Paul George is the undoubted leader of the Indiana Pacers, but the star man wants more help on that front from Lance Stephenson.
The recently re-acquired guard socred 13 points in 26 minutes, but became frustrated in the third qaurter after a stretch defending Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love, who was having a field day, finishing with 27 points, a lot of them coming against Stephenson.
“He’s got to learn to control himself,” George said following the 117-111 loss.
“He’s got to learn to just be in the moment. Lance is in our locker room is looked upon as a leader. His body language has to improve just for the team.”
“We all know Lance is an emotional guy and a lot of it is just his heart and his competitiveness that emotion comes out,” George added. “He’s just got to channel that and put it toward making effort plays on the court and doing whatever he needs for us to succeed.”
Pacers coach Nate McMillan was similarly frustrated with Stephenson’s body language, telling him to ‘calm down’ towards the end of the third quarter.
Stephenson finished with 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting, adding four assists, two rebounds, and two steals. George 32 had points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Game 3 is in Indiana on Friday. Cleveland is 12-0 when starting 2-0 in the postseason.
