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Patrick Beverley was feeling pretty confident during the Los Angeles Clippers‘ 111-106 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day.
After pulling off the biggest play of the game when he blocked LeBron James on the game-tying 3-point attempt with 3.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Beverley was feeling pretty confident. Following his block on the 6-foot-9 James, Beverley approached Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and the court side crowd. As he did so, somebody shouted the name of the Houston Rockets‘ James Harden.
Needless to say, the 6-foot-1 Beverley reacted and said he would “I’ll knock his a** out too.”
Check out the video below.
Beverley Indirectly Hypes Up Rockets-Clippers Rivalry
While Beverley was likely being playful, this is something that will be played over and over again on social media. In other words, it won’t be forgotten and it’ll be something that Harden and the Rockets will have in the back of their heads as they prepare for their second matchup of the season against the Clippers come March.
It wasn’t too long ago — a week to be exact — that the Clippers actually blew a 15-point halftime lead and allowed the Rockets to beat them, 122-117.
While everyone is focusing on the battle of Los Angeles rivalry between the Clippers and the Lakers, maybe more people need to be focusing on the Rockets-Clippers rivalry. After all, Houston has the fourth-best record in the West and is just a game behind the Clippers in the Western Conference playoff race.
Although Beverley has certainly added spice to this rivalry by calling out Harden, it’s his past history with Russell Westbrook that’s the most intriguing. Not only did Beverley get ejected from their last meeting due after fouling out — with Westbrook barking at him afterwards — the defensive stalwart infamously caused Westbrook’s torn meniscus during a collision in the midst of the 2013 NBA playoffs.
Long story short, the Clippers’ next meeting in Houston on March 5 could not come soon enough.
Patrick Beverley Downplays Block on LeBron James
While Beverleys’s block on James will be replayed in highlight clips for months to come, the 6-foot-1 guard downplayed his game-winning block on the four-time MVP following the game.
Via Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times:
“I kind of knew he was going to go for the three. I just didn’t know how,” Beverley said. “LeBron, he’s one of the greatest players in the league, one of the greatest players to do it. I tried to kind of put my hand in there and I was fortunate.”
While Beverley made the game-winning play, James downplayed the meaning of the sequence, saying the game was not decided by that one particular play.
“That wasn’t the game right there,” James said. “I mean, it’s a big play and you want to try to get it right, but it wasn’t where the game was lost.”
Unfortunately for LeBron and the Lakers, Beverley’s block on James is what people will remember from this game. More importantly, the Lakers dropped to 0-2 on the season against their divisional rivals.
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