Things usually get chippy when the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns square off and that was again the case on Tuesday night.
With the Lakers trailing late in the fourth quarter, Austin Reaves was fouled on a shot attempt by Devin Booker. Reaves fell to the ground after clearly being hit in the face, although Booker thought it was a clean block and stood over the Lakers guard and taunted him.
After Booker walked away, Deandre Ayton came out and also stood over Reaves in a taunting manner. The referees didn’t call a technical at the time, so Patrick Beverley took matters into his own hands by coming over and shoving Ayton in defense of his teammate.
As a result, Booker was assessed a flagrant 1 foul for the shot to the head while Beverley and Ayton were both given technicals with the former being ejected.
In his postgame interview with TNT’s Chris Haynes, Booker commented on the altercation saying that Beverley needs to push people on the chest instead of the back:
"Pat need to stop pushing people in the back man. Push them in the chest." ?
Devin Booker speaks on the late game altercation with @ChrisBHaynes pic.twitter.com/TMYftYYkX0
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 23, 2022
Beverley has a history with the Suns as he also pushed Chris Paul in the back in the playoffs a couple of years ago while with the L.A. Clippers.
In this instance though, Beverley had his teammates back after the Suns were taunting Reaves for seemingly no reason. It was a significant push by Beverley though so it will be interesting to see if he receives further punishment from the league other than the ejection.
The Lakers and Suns will next square off in Phoenix on Dec. 19 so this will now be something to watch for when Beverley, Booker, Ayton and everyone else take the floor.
LeBron James expected to return on Friday
After the dust settled from the altercation, the Lakers were unable to come back and beat the Suns, seeing their modest three-game winning streak snapped.
The Lakers have been playing well as of late though and that should continue moving forward as LeBron James is expected to return to the lineup on Friday against the San Antonio Spurs.
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