Paul George: Lance Stephenson needs to control himself better

Lance Stephenson did not have a good game for the Indiana Pacers in their 117-111 Game 2 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night, and Paul George says the veteran leader needs to compose himself better even when things aren’t going well.

George was not trying to call out Stephenson in his postgame comments, but he did point out what Lance needs to do better:

Pacers' Paul George after Game 2 loss to Cavs: "[Lance Stephenson] has to learn to control himself… His body language has to improve." pic.twitter.com/vf301J85ZI

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 18, 2017

“He’s got to learn to control himself,” George gently said of Stephenson. “He’s got to learn to just be in the moment. Lance is looked upon as a leader in our locker room. His body language has to improve just for the team. We all know Lance is an emotional guy. A lot of it is his heart and competitiveness. He’s just got to channel that, put it towards making effort plays on the court.”

Even though Stephenson’s final numbers looked respectable — 13 points on 6-for-13 shooting with four assists and no turnovers — Stephenson committed four fouls in 26 minutes and proved unable to guard Kevin Love, who scored 27 points. The mismatch between Stephenson and Love was evident as the Cavs kept going to their forward when he was being guarded by Stephenson.

Indiana trails their first-round series with the Cavs 2-0. Game 3 will be on Saturday at Indiana.