Lance Stephenson made his return to Indiana as a member of the Pacers last night and he capped off the team's 17-point victory over the Raptors with a casual layup as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
And that was a HUGE issue for guys like PJ Tucker and DeMar DeRozan.
As PJ Tucker explained to reporters after the game, scoring when you're up by that many points late in the game is one of basketball's "unwritten rules."
During his post-game interview, Tucker acted like he didn't even know who Lance Stephenson was and then called him classless for jogging down the court and putting up a layup while up by 15.
“Tasteless, classless,” Tucker said Stephenson’s actions. “There’s nowhere in the league for that. They have a lot of respectable guys. P.G., Al (Jefferson) and Monta (Ellis). There’s a way to win and there’s a way to lose in this league. That ain’t the way to win. That ain’t the way you finish games. I think those guys know that. That dude, he has no class. He has no taste.”
Stephenson's teammate Paul George tried to take some of the "blame."
“I’ll take fault in passing it to him because I knew he was going to lay it up,” (Paul) George said of Stephenson. “It’s kind of a basketball cardinal rule. You just hold onto the ball.”
Anyone else feel like the Raptors completely overreacted here?