The Phoenix Suns have become the laughing stock of the NBA after their embarrassing Game 7 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Phoenix had the best regular-season record of any team in the league, but capitulated at the hands of Luka Doncic and Jason Kidd in the second round, allowing the Dallas fairy-tale run to continue.
Many people had the Suns as championship favorites after their regular-season dominance and the exit of super-teams in LA and Brooklyn. However, Patrick Beverley believes that was a false perception and that people around the league always knew not to fear the Phoenix Suns.
While on ESPN’s First Take, Beverley dropped a treasure-trove of quotes about Chris Paul and even the Lakers. While talking about the Phoenix Suns, the team that eliminated Beverley’s LA Clippers in the Conference Finals last season, PatBev said that nobody feared them and reinforced it by saying even former Clippers’ teammate Paul George texted him saying that.
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— 🍉 #DecoOut (@clampcity_) May 16, 2022
“Ain’t nobody afraid of anybody over there in Phoenix. Everybody in the league knows that, bro. But y’all don’t know that ‘cuz y’all not in the locker room. No one’s afraid of Phoenix. We wanted them. We [the Timberwolves] wanted them. No one’s afraid of Phoenix. I talked to some teammates, I ain’t gonna say who—I’m gonna say who, forget it, I talked to Paul George last night—ain’t nobody scared of them. But if you face Dallas? You ain’t scared of Dallas, but man, you’ve got to get your game right when you play Luka [Doncic]. I’m just being honest.” (h/t Bleacher Report)
Whether it is a league-wide opinion or not, the Mavericks were definitely not even intimidated by the Suns. Despite the Suns taking an easy 2-0 lead over the Mavs to start the series, Dallas played fearless basketball to fight their way back into the series. By Game 7, it looked like the Suns were terrified to face the Mavericks, which goes to show the breakdown of mentality the second they faced adversity.
Beverley is an instigator and he proved that in his ESPN appearance by making shockingly disparaging remarks about the Suns and Chris Paul throughout his time on the show.
What Paul George feels about the issue is something only Paul George can truly validate. But this won’t be surprising considering the Suns rubbed many people the wrong way by acting cocky. In the world of professional sports, nobody fears the cocky opponents but relish the opportunity to humble them. The Mavericks did just that to the Phoenix Suns.
