Lakers, Patrick Beverley Defend Shove on Deandre Ayton
The Phoenix Suns emerged victorious in 115-105 fashion over the Los Angeles Lakers, but the win came with a dash of drama.
Far expected from two prominent franchises in the West, let alone division rivals that see each other four times per season. Factor in the proximity and overall hatred the city of Phoenix carries for Los Angeles, and you've got a rivalry that won't die out any time soon.
That fire and passion carries over to the court, and with Patrick Beverley involved, anything can happen.
That was again the case with 3:55 left in the game, when a fouled Austin Reaves laid on the floor with Devin Booker staring him down and Deandre Ayton standing over him, too.
Beverley took exception to that and shoved Ayton, leading to a scrum that emptied both benches.
After the loss, some prominent Lakers weighed in on what transpired:
Darvin Ham
“It is an emotional sport. Austin (Reaves) gets knocked down and there was a bit of chirping going on with Book (Devin Booker), (Deandre) Ayton and some of our guys. From what I saw, Ayton was standing there about to walk over him. With Pat Bev, you don’t want to just be a tough man competition. You actually want to play tough basketball.
"At the end of the day, I am not mad at him. He is there protecting his teammate and I am sure he will go through some type of consequence for that but at the end of the day that is who we have to be, is Lakers. We have to be together. Some of the main words I said from day one is competitive, together and accountable. We were together and we are together. That has to be our identity. Teams have to know that they just cannot push us around. We need to play within the rules, but we also got to have each other’s back and be together.
"It is an unfortunate play but that is who we have to be. Everybody pulling for one another and everybody protecting one another."
Anthony Davis
“We have each other’s backs. (Patrick Beverley) is known for that- having his teammates' backs. He started talking at the end of the game. (Deandre) Ayton was talking to (Beverley), then somehow got that way towards me, so we went back-and-forth. I think he actually hit Austin (Reaves) in the face, and my focus was just on him. We went back-and-forth again. (Beverley) felt like he was standing over (Reaves), and he did what he should do.
"He is just having his teammate’s back. We are never going to let anyone stand over our teammate and make them feel like they aren’t a man. That’s disrespectful in the sense of just having each other’s backs. I think that’s all it was.”
Patrick Beverley
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