Devin Booker is 100% right. With the Lakers losing their 11th game on the season against the Phoenix Suns, Patrick Beverley and his classic shove-from-behind move came out to play as he nailed an unsuspected Deandre Ayton during a late-game scrum.
First off, let me just preface this by saying that I’m a fan of Patrick Beverley and his game. The NBA needs ‘enforcers’ and ‘tough guys’ like Patrick Beverley and Draymond Green as much as it needs its superstars like Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton as without one, the other turns the league boring and stale.
Where would the league be today if the 1990’s Chicago Bulls, led by Hall of Fame superstars Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, and the legendary Michael Jordan, didn’t face off against the ‘Bad Boys’ 1990’s Detroit Pistons, led by infamous bullies and enforcers Bill Laimbeer, Joe Dumars, Denis Rodman, and Isiah Thomas (who was obviously a scorer, but could get dirty too)? A lot less popular, that’s for sure.
It’s the natural order sports to have superstar/finesse players having to face off against physical superior ‘enforcers’ and ‘bullies’ who are the only people to stand a chance of beating them with lesser skillsets. That’s what makes sports so engrossing and exciting, which its why I have a tremendous amount of respect for Patrick Beverely.
But not when he acts like a thug.
Yes, I said it. Shoving people in the back when they are clearly not expecting to be decked does not make a player feared or respected, but rather makes them seem cowardly and thuggish. Do you think those guys from the 90’s I just mentioned (ie: Thomas, Laimbeer, Rodman, Dumars, Jordan, Pippen, Grant, etc.) would have pushed each other from behind instead of facing off face-to-face? Of course not.
They would have had the courage and the resolve to look Ayton in the eyes before shoving him over.
Alright, before I go on any further, I guess I should add a little context for what I’m talking about for those who haven’t seen the play. Essentially, Lakers guard Austin Reaves gets fouled hard to the ground by Devin Booker as he is going up for a layup. Rightfully, Booker gets called for the foul but Ayton, who had no reason to even be near Reaves, decided to grab the ball and then step over the downed Reaves like some sort of tough guy.
So, again, Beverely rightfully went to stick up for his teammate, but he did it in a cowardly way as he shoved Ayton from behind and inspired a huge brawl to incur.
Like I said, I’m 100% backing Beverley in this altercation as Ayton unnecessarily tried to be a tough guy to a man who was not only fouled and sprawled across the court, but who is also 7 inches shorter than him. Pick on someone your own size, Ayton.
Anyway, I’m also 100% backing Booker when he says that Beverley should stop pushing people from the back as this is now Beverely’s second time doing a similar thing after an altercation. And, funnily enough, the other time also came against the Suns.
Remember back to the Western Conference Finals of the 2021 playoffs when the 4th seeded Clippers faced off against the 2nd seeded Suns during Phoenix’s run to the Finals.
Again, Beverley got angry with Chris Paul as he chirruped him after making a 3-point shot to further embarrass LA in Game 6 in which the Suns were up 118-92. Instead of confronting Paul to his face, Beverley took the cowards way out of the confrontation and forcefully shoved him in the back.
The same thing happened last night…though to a much lesser degree. But it still shows a pattern of behavior for Beverley as he is obviously become more inclined to push people from behind than to shove them face-to-face.
In truth, I don’t really care if Beverely gets suspended or not as I would just rather see him acting like the enforcer that he is, rather than playing as a coward who only retaliates when his opponents aren’t looking.
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