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The story of tonight’s game was Lance Stephenson. Mr. “Born Ready” had more heart than any player on the floor. Even as a Miami Heat fan, I think the way this Indiana Pacer played was simply remarkable. Miami may have won tonight, but I believe there will be extensive tape review of Lance’s gameplay. Adjustments will need to be made to ensure that the fire he brings to the Indiana Pacers is extinguished.
Stephenson put up 25 points with 6 rebounds and 7 assists. His stats from the last two games are notable, but it was the tenacious manner in which he went about scoring and getting his team involved that was most impressive. One could even say Larry Bird was impressed with Stephenson’s aggressive gameplay based on his body language towards him when Stephenson sat by him for a rest during the game.
While I do applaud the valiant but fruitless efforts of the Brooklyn native, I have to give partial credit to the thoughtless tactics of the Miami Heat head coach, Erik Spoelstra, for matching Norris Cole up on Stephenson. The Brooklyn native saw the mismatch right in front of him and clearly took advantage of it for all of three quarters. In my opinion, I believe LeBron James on Stephenson would have been the better matchup. Hopefully they make that adjustment in game 3.
What shocked me was how Stephenson went to sleep in the fourth quarter. Cole’s defensive strategy did not change. It appeared the former Cincinnati player had run out of gas against the Heat. It was as if he took a sit and never returned to the game.
If the Heat plan on being successful in future games of this series they will need to shut Lance down. James even said in a post game ESPN interview that “we got a lot of work to do”. The problem with that is Stephenson when gassed-up is such a talent, that he refuses to be denied. Because of him and his cast of All-Star teammates, this is going to be a very long series. Look for Miami to game plan him specifically in the next epic match-up.
Jermaine Lockett is a writer for CouchRiderReport.net. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.