On Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder from the playoffs with a 105-99 victory.
As has been the case all season, Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook put up a valiant effort in keeping an underwhelming roster competitive. On Tuesday, the MVP candidate put up 47 points to go with 11 rebounds and nine assists.
That didn’t stop Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley (who had a nice game himself with 15 points and eight rebounds) from gloating about having stopped Westbrook. The two were seen jawing during the game and when Beverley was asked about it afterward, here’s what he said:
“I was shocked because he looked up and said, ‘No one can guard me, I got 40 points.’ And I said, ‘That’s nice, but it took 34 shots to get it.’ I’m not trying to bash anybody, but men lie, women lie, the numbers don’t. Collectively as a unit we’ve done a great job on him, we’ve made him try to take a lot of tough shots, and the numbers show it.”
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/857078404578979843
Beverley really skirted the line between all-out dissing Westbrook. Right when it seemed like he was going to cross that line, he dialed it back and talked about the Rockets’ defense.
Westbrook, on the other hand, does not care about the line. Here’s what he said when asked about the exchange with Beverley:
“He was talking about first-team All-Defense, but I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about because I had 42 at the time. I don’t know what he was talking about. Maybe he was dreaming of some shit, I don’t know. Sorry, excuse my cuss word. I don’t know what he was talking about, but I guess he wanted to be first-team All-Defense or something. Maybe he was dreaming about it. I don’t know.”
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/857084044508622849
For the record, Beverley has never been first-team All-Defense.
Beverley and the Rockets won the game, but Westbrook definitely won the postgame.
