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The Los Angeles Lakers will be without Patrick Beverley for a few games due to him being suspended for pushing the Suns' Deandre Ayton.
While some fans felt it was an unnecessary move by Beverley, there were others who thought that Ayton shouldn’t have been standing over the Lakers' Austin Reaves when he was on the ground.
Skip Bayless shares the opinion that Patrick Beverley was in the right; Beverley stood up for a teammate. When a player is on the floor, there is no need for an opponent to stand over them. Bayless said:
"I thought what Pat Bev did was crucial for the team. Devin Booker is standing over poor little Austin Reaves, and I don't know where Ayton got it in him to walk over and to stand over him.”
In sports, teammates are charged with protecting each other. Pat Bev is known around the league as a guy who doesn’t take any disrespect.
In the NBA, perhaps every team needs a no-nonsense player like Beverley if they intend to be successful.
Draymond Green fills that role for the Golden State Warriors now as Isaiah Thomas did for the Pistons around 1990- a player that plays hard-nosed defense and has a bit of a mean streak. He usually frustrates opponents and is loved by his teammates.
Patrick Beverley has been here before
This isn’t Patrick Beverley’s first run-in with the Suns. When Beverley has an issue with a member of the Suns, it's usually Chris Paul.
In the 2021 Western Conference Finals, Patrick Beverley pushed Chris Paul in the back even as Paul was headed back to the bench.
Paul was not available during the most recent contest due to an injury. This last situation with Ayton was a little different because Beverley was standing up for a teammate. The other incidents were simply due to the fact that he and Paul don’t like each other at all.
During the same Western Conference Finals, Pat Bev fouled Paul hard and mocked him while he was on the floor hurt. When Beverley joined ESPN as an analyst during the playoffs, he was very critical of Paul’s play. What the two men have between them seems personal.
