Patrick Beverley scored 10 points and dished out five assists in the Los Angeles Clippers' comeback win over the Warriors on Monday in Game 2 of their first-round NBA playoffs series. He was plus-1, but his value goes so much further than the stats show.
Listed at just 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, Beverley hounded Warriors star Kevin Durant, who stands just shy of 7-feet. Durant only attempted eight shots from the field and committed nine turnovers. He fouled out with 81 seconds left and the Warriors leading by two points. The Clippers completed their historic comeback when rookie Landry Shamet banged a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to help boost the Clippers to a 135-131 win.
Asked how he held Durant to only eight shots, the Clippers guard kept it short and simple.
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After a long pause, all he said was, "Be Pat."
“I just feel like he’s the best, you know?” Beverley said to The Athletic after the Clippers' win. “No disrespect to their team, but he’s one of the best players in the world. Him and Steph are two (of the best) – top six, they’d have to be … in the world. I felt like me covering KD would help our team and I wanted to set the tone.”
Whether it was constantly toeing the line of fouling or trying to distract Durant at the free throw line, Beverley did his job. It was clear in the second half as the Warriors' 31-point lead started to dwindle, he was winning the outcome of this battle.
But if you ask Beverley, he's not playing mind games. All he's doing is playing the only brand of basketball he knows.
“I don’t try to get in people’s head man,” Beverley told reporters. “I can’t help (that) people get irritated by me. It’s not my fault. I go out there and I try to be the best defender on the f---ing planet, consistently – (day) in and out, in and out. I take my role, I take my job, very seriously, and I do it for my teammates.
Golden State Warriors
"I understand my role, and I understand how to get stops. KD is not an easy cover, but it’s fun out there for sure.”
[RELATED: Can Warriors learn from embarrassing Game 2 collapse to Clippers?]
Both Durant and Beverley were ejected in the Warriors' Game 1 win. Before Game 2, Durant vowed to take a different approach with Beverley.
As this series heads to Los Angeles at one win apiece, he better find a whole new plan for Game 3.