What Is the NBA’s Lance Stephenson Going to Do Tonight?

Last updated on: June 2, 2014 at 12:28 pm by Kermit Zarley

What Is the NBA’s Lance Stephenson Going to Do Tonight? 2014-06-02T12:28:31-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers play their sixth series game in Miami tonight for the Eastern Conference Championship in the NBA. Miami is ahead 3 to 2 in the series. They can close it out tonight. But they could have closed it out Wednesday night after having Indiana down 10+ points much of the game until late in the fourth quarter. Indiana won 93 to 90. That’s despite the fact that Miami’s four-time MVP superstar LeBron James, without question the greatest player in the game nowadays, had to sit the bench much of the evening due to early foul trouble. He only played 24 minutes and had seven points, his worst post-season game in his career. Why?

Lance Stephenson, that’s why! Stephenson was guarding James and harassing him all night. Talking trash and getting under his skin. I think he got fined $10,000 for a flop. But he was all over LeBron. The best was when they were standing side-by-side. It may have been on the foul line, with both players bent over with their hands on their knees, waiting for play to resume. The cameraman then zoomed in on them standing together on screen in such a close-up shot that all you could see on the screen was their head’s and upper bodies. It was such a great camera shot for what was about to transpire. Then, standing on the left side of James, Stephenson turned his face to LeBron’s face, looking at him very close up. LeBron was staring straight ahead, seemingly aware but not paying any attention to his menace. Then Stephenson blew air in LeBron’s ear. I have been an NBA fan almost all my adult life, and I’ve never seen that before. LeBron stayed dead still with his body and head and looked far right, thus in the opposite direction, as if to say, “did yall see that!” Then he went back to looking straight ahead. Then Stephenson did it again. LeBron started barely shaking his head trying to keep from smiling. To me, you could take that as blowing a kiss without the hand movement.

I thought it was so so funny, I howled laughing. But Indiana Pacers President Larry Bird, one of the top five superstars to ever play the game, must not have cracked a smile. Yet Bird is no slouch himself when it comes to trash talking on the court and talking humor. Houston Rockets coach Kevin McKale was Bird’s teammate with the Boston Celtics, and he always said Larry Bird was one of the funniest guys he’s ever known. And Larry Bird and Michael Jordan could go at that face-to-face pretty good talking trash at each other. One of the funniest things I’ve seen in the NBA was when Bird and McKale won one of their NBA championships and in the celebration ceremony right afterwards, their coach Red Auerbach was giving a speech in which he said the accolades should only go to the players. Larry Bird was standing right next to him and he blurted out, “Then you’re overpaid!”

In interviews after the game, Bird said of Lance Stephenson’s blowing in LeBron James’ ear that it was “crossing the line” of what’s fair game. That’s his own player he’s talking about. And Superstar Miami Heat player Dwayne Wade said of the incident, “whatever you get away with is fair game.” As for LeBron, he said, “I’m just here to play basketball.” Ha! That made it more funny to me. LeBron is trying to keep his head in the game, and Lance is trying to get him off track any way he can, whether it’s with body blows or ear blows. I don’t know if Mr. Larry Bird is right or not, but I thought it was hilarious.

Pacers teammates say they never know what in the world Lance Stephenson is going to do next with his antics on the court. He’s built a reputation with his shenanigans. I’m wondering what it’s going to be tonight. Can LeBron James over power everyone like he usually does, charging across the court like a steaming locomotive for a bunch of slam-dunks? Or will Lance Stephenson get on the track and blow some more of his own hot air to derail the charging locomotive?

Current Events

Previous Post

May 28, 2014

Did the Jews Accuse Jesus of Claiming to Be “God” or “a God”?

Next Post

June 1, 2014 What Will the Palestinians' New Government Look Like?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Why was Daniel thrown into the lion’s den?

Select your answer to see how you score.

He spoke against the king He prayed to God He refused to bow to the king He stole from the treasury

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »