The legend of Brooklyn-born Lance Stephenson continues to grow with every shining performance (like his 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting and hounding defense in Game 4 of a blood sport, 2-2 Eastern Conference Finals against defending champ-Miami).
The Shadow League wrote a piece about the former Lincoln High star, and we basically told y’all to look out for this kid and don’t sleep on him.
Excelling on the national stage for an elite squad has Stephenson’s name buzzing again, like when he was a blue-chip college recruit and drawing comparisons to some of the greatest guards to ever grace NYC playground cement. He’s even being blasphemously called a “Lebron Killer,” as Stephenson begged Vogel for the unenviable task of D-ing up King James in Game 4.
This audacity has obviously gotten under LeBron’s skin as King James refuses to give Stephenson’s defense any props.
“If you are sitting here and talking about an individual one-on-one matchup between me and Lance Stephenson, I’m not going to harp on that,” James told Miami newspapers. .
“Born Ready” fever is in full playoff effect.
Columnists from the Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman to Joseph Goodman with the Miami Herald recently wrote pieces co-signing our claim and giving Lance the mainstream stamp of approval.
They alluded to the fact Miami seems stunned by Stephenson’s ball acumen. If that’s truly the case, then Heat players should read us more for sure.
With every opportunity, Stephenson is playing within the offense and adding defensive tenacity. Enough that it prompted Heat coach Erick Spoelstra to admit that the 6’-6”, third-year guard is “an X-Factor (in this series). We know that”
If you didn’t dig it before, now you can’t deny that Stephenson — once a fourth-string guard with a heap of talent and a world of immaturity — can be the difference in the Pacers possibly dethroning the most-heavily-favored NBA champions in years. He’s taking elbows to the head and all that.
(Lance) knows he has to keep on evolving and improving," Pacers paint-pilferer Roy Hibbert told The Sun Sentinel. “We need him to win. When he plays like that, that's great. If he can harness this every single game he plays, there's no defense for that."
Told you.
