephenson his second technical and he was gone.
Lance had his back turned when Jones assessed the technical, but once he had been informed of the decision he wasn’t too pleased as he was escorted off the court.
It looks like the Brooklyn’s “Born Ready” Stephenson simply told Wade, “What!” after the play, and the screenshot of Wade’s amused reaction produced some epic tweets, but Wade got the better of Stephenson’s emotions in the end.
There might have been more to what Stephenson said, rather than the amateur lip-reading done by JVG, and Wade certainly seemed to tattle on Lance after-the-fact, but these two will certainly have some more episodes with each other in the future.
Despite Stephenson’s ejection, the Pacers looked feistier than that have in weeks and won the slugfest, 84-83, after a remarkable David West three-pointer in the last minute.
(video via beyond the buzzer)
Do you think Stephenson’s ejection was fair?
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