Patrick Beverley has absolutely unloaded on rival Chris Paul, claiming the NBA veteran “can’t guard”.
The pair have a pretty frosty past, Beverley recently pushing Paul from behind during a heated exchange, and that bad blood was clear for all to see when Beverley appeared on ESPN’s First Take show.
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Speaking shortly after Paul's Phoenix Suns lost 123-90 in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinals series against the Dallas Mavericks, Beverley told Stephen A. Smith: “Ain’t nobody worried about Chris Paul and the Suns.
“Don’t get it twisted. He can’t guard. He can’t and everyone knows that… CP can’t guard anybody, man, everybody in the NBA know that.
“You know what you do with cones, in the summer time you got a cone, you make a move. What does the cone do? Nothing. He’s a cone. Everyone knows that, it’s just that y’all don’t want to accept that. Give him the Ben Simmons slander.”
Just for reference, Paul is a seven-time all NBA Defensive first team player.
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The remarks left host Stephen A. looking very shocked – and he clearly wasn't the only one slightly puzzled either.
A bunch of NBA stars were quick to condemn Beverley for his comments, including Portland Trailblazers guard Damian Lillard.
He said: “Bra on TV acting like his word law. Speaking on private convos and praying on mfs downfall. This weird behaviour smh... I ain’t got a horse in the race”.
He also tweeted a post of Beverley’s stats this season, adding: “Cuz nobody guarding this man”.
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Former NBA player Matt Barnes also leapt to CP3's defence, calling Beverley a “clown” and saying “there’s a thin line between being critical and disrespecting”.
“And I feel like what Pat Beverley did today to Chris Paul, was completely disrespectful and out of the line,” Barnes told NBA Today.
But it seems it isn't just Paul's defensive work which Beverley doesn't rate, later claiming that the Suns should've benched the veteran guard for Deandre Ayton instead.
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“First off, I’m going to get a lot for this, but I don’t really care. They benched the wrong person. Should’ve benched [Chris Paul],” he told ESPN's Get Up show.
“And I’m not saying bench him now. Once you see they started attacking Chris early and you know that might become a problem later on, you need to see how the team works without Chris in the game a little bit. I got benched. We won, though, so you don’t even remember that.
“So as a coach, you have to understand, they’re attacking my main guy, I can’t get buckets from him, I have to make an adjustment, whatever that adjustment is. And that’s no fault against Monty [Williams], he’s a great coach, Coach of the Year. But if T-Lue’s there, he’s making that decision. It’s a hard decision, but he’s making it.”
Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Twitter/ESPNTopics: Australia, NBA, Basketball
