LeBron James unleashed the beast and finally beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon in the third chapter of the battle of Los Angeles. Kawhi Leonard had dominated the Lakers in the first two games, but Bron took revenge and led the Lakers to the win against the unbeaten fully-healthy Clippers.
Bron had some sort of duel with Patrick Beverley in the late minutes of the game, as the Lakers closed out the 112-103 victory over their city neighbors. After the game was finished, Bev was asked about the challenge of guarding LeBron and his response was quite curious.
Here is how the exchange with Harrison Sanford of Inside the Green Room went:
Can you describe the challenge it is defensively when LeBron—
Beverley: “No challenge.”
Well, particularly at the end of the game—
Beverley: “No challenge.”
Can you describe what it’s like as a defender when he tries to force the switch—
Beverley: “Not hard at all.”
Patrick Beverley comments on guarding LeBron James. (via @HarrisonSanford) pic.twitter.com/G6cYPdQfff
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) March 8, 2020
During the game, you could see Beverley trying to get under LeBron’s skin. In the end, the King finished with 28 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Pat Bev doesn't care who it is, he always wants smoke 😂 https://t.co/1snvh94Eon
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 8, 2020
As for Beverley, he recorded 2 points (1-3 FG), 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 fouls and a +/- of -16.
This is not new for the Clippers guard, who tried to do the same with the then Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant. After he provoked KD, the forward went to score 95 points in the next two games against Pat and his Clippers last playoffs.
More recently, he starred another episode with the Houston Rockets guard Russell Westbrook, who didn’t hesitate to take a big shot at Beverley and his game.
“[He] trick y’all man… He just running around, doing nothing,” Russ said back in November.
Russ on Pat Bev’s defense: "[He] trick y'all man…He just running around, doing nothing."
(via @MarkBermanFox26)pic.twitter.com/fMERNm4L5m
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 14, 2019
Beverley always tries to help his team win, even trying to get under his rivals’ skins, but this time he picked the wrong guy to mess with. LeBron was a man on a mission and nobody was to stop him on Sunday.
