First of all, wow. Just wow. This is a straight game changer for however long Westbrook is out.
I just watched this for the first time and I’m enraged and I know this is all off the cuff, but what the hell is Patrick Beverly trying to accomplish? After the game he said this via NBCSports: “I don’t care what your status is, any of that,” Beverley said. “I’m just trying to win basketball games, so whatever it takes. If someone gets frustrated, someone gets frustrated. By the end of the day, I’m there to play basketball and help the Rockets win, so that’s my only focus.”
Hey Bro, even if you make that play and knock the ball out of his hands, (unlikely) the ball is only going to end up going out of bounds. There’s really no need for this and I can’t handle it when players do that. Beverly was effectively diving at the ball/ right at his legs. Also, the comment about status, to me, is irrelevant. If the same thing happened to Beverly in the playoffs, he’d probably be just as pissed. There’s a difference between hustling and being a jackass and there Beverly was being the latter. And I’m all about hustle but when a point guard is headed toward HIS bench slowly and looking at his coach/ referee, he’s going to call a timeout. There is NO NEED to go diving at the ball to try and make a steal that NEVER WORKS!
Word is that Westbrook may be able to return if the Thunder make a deep run but this hurts them tremendously. For this to happen because some guy went diving at your legs AFTER THE WHISTLE WAS BLOWN (listen to the video) is so unlucky and doesn’t need to happen.
