NBA fines Roy Hibbert, Lance Stephenson for flopping in Game 5
By Josh Hill
Not that is comes as any sort of a surprise if you watched the Indiana Pacers Game 5 win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday, but the NBA has decided to fine both Roy Hibbert and Lance Stephenson for flopping on separate occasions during the game. The fines were not levied evenly though, as Stephenson’s fine is $10,000 since he’s a repeat offender while Hibbert got a discounted fine of $5,000 for being a newbie offender in the series.
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The fines really don’t hurt the Pacers as a team, but they all had to have seen this coming, specifically Stephenson who was a rock star for all the wrong reasons in Game 5. While he had a decent game shooting, he’s being better remembered for blowing in LeBron James’ ear and for flopping hard and hilariously to try and foul LeBron out of the game.
Stephenson was fined for the latter. You can see why here:
It’s hard to say that either of the flops had that big of an outcome on the game, but had LeBron fouled out on that flop there would have been a lot to pay for from both the Pacers and officials.
Stephenson has made a bigger name for himself by clowning around in the series but it’s clearly starting to cost him. He’s been busted twice now for flopping and he’s going to be watched even more closely by officials from here on out. He’s quickly turning into the boy who cried wolf as well, since officials might not be so keen on giving him fouls since he’s gotten away with flops a few times this series.