With just under four minutes remaining in the Suns‘ win over the Lakers on Tuesday night, Lakers guard Patrick Beverley and Suns center Deandre Ayton were involved in an on-court altercation that resulted in technical fouls for both players and an ejection for Beverley.
Following a Devin Booker foul on Austin Reaves that was ultimately ruled a Flagrant 1, Ayton grabbed the ball and stood over Reaves, who was down on the floor. Beverley shoved Ayton from behind, knocking him to the court and resulting in a brief skirmish between Lakers and Suns players (YouTube video link)
As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, Beverley explained to reporters after the game that he was looking out for his backcourt partner.
“Got a person on the ground, two people looking over mean-mugging and puffing their chest out and referees don’t get into it to kind of separate it, control the game, so I’m going to stand up for my teammate,” Beverley said. “… Obviously, it’s unfortunate that it happened on national TV. But you know me: Regardless of what’s going on, I’m a big fan of protecting my teammates. … I’m a foxhole guy. I put on the jersey, and I commit to a team, I commit to a city, and it’s kind of my motto.”
Beverley received postgame support from head coach Darvin Ham and several teammates, including Reaves himself, who said he told Beverley “four or five times” that he appreciated him. Ham acknowledged that Beverley will likely face NBA discipline for the incident, but said he wasn’t upset about his point guard’s reaction.
“Pat Bev, you don’t want just to be a tough man competition; you actually want to play tough basketball. But at the end of the day, I’m not mad at him,” Ham said, per McMenamin. “He’s there protecting his teammate, and I’m sure he’ll probably go through some type of consequence for that.”
At the very least, Beverley seems likely to be facing a fine of up to $50K for his actions. Chris Mannix of SI.com and Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter links) were among the reporters to suggest that a suspension isn’t out of the question, particularly since Beverley has a history of on-court chippiness.
Suns head coach Monty Williams told reporters during his postgame media session that “the league needs to take a look at those kinds of plays,” referring to them as “silly” and “unnecessary,” while Booker alluded to Beverley’s reputation in an on-court interview with TNT’s Chris Haynes after the game.
“Pat needs to stop pushing people in the back, man,” Booker said (video link). “Push them in the chest. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
Neither the Lakers nor the Suns are back in action until Friday, so the NBA may decide to take a little time to determine what sort of penalty might be appropriate for Beverley and possibly other players involved in the altercation. Although the Lakers guard didn’t regret standing up for a teammate, he said he could have taken another approach to confronting Ayton and is bracing for some kind of league discipline.
“Very unprofessional by myself. Definitely could have reacted in a different way,” Beverley said, according to McMenamin. “So, yeah, I’m a big boy. I’ll take my lumps however they come.”
It’s unfortunate it happened, but Ayton and Booker instigated that. If you don’t want to be shoved in the back, don’t taunt a guy down on the floor after you fouled him. That simple.
I’d also label it as more of a bodycheck than a shove.
If you don’t want to be shoved in the back don’t get on the court with cowards like Pat. Talk to me when he comes after someone who doesn’t have their back turned.
Because Ayton is such a tough guy for standing over a dude he didn’t even put on the floor? Lol. Pat run away? No, he didn’t. Heat of the moment he just didn’t take the time to spin Ayton around, but think what you want to think.
Where did I say he ran away? I mean he did, dude couldn’t get out of there fast enough once DA got to his feet.
I am on the side of PatBev… its funny how jayson tatum can get a tech for clapping his hands but a 7ft tall center obviously standing over a downed guard and instigating the situation gets nothing… nba refs need a re haul
Ayton got a technical foul too…
Yeah, after reassessing the play
Cry about it?
Are you 12?
Snowflake WISHES he were 12-he’s probably hasn’t graduated to Huggies Pull-ups™ yet.
Brah, I’m 12.5. Don’t come at me with that kind of disrespect.
Beverley is the kind of guy you can’t stand … UNLESS he’s on your team in which case you wear his jersey at game you intend. Having said that, he shoved someone who was taunting. The equivalent reaction would be a taunt, not a shove. You escalate, you pat a higher price. The logic that says a shove = a taunt would say a punch = a shove. Uh, nope.
But Ayton was taunting by standing over Reaves. Given the context of the taunting, the “best” Beverley could do to Ayton is to get him off of Reaves. Granted he doesn’t need to shove him and could try to push/muscle him off but fighting fire with fire, or in this case taunting/chirping back at Ayton, isn’t going to get Ayton off of Reaves any quicker
“Oh no, my guy is on the ground. Let me push this 7 foot dude over him instead of helping him up” – Pat Bev…probably.
We need Beverly back in Minnesota
Imagine Jimmy Butler and Pat Bev back in Minnesota trying to whip that lazy team into shape.
Greatest Play-In Champion of all time.
I think the example to follow here would be what Jokic got when he shoulder checked Markieff Morris from behind. Beverley will probably end up getting more because of his reputation but I don’t think it should be significantly more games than the 1 game Jokic got. Jokic’s shove was out of frustration and got another player injured, Beverley’s shove seems like it was done trying to defend his teammate and doesn’t seem to have gotten anyone else injured. Both hits were from behind/their blind-side but I’d probably rather take a body check from Beverley than Jokic just given their size differences.
Reminds me of when I tried to shove my dad when I was 9
It’s never about BASKETBALL when Bev is in the news…
“Smoke-n-Mirrors”
Made a complete living off of it.
Whatever works!
The league needs to take a look at their refs. So much inconsistent rulings on the court. Too much home court advantage on fouls.
Pat Bev doing the refs job for them. Any suspension is crazy.
As a Lakers fan I loved to see that. He was standing up for his guy and showing his teammates what it means to be a team. I’ll take whatever the league throws at him 10/10 times.
He needs to get at least 10 games. Cheap shot punk.
You’re talking about Booker the punk and his cheap shot flagrant foul…right?
Oh no! His hand brushed across Reeves beautiful, precious face!
8 losses in a row to the Suns? That’s embarrasing!
Against the Clippers, too.
LeBron, AD and company need to wake up and start winning. Gotta stop these trends. Years of bad basketball being played.
The F.O. also has to be held responsible. It’s the Lakers, remember?!
The way things are going, looks like the Celtics will be getting number 18 before the Lakers.
“Pat needs to stop pushing people in the back, man,” Booker…
Apparently smacking them in the head is ok?
Based on the statement and the actions by Booker that seems to be what we take away from the incident.
I’m not a fan of any of what happened – it was all wrong and the best thing I see was Bev at least admitting he was wrong. (and he was!)
I’d love to see the Suns players noting they played just a tiny little part in all of it…maybe? A little responsibility? No?
The NBA needs to act on this sort of thing – but honestly – WAY more people were involved and the Suns coaches and Booker and Ayton all should get fines and some suspensions alongside Bev and Davis.
Get serious or just admit it is a league that enjoys a good brawl.
Soft comment bro.
“SnowflakeAlert” with some clear projection, my man can’t read anything without getting his feelings hurt. 8 comments.
Beverly has a reputation for hurting opponents. That might earn him a stiffer penalty.