Getty Kevin Durant shooting over Patrick Beverley.
The Los Angeles Lakers were finally able to get back into the win column with a divisive 116-103 win over the Brooklyn Nets. It was the most impressive win of the season for the team and it came when LeBron James was out with an injury. It also broke a five-game losing streak.
Anthony Davis had his best game of the season and scored 37 points with 18 rebounds. If the Lakers can get that type of performance from Davis more often, they’ll start winning a lot more games. However, one teammate wasn’t ready to give Davis most of the credit for the win. Patrick Beverley believes that his defensive performance against Kevin Durant is what set the tone for the win.
“Sh**, me guarding KD. Y’all didn’t see that? That was the key from the beginning,” Beverley said following the game. “I set the tone, team responded. I started off on KD today. I love those matchups. That’s how I make my name.”
Durant finished with 31 points while no other Nets player scored over 15. Beverley did eventually give credit to his other teammates for helping guard the superstar.
“But my teammates, they did a hell of a job having my back,” he said. “It wasn’t just one person guarding him. AD had my back. We doubled him, threw the whole boatload at him today, we’re just fortunate.”
Durant saw a reply to the clip of Beverley talking about his defense on the former MVP that said he wasn’t lying. The Nets star disagreed and said that the guard was in fact lying.
@Treybrown3 Yes he is brother
Durant Explains Trash Talk to Beverley
Beverley is one of the best instigators in the NBA. His current teammate Russell Westbrook famously disregarded his defensive ability by saying that the guard just runs around pretending to play defense. That’s clearly what Durant is getting at with his tweet. He was annoyed with the guard during the game and was seen talking trash in a viral clip.
Durant had a chance to explain why he was so fired up in the clip.
“So, Pat Bev and about four or five of their guys are like, ‘Get up! Get up!’ And he didn’t get up so I shot it they was just all so pissed,” Durant said. “It’s funny when the whole team coaching up on my possessions on defense. I think it’s cute. It shows they got a lot of respect for my game. That moment was cool right there.”
Time for Lakers to Make up Some Ground
The season couldn’t have started worse for the Lakers. 3-10 through 13 games is not ideal. However, the team also had a brutal schedule to start the year. With the win over the Nets, this is the time for the Lakers to go on a run. Their next game is against a 3-10 Pistons game and then play a lackluster San Antonio Spurs team in three of four games.
The Lakers need to at least go 3-2 in their next five games. Ideally, they’d go 4-1 to pick make up some ground and get closer to .500. If Los Angeles has any hope of making the playoffs this year, they’ll need to be impressive over the next couple of weeks. If not, it might be another lost season.