Despite being bounced in the first round of the playoffs, Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley is having a very productive May.
Following an excellent appearance on JJ Redick's podcast, the veteran pest took his talents over to ESPN's New York offices this week to absolutely lay in to Chris Paul for his defense and his overall play in the Suns' second-round collapse against the Mavericks.
(Beverley also offered up some intriguing assessments of Doc Rivers and James Harden, if you're interested.)
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READ: Why Beverley says playing for Rivers is 'extremely hard'
Beverley comparing Paul's defense to that of a practice cone was a particularly viral moment, and the entire basketball world took note... including Sixers sharpshooter Danny Green.
Green, noted for his defense, had some thoughts for Beverley on the latest Inside the Green Room podcast:
"People target you too, Pat Bev. You ain't playing no f***ing defense out there. You ain't stopping Luka. It's time and time again I see Luka call your a** "little man" and "he's too f***ing small" and go right at you every chance he got. When you play Luka you're a cone, too. How would you like that?"
YEESH.
NBA
And here's more from the podcast:
"When you're talking about a Hall of Famer you can critique, but the disrespect I think was taken a little far.
"[...]
"I think [Beverley] just used that platform because he has an issue with Chris, and he used it as a personal vendetta to take out a lot of his anger on the set at that moment. I thought it was unfair to Chris, and I'm sure a lot of people felt the same, a lot of guys in the league.
"[...]
"I don't mind certain guys critiquing players, but you're a role player - to disrespect a Hall of Famer is too far. Calling somebody a cone is disrespectful, bruh. I don't care. Target and cone are two different words, bro. He said he can't guard. Chris Paul is a ... nine-time member on the All-NBA Defensive Team. Yeah they targeted him, but s**t there's been times when Pat Bev's been targeted too, are you kidding me?
"[...]
"Pat Bev, you're not stopping Luka either. There's not many people on the planet that are stopping Luka."
It's hard to argue with what Danny's saying here!
Sure, Paul had a bad series. And if you want to judge him on his history of rough postseason exits, feel free - because that's a fact. Chris Paul hasn't proven himself to be the guy who can go win you a ring. It's the truth.
MORE: 5 takeaways on Morey-Rivers end-of-season presser
But Beverley definitely went a little overboard in his critiques of CP3. It's not necessary to be so slanderous on ESPN of all platforms, the worldwide leader in sports. When you're on a show like Get Up first thing on a Monday morning, absolutely ethering a Hall of Famer like Paul, you're going out of your way to get these hateful takes off. It's not just casual opinion-giving; you're exerting some effort.
I get it, and Beverley probably has a fruitful post-ball career of lighting folks up and giving honest, no-B.S. basketball opinions. He's super entertaining!
But being a hater just to be a hater could get stale quick. We'll see what else Pat Bev has in his arsenal.