Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson fined $5K for flop in Game 2 against Miami Heat
By Brad Rowland
The 2014 Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat is just beginning to heat up, especially in the wake of Miami evening the series at 1-1 with a victory on Tuesday night. However, the on-court loss wasn’t the only issue for Indiana in Game 2, as stud swingman Lance Stephenson has been fined $5,000 by the NBA for flopping.
Lance Stephenson has been fined $5,000 by the NBA for what was a pretty blatant flop in Game 2 against the Heat Tuesday night.
— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) May 21, 2014
The full play can be seen here, but Stephenson’s flop occurred late in the third quarter when he bounced (read: went flying) off of LeBron James as the Heat star crossed the half-court line. The announcing crew immediately diagnosed the play as a flop from Stephenson, and the league apparently agreed with that assessment.
The 23-year-old Stephenson was arguably the best player on the court in Game 2, scoring 25 points while pulling down 6 rebounds and dishing out 7 assists, but this was fairly blatant and probably an easy decision for the league. Still, I wouldn’t expect anything of this relatively small magnitude to discourage from Lance’s playing style, and this series is expected to ramp up in intensity as it progresses.