With fewer than 20 games left in the NBA regular season, the playoff picture is starting to come into focus. But LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are struggling to stay in the frame. On Monday night the Lakers lost the final Battle Los Angeles of the season, falling to the Los Angeles Clippers for their third loss in a row.
After the Clippers 113-105 victory on the Lakers’ home court, Patrick Beverley was fired right up.
That fire stayed with Beverley in the locker room. He called back to what he said in August 2018 about the Clippers being the best team in Los Angeles, and he doubled down. Via ABC7:
"There was seven people in here on media day," Beverley explained in the Clippers locker room after beating the Lakers. "I told Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander], look [around] the room, there's seven people ... watch at the end of the year [how many more there will be]. Like I said about us being the best team in L.A., a lot of people don't believe me, it's fine. Women lie. Men lie. Numbers don't."
But Beverley was fired up all night. After the game he told the media he asked to guard LeBron James, and he spent every minute he could giving James as little room to breathe as possible.
He looked extra motivated, and that’s because Beverley has a history with James, and he’s still salty about it.
Beverley isn’t saying that James demanded he be cut from the Miami Heat, but he knows things changed after LeBron got there. Things changed when James got to the Lakers, too — if the Clippers felt ignored before, James’ arrival only emphasized it.
But as the man said, numbers don’t lie. The Clippers are seventh in the Western Conference at 37-29, and the Lakers are 10th at 30-34. The Clippers are trending up and are actively in the playoff picture. You can’t say the same thing about the Lakers. And you can tell from how Beverley carried himself on the court and in the locker room on Monday night that he’s thoroughly enjoying the Clippers having the upper hand.
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