What was Lance Stephenson thinking? Breaking down his ridiculous play

Lance Stephenson pulls out all the stops with a ridiculous highlight-reel play against the Knicks. We wonder exactly what was going through his mind as he performed the stunt of the night.

Lance Stephenson was given the nickname “Born Ready” in the summer of 2006 by Bobbito Garcia, the courtside announcer at the legendary Rucker Park in Harlem.  Over a decade later, Stephenson continues to ball out, and his streetball roots showed through tonight against the Knicks.

Stephenson pulled off a bit of the old razzle-dazzle near the end of the second quarter of the Pacers’ 115-97 victory over New York. The play was described by the NBA on ESPN Twitter account as “the Lance-iest play of the season so far.”

Let’s watch.

Everything about the play was unnecessary. It was great.

We can only imagine what was going through Lance’s head as he pulled off this crazy stunt.

No, we’re not going to leave you hanging. Here’s a second-by-second breakdown of what we think Lance was thinking.

0:00-0:01 – “Whoa! Nobody’s near me at all. I’m gonna take off like a rocket and nobody’s stopping me.”

0:01-0:02 – “OK, guy in my way now. Maybe I’ll just keep going straight through him. Nah, looks pretty big. Maybe I’ll pass it to somebody else. But first, I’ll crouch! That’ll be neat.

0:02-0:03 – “Big 33 looks open. What’s his name again? Dang. Can’t remember Big 33’s name. Mental note: get a media guide and look up Big 33’s name so I can call him by his proper name and stop calling him Big 33. He might catch on that I don’t really know his name. Anyways, I’m gonna zip a pass to him behind my back and make a sound effect in my head while I do it. ZING!”

0:03-0:04 – “I don’t have the ball! I don’t have the ball! I don’t have the ball! I don’t have the ball! I don’t have the ball!”

0:04-0:05 – “Finally, I’ve got the ball again. That sure was a long second.”

0:05-0:06 – “Remember what your coaches taught you. Get into a good triple-threat position. But first, STOMP!”

0:06-0:07 – “Now I’ll really trick him. In and out and all around and through my legs and back around. I like making up songs when I play basketball. I wonder if I look like a spider right now.”

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0:07-0:08 – “I think I just got away with a travel. I can’t believe they don’t call those.”

0:08-0:09 – “Remember Allen Iverson? I liked that guy. I’m gonna do his move and then ask this French dude if he ever heard of Allen Iverson before. I wonder if they even have Allen Iverson in France.”

0:09-0:10 – “I should probably stop goofing around here and get to the rim. I think a quick little spin will do the trick. Yep!”

0:10-0:11 – “Oh no! A little farther way than I wanted to be. Better put up a little floaty.”

0:11-0:12 – “Yippie! Hooray! Look at me! Oops, Lance did again, I made a basket, I floated it in! That’s a good song. I can’t believe I just wrote that in my head…oh, wait that’s Britney Spears.”

Pretty sure it was just like that.