A quick look at Chicago Bulls starting point guard Patrick Beverley’s Twitter profile says it all.
His bio simply reads “Mr. 94 Feet”. It’s a reference to the length of a regulation basketball court and, more specifically, Beverley’s relentless nature on both ends of the floor and in the locker room displaying the latter when discussing the Bulls’ 7-4 record since his arrival.
“S***, [we] should be 9-2,” Beverley told Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic following the Bulls’ 113-99 victory over the Miami Heat on March 18. “I think the team that really beat us was Phoenix and Toronto. Obviously the game-winner against [the Indiana Pacers] and the game-winner against [the Sacramento Kings]. So really should be 9-2. Got to be better.”
Beverley finished the evening with 17 points, his most as a Bull, knocking down 5-of-10 threes adding four assists and three rebounds.
He scored 14 of those points and hit 4-of-5 triples in the second quarter.
Pat Bev drills his fourth three in the first half!
His bluntness was a key reason he was brought in to join a team that was far too often listless throughout long stretches of games.
The 34-year-old Chicago native is averaging 10 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists over his last four games connecting on 45.5% of his threes. Beverley has posted a positive plus-minus in nine of his 11 games as a Bull.
He has overtaken Alex Caruso with the best net rating on the team, per Cleaning The Glass.
“I just got a coach that believes in me and understands what I bring to the game of basketball,” Beverley said. “Fortunate to be able to play under a coach like Billy [Donovan]. And, obviously, when you got a coach like that who believes in you, you don’t want to let him down. So, just having fun with it.”
I really play for the bulls. Never gets old❤️❤️❤️
Donovan said Beverley, “really opened up the game for us.”
Beverley called the game a “professional win” for the Bulls who have won four of their last five games and have a 1.5-game lead over the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards for the final spot in the Play-In Tournament.
“We came in understanding that this was a must-need win,” Beverley said.
Patrick Beverley Reaches Career Milestone at ‘The Crib’
Beverley surpassed 5000 career points, a feat surely made that much sweeter by the victory he helped secure. But there was another aspect of the accomplishment that did more than hit close to home.
“The man does everything,” DeMar DeRozan said, per Mayberry. “[It’s] electrifying, especially when we’re at home. It gets the crowd going, and you’ve got to feed off of that when you see a guy sacrificing himself for big plays and to save a possession. It carries over from there.”
Beverley appeared on Chicago Bulls All-Access on March 7 and told stories of his childhood growing up in Chicago and how he used to sneak into Bulls games.
Things have come full circle.
From our All-Access show on YouTube and t.co/rFOXT3cUdR 🎥
Patrick Beverley: Nikola Vucevic Got ‘Payback’
Beverley left the game at the end of the third quarter after getting poked in the eye. He did not seem any worse for the wear after the game and even joked that it was some friendly retaliation that took him out.
“I think [Nikola Vucevic] tried to pay me back from Detroit,” he quipped. “We even now.”
He was referring to an in-game exchange where the two teammates disagreed on where they were supposed to be leading to an animated back-and-forth of gesticulation.
Both players brushed off the exchange in the aftermath and there have not been any further public displays of discontent.
Beverley even tweeted Vucevic’s posterizing dunk to his timeline.
With just 12 games remaining, the Bulls are seemingly coming together at the right time, though they can’t afford to ease up off the gas. Their margin for error, to Beverley’s point about their record, is slim. But, if they can continue to work their way through the difficulties of what plagues them, they could have a better finish to the season than was expected just a few weeks ago.
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Patrick Beverley Delivers Harsh Reality Check to Bulls