The Los Angeles Lakers were blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, and no one enjoyed it more than Patrick Beverley.
Late in the game, Beverley and Robert Covington trapped Austin Reaves in the corner and forced him into a turnover. Beverley, of course, had to make his presence felt by bumping Reaves with his shoulder, prompting a very minor engagement before the 76ers went on to cruise to victory.
Reaves and Beverley are former teammates, of course, with the latter playing for the Lakers last season before being dealt at the trade deadline and eventually winding up with his hometown Chicago Bulls.
Beverley already seemed to get his revenge on the Lakers when the Bulls came to L.A. and won last season. He hit a midrange bucket on LeBron James late in the game and did the famous “too small” celebration.
The teams then met again in Chicago the following week and this time it was Reaves and the Lakers that got revenge. With L.A. leading late, Reaves scored on Beverley and game him the “too small” with James appreciating his teammate coming to his defense.
Beverley said at that the time that he was just ‘having fun’ when he did the celebration on LeBron, and surely Reaves’ response was in good fun as well as he has always said he has nothing but love and respect for Beverley.
It appears that Beverley did not take it that way though as his energy towards Reaves in the most recent matchup in Philadelphia was because of that incident and he plans to continue going at Reaves as long as he’s in the NBA, he said on the Pat Bev Podcast with Rone:
“I didn’t want to guard anyone else but Austin Reaves last night. How dare you come to Chicago, in my hood, and hit me with the ‘too little’ and don’t think that I’m gonna come for your neck. It’s cool, he’s gonna feel wrath from now on. I’m picking his ass up 94 feet. It’s nothing personal, it’s just business… It was the bump after. The bump was needed… A good bump too. I put my hand up, got a little elbow to the head as he walked through… I clipped him, good call. I clipped him. Every time I see the Lakers until I retire, whatever team Austin Reaves is on, I’m on his ass. Because of that… That’s what made me angry about it, because I did time for him. I literally did time for him. Money out of pocket, for him. Hit me with the [‘too little.’] It be your own people, say less.”
Beverley has always been one to play with a chip on his shoulder so this doesn’t come as a surprise. He does the “too small” celebration very often himself and doesn’t mean any disrespect though, so hopefully he’s not looking at Reaves in that lens when he surely wasn’t trying to disrespect Beverley.
Either way, both are extremely competitive so Reaves will likely welcome the competition in future matchups. The Lakers’ second and final matchup against the 76ers is scheduled for March 22 at Crypto.com Arena.
Reaves didn’t have problem with Beverley’s retaliation
Reaves was asked about Beverley’s retaliation after the game and didn’t have a problem with it.
“Pat is a super competitor. If you go back to when we played in Chicago last year when I did the ‘too small,’ I don’t remember if it was after the game when someone asked him about it and he was just like ‘it’s the game.’ Same response, basically. I respect Pat. Pat is a good dude, Pat is funny… So he had all the right in the world to say whatever he wanted to say. That’s the game. Competitors being competitive.”
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