Longtime hoops fans know better than to give weight to the bitter pronouncements of the Clippers’ Patrick Beverley over the weekend. Even as he gave props to the Lakers for besting them in a matchup the Staples Center marquee boldly proclaimed as a “Battle for L.A.,” he belittled the contributions of Most Valuable Player candidate LeBron James. “We gotta give them a lot of credit,” he said in the aftermath. “Living in L.A., it’s hard to deal with this loss, but we have to wash this down the shower, keep getting better, and we will.” Which was all well and good. However, he also couldn’t resist throwing a ridiculously off-target jab at the leader of the purpose and gold, arguing in response to queries from Inside the Green Room’s Harrison Sanford that defending the latter was “no challenge and “not hard at all.”
To be sure, the two have no love lost of each other. Perhaps they could have been teammates, but Beverley signed with the Clippers early in the offseason, back when the Lakers had to keep cap space while waiting for Kawhi Leonard’s decision in free agency. And when the reigning Finals MVP chose to sign with the far less illustrious Staples Center tenants, the plucky player known for leech-like defense couldn’t help but gloat; he and James happened to be in the same restaurant when he heard the news, and he gladly rubbed the development in.
That said, there can be no discounting the facts. The Lakers prevailed against the Clippers in large measure because James proved superior in the crunch. It wasn’t simply that he finished with a sterling stat line of 28, seven, and nine. It was that he did significant damage with the outcome on the line; he scored or assisted in the visitors’ last 13 points, and 19 of their 27 in the payoff period. Needless to say, the numbers expose Beverley’s pronouncements as utterly devoid of substance. Not coincidentally, the supposed stopper was ineffective in all other aspects of the contest, coming up with as many points and rebounds as turnovers and fouls (six), and a whopping negative-16 net rating in 26 minutes of play.
True, Beverley deserves praise for continually exceeding himself. What he lacks in talent, he more than makes up for with spunk. That said, it’s one thing to possess irrational confidence, and quite another to display irrational behavior. Respect begets respect, and he needs to admit that James has earned his — if for no other reason than to highlight his own strides when he does a good job the next time around. Else, all he’ll wind up being is a sore loser who deserves to be written off.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
