With his Indiana Pacers down 3-1 to the defending champion Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, Lance Stephenson has regrets.
"I said some things that shouldn't have been said," Stephenson told The Palm Beach Post, presumably reflecting on boasting about how he was "in LeBron James head" and planned to run Dwyane Wade until his bad knees "flared up."
Lance Stephenson: "I said some things that shouldn't have been said."
— Jason Lieser (@PBPjasonlieser) May 28, 2014
All the loud talking has come to haunt Stephenson and the Pacers, as the Heat have now run off three straight wins and James and Wade have both been at their focused best.
By contrast, all the talk, not to mention the losing, have the Pacers pointing fingers at one another, including star forward Paul George describing Stephenson as "still young" and needing to learn a lesson from the painful experience.
Lance Stephenson lobbying for All-Star game berth
Initially, Stephenson refused to back down, stressing he stood by his comments and wasn't concerned with how four-time league MVP James may have perceived them. But with All-Star center Roy Hibbert again complaining about not being a part of the game plan and the Pacers struggling to at all corral the Heat, Stephenson seems to have had a change of heart upon realizing how close Indiana is to imploding.
All the extracurricular activity appears to have tired Stephenson in other ways as well, who after averaging 21 points over the first two games of the series has scored just 19 overall over the last two games.
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