Patrick Beverley’s ominous history with Russell Westbrook included one scary twist.
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.
Beverley claimed that a 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. At the time, Westbrook was calling a timeout in the second quarter, when Beverley attempted to steal the ball and inadvertently made contact with his knee.
The moment launched their years-long beef, which they resolved 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, his coach at the time, Kevin McHale, warned him to “watch out for the media” because the injury was a “big story.”
“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.”
Despite the severity of the situation, 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, the top seed in the Western Conference that season, would go on to win the series in six games behind Kevin Durant. But their championship hopes would end in the next round, taken out by the Grizzlies in five games.
Beverley and Westbrook had bad blood for years after Westbrook underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. They would go on to exchange jabs in press conferences and on social media before they united as Lakers teammates in August.
In his introductory press conference, Beverley said the pair had been working out together and were the best of friends, adding that he was looking forward to having tough conversations with the former league MVP.
The two appear to be getting along as Beverley continues to gel with the team, and Westbrook acclimates to a sixth man role.
The Lakers are 3-10 heading into a home game against the Pistons on Friday.
