If you look only at the Pacers’ record in this series, the Lance Stephenson experiment looks like a huge mistake. 0-4 against the same guy who got his ear viciously blown into by Stephenson? Obviously there was a grudge there, and obviously the Pacers should have let Stephenson continue rotting on his couch.
That’s if you only look at the record. If you look at the actual games, things become murkier. Stephenson definitely brought his much-needed tenacity to Indiana, along with his maybe not-as-needed “stand around and do a bunch of dribble moves that don’t accomplish anything” playstyle. I can’t figure out if the Pacers would’ve been better off without him, and even if I did figure it out, I wouldn’t want people to get angry at me for having opinions. Stephenson is a very polarizing figure (though the pendulum has swung very far towards the “he’s awesome” side recently), so I have to be careful to be as neutral as possible.
Let’s just say that he had some sort of an effect on the Pacers and leave it at that. Have a happy offseason, Pacers fans!