Before they were forced to be teammates, Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook were just fine being enemies until the very end of their careers. As you know, it all began with an injury to the former MVP.
On “The Pat Bev Podcast” Tuesday, Beverley recalled the infamous Westbrook injury in the 2013 NBA playoffs, when his Rockets faced the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of their first-round series.
After that moment, Pat Bev said the Thunder ball boy threatened to kill him over a controversial play that saw him dive into Westbrook’s knee, resulting in the Thunder guard suffering a torn meniscus that ended his season. Westbrook was simply trying to call timeout when Beverley attempted to steal the ball and inadvertently made contact with his knee.
That moment launched a beef that would not end until this year when Beverley joined Westbrook on the Lakers in August.
“I had a ball boy threaten to kill me over the Russell Westbrook injury,” Beverley told co-host, Rone, and guest Dave Portnoy on the Barstool pod. “I don’t know what the f–k the magnitude of OKC is, I’m just trying to win a f–king basketball game.”
Beverley said when he got back to Houston, former Rockets head coach Kevin McHale warned him to “watch out for the media” because the injury was a “big story.”
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“I get to OKC the next game, the police officers in front,” Beverley said. “They put a police car in front of my house in Houston. I get to the hotel, I’m on the floor by myself. Police guy at the door. I got out in the morning for a tea or coffee at Starbucks, police guy with me. They passing out papers of a young guy’s face … he threatened to kill me. This s–t was real.”
Beverley admitted that he didn’t feel fear.
“I wish I would have ran into his ass. I would have beat the s–t,” Beverley said.
The Thunder would go on to win the series in six games, but they would be taken out in the next round by the Grizzlies in five games.
The two appear to be getting along on the Lakers, but the team is 3-10 heading into a home game against the Pistons on Friday.
