On Wednesday (18 May) Patrick Beverley responded to Danny Green’s claims he can’t play defense with a rather damning statistic.
Patrick Beverley has been doing the rounds on ESPN this week and the Timberwolves guard has not held back in his appraisal of Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns’ loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Pat Bev’s comments have divided NBA fans, pundits and players alike, with the likes of Damian Lillard and Danny Green responding to Beverley’s criticisms online.
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Patrick Beverley calls out Chris Paul’s defense
In an appearance on ESPN’S Get Up this week, Patrick Beverley ripped into Chris Paul’s defense. CP3 was targeted by the Mavs and specifically, Luka Doncic, in their second-round series, and Beverley called Paul out for it.
“Man, ain’t nobody worried about Chris Paul when you play the Phoenix Suns, nobody in the NBA. … CP can’t guard anybody man. Everybody in the NBA know that,” Beverley said. “You know those cones in the summer that you dribble around? What does the cone do? Nothing. He’s a cone.”
Danny Green fires back in defense of Chris Paul
Following Beverley’s comments, Philadelphia 76ers guard Danny Green came out in support of Paul.
Speaking with Harrison Sanford on his TV show Inside the Green Room with Danny Green, the 76ers guard made the case that Pat Bev isn’t the lockdown defender he professes to be.
“People target you, too, Pat Bev,” Green said. “You ain’t playing no defense out there. You ain’t stopping Luka. Time and time again, I’ve seen Luka call you ‘little man, ‘he’s too f***** small’ and go right at you every chance he got.
“When you play Luka, you are a cone, too. How would you like that?”
Patrick Beverley fires back at Danny Green with damning statistic
Beverley clearly wasn’t going to take Green’s response lying down. The T-Wolves guard fired back at Green, tweeting how Doncic never scored against him during the 28 possessions he guarded the Mavericks star this season:
He followed that up by posting his field goal percentage allowed as a defender, and it shows he ranks among the very best in the NBA. In fact, only Giannis Antetokounmpo limits his opposition to less field goal percentage than Beverley:
The message made its way to Green who responded underneath the post, although he did appear to backtrack from his earlier assessment of Beverley.
No matter where you stand on Pat Bev there’s no denying he’s been an entertaining watch on ESPN this week. Don’t be surprised if we see a lot more of him in the future.
Have you enjoyed Patrick Beverley on ESPN this week? Let us know in the comments what your thoughts on him as an analyst are!
