Patrick Beverley joined Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter last night to discuss the LA Clippers’ success, Lonzo Ball and more.
Patrick Beverley might be one of the best weeks of his career, even if the numbers don’t show it. After locking up LeBron James and Paul George in back-to-back victories for the LA Clippers, he proceeded to help the team in one of their most dominant victories of the year against the Boston Celtics.
With the team still firmly in the playoff hunt, Patrick Beverley joined Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter to talk about the team’s success, Doc Rivers, his attitude and different players in the league. You can see the whole eleven minute interview below.
If you don’t have time to watch, don’t worry. We have the highlights for you.
When asked about how much credit goes to Doc for keeping this team successful through trades and everything else, Beverley responded:
"All of the credit. All of the credit. I mean, me, Lou, Gall, Trezz, you know, especially me and Lou. You know, after the trade got done, I looked at Lou like, “man, we gotta go out there and play as hard as we can and live with the result.” You can see Doc imprinting his coaching, his culture into this team."
Van Pelt then asked what Doc gives that is the most important thing.
"Realness. His IQ is incredible for the game. Of course, he’ll curse you out in a hot second….Any plays he draws up, especially an ATO, they always work!"
The two then went into how much joy Bev gets from locking up star players, even on nights that he doesn’t score like was the case versus OKC.
"Oh man it’s fun. Me and my friends talk about it all the time like, “Oh man, who you got coming up?” Paul George. That’s who you want. I was fortunate to get into a nice battle with Paul. For me, it’s kind of easier to get in a battle with bigger guards… I knew I had a big challenge with Paul, but I looked at it, like, it’s a great battle, a great test, great player, good team and I’ll see what I can do."
Paul George was then confirmed by Bev to be his favorite guy to go up against. In that OKC game, George managed to score just 15 points, but only 7 of them came when Beverley was matched up with him. It was his lock-down defense that led to some chirping after the game between the two on Twitter. Remember: Men lie. Women lie. Numbers don’t.
Beverley also made it clear that he wouldn’t change his temperament, whether it’s the day in, day out, approach or regarding other players. “Ask me the hard stuff.”
So, Van Pelt did.
"VP: Russell Westbrook? You guys good?PB: (pauses) I don’t know. You gotta ask him…For some reason, he thought, 6-7 years ago, I tried to hurt him. Of course, that’s not the case but… That’s a basketball play. I’m not gonna apologize for it, so uh, you gotta ask him."
The unsurprising answers just kept coming. Ever wonder who Beverley hates most in the league?
"Everybody. If you’re not on my team, I really don’t like you. I’m gonna be honest. I’m not trying to just be an a-hole, not trying to be this arrogant guy. It’s just my demeanor."
The best part of the interview? It easily has to be Pat’s response when asked about Lonzo Ball.
"VP: I say Lonzo Ball, you say what?PB: Easy."
Glad to see the animosity is still alive and well between Beverley and, well, everybody I guess. Can’t wait to see LaVar randomly show up on First Take or another show to defend his son’s honor.
On the season, Beverley has averaged 7.4 points on 40.1% shooting, 3.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 0.9 steals. As mentioned above, the stats don’t always reflect his impact on the court. He will be a free agent this summer, but with his play-style seemingly fitting in with what the Clippers are trying to put on the floor, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him brought back to the team.