For years I’ve been tellin’ boyz that Lance Stephenson was the most important player on the Pacers team. It was true when Frank Vogel was coachin’ him and it’s still true today with Nate McMillan at the helm. Yes, I know that Victor Oladipo is the best player and that there are other more productive players on the roster than Lance like Myles Turner, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young etc.
However, nobody brings the energy to the buildin’ like Lance “The Don Dada!” When that dun stands up and heads to the scorers table the place goes crazy!!! When he checks into the game there is a different vibe on the floor and it’s all because of the kid from Brooklyn.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! The only reason that the Pacers are up 2-1 on Cleveland is because of the attitude that the Pacers are playin’ with. And guess who’s the catalyst for that? Lance freakin’ Stephenson! He brings crazy attitude to the Pacers locker room. The last Pacers’ team to play with this type of confidence was when Reggie Miller, Dale Davis and the big homie Derrick McKey went to the Finals in 2000.
Lance seems to be the only cat in the league that won’t back down from LeBron. He gets a rush out of playin’ against him. Remember the “ear blowin’ game” when the Pacers were battlin’ the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals and he held LeBron to 24 minutes and 7 points because he forced LeBron into foul trouble foolin’ around with him? Boyz around here were upset with Lance because Paul George and Frank Vogel scorned him publicly for doin’ it. His antics actually extended that series bruh. Really? The sad part about it is that because Vogel and PG were upset the fans followed suit. Boyz were actually mad at Lance for slowin’ down the best player in the world and addin’ an additional game to the series.
It was crazy how Paul George would always let some media-type bait him into slammin’ Lance after a game for playin’ with passion and fire. I would bet that’s why he left in 2014 because he was tired of his teammate, coach, and oh yes, Larry Bird for slammin’ him for playin’ HIS game. Even ole Larry would take a shot at him from time to time in the media like when he told boyz that he wasn’t goin’ to negotiate with Lance when his contract was up. That wasn’t the public’s business. He’d side swipe him with little comments like that in the media and act like he’d never pulled his mirror off of the ride.
They may have had a great relationship but you can’t keep slammin’ a boy and expect him to keep takin’ it.
So he dipped but unfortunately, his game didn’t work out in Charlotte nor in LA (Clippers), Memphis, New Orleans, or Minnesota. He was about to be out of the freakin’ league until the Pacers called him back home.
He showed up with six games left last season and the first night he suited up they took Cleveland to two overtimes before losin’ 135-130. They went on to win five out of their remainin’ six games to barely make the playoffs. Why? Because of the energy that The Don Dada brought back into the locker room and to the Fieldhouse. He was the only reason they made the playoffs last year playa. Without him they were headed to the crib in mid-April.
Now unfortunately, when they made the playoffs they got stuck with LeBron and Co. After losin’ 117-111 to go down 0-2 to the Cavs none other than Paul George throws a full plate of manure in Lance’s face after a reporter set him up AGAIN and he fell for the Oakey Doke. The media member asked him about Lance’s behavior durin’ the game and instead of protectin’ his teammate like we saw LeBron do after Game 3 the other night when a reporter tried to set him up, Paul regurgitated all over the podium by sayin’:
“He’s got to learn to control himself and be in the moment. Lance, in our locker room, is looked upon as a leader. His body language has to improve — just for the team. We all know that Lance is an emotional guy. A lot of it is his heart and his competitiveness. That emotion comes out of him. He’s got to channel that toward making effort plays on the court and doing whatever he needs for us to succeed.”
It’s mighty funny now that George is gone there isn’t anybody publicly blastin’ him and the team is much better with Lance doin’ the same foolishness that he’s ALWAYS done. He’s playin’ with the same passion, the same energy and throwin’ the same missed passes that may hit the beer man in the side of the head every now and then. There are the same “What are you doin’ Lance” trips down the floor but the big homie Nate McMillan knows how to handle him.
When he happens to hit the beer man or the cat sellin’ cotton candy in the face with a wild pass. Nate doesn’t go off. He just sits that dun down for a while and let’s him cool off. Then he puts him back in. Why? Because he plays with so much fire that it’s contagious.
It’s HILARIOUS to see Lance try to do the rope-a-dope, spinnin’ his arms around for miss-direction move and blow it because everybody in the buildin’ will immediately look over at Nate. He knows everybody’s lookin’ at him to see how he’s goin’ to react. He’s remains as cool as a fan and keeps it movin’.
Did you see Bogdanovic tryin’ to get into LeBron in Game 3 gettin’ low and tryin’ to get under his skin by darn near tacklin’ him? That’s a page out of the “The Don Dada’s Book of Foolishness page 44. However, he defended the crap out of the best player in the world and still put up 30 points on him.
If the Blue and Gold gets beat in the playoffs this year it’ll be because they loss to a better TEAM. Not because they got punk’d or pushed around by a better player. Not with Lance on the team. EVERYBODY’s attitude and energy goes up when he’s around. And yes, I know that it’s Oladipo’s city but Lance is runnin’ the city council at this point. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Ole boy: noun – the person that I’m currently talkin’ about.
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo is real talk today!