Following the Clippers’ 112-103 loss against the Lakers on Sunday, Patrick Beverley let the world know that it was no challenge at all to guard LeBron, who finished with 28 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists on 41% shooting.
I really wanted to know what goes through a guard’s head when LeBron targets them in late game forward/guard pick and pop situations pic.twitter.com/qrVlHnhY9C
— Harrison Sanford (@HarrisonSanford) March 8, 2020
Whether Bev was being serious, intentionally stubborn, or was just a little salty after the loss, Stephen A. Smith wasn’t buying it. On First Take the following Monday, he called out the L.A. point guard for his “ignorant” comment about “the King.”
“No matter who was on LeBron James, there was always somebody spying, looking to help, the second he put the ball on the floor. So it’s not like there’s somebody covering him one-on-one, Patrick Beverley. It’s not like you guard him straight up and, like, he ain’t difficult. Stop it, stop it.”
Smith points out how almost every defender needed help at some point stopping LeBron on his drives and that Bev never really guarded him straight up.
Plus, no matter how well he claims he did defensively, it was his team who came out with the loss.
Patrick Beverley has always been a rough-rider, which means he will talk in pretty much any situation. In regards to LeBron and the Lakers, he clearly doesn’t want to give them any sort of credit for their performance. We’ll see if that tune continues in the postseason.
