PHILADELPHIA — Veteran Philadelphia 76ers guard Patrick Beverley was made for the City of Brotherly Love. His toughness, attitude and edge are tailor-made for the city, and he has quickly become a beloved figure in Philadelphia.
Beverley greatly affected Tuesday’s 126-121 home win over the Denver Nuggets. He hopped off the bench and poured in eight points, knocking down two 3s, and had two assists while playing the entire fourth quarter. His contribution gave the Sixers a big boost.
Overall, Beverley played 26:35 off the bench which is well above his season average of 18.3 minutes per game. He played the entire fourth quarter and the final 17 minutes of the game. He did so thanks to a message he sent to coach Nick Nurse.
“I texted coach,” Beverley said after the win. “I had to tell Nurse this Lamborghini is ready for any type of minutes a game so I texted him a couple of weeks ago and told him because I felt like we were in some games. I think I was like at the 12-minute, 13-minute mark. I told him I can do more. Allow me to do more, and he‘s gonna let me rock out a little bit so I’m fortunate.”
Nurse has a lot of trust in Beverley and what he brings to the table. He isn’t the team’s best player; that honor obviously goes to Joel Embiid, but Beverley can make a big impact on the floor as he has shown plenty of times thus far.
The defense he played against Nuggets star Jamal Murray in the fourth was a big key in helping the Sixers get the job done.
Patrick Beverley on the keys to slowing Jamal Murray late: “No key. I’ve been locking his ass up for years.”
On his approach against a guy like Murray: “No approach. Normal day.” #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) January 17, 2024
“Any game we play off a back-to-back is always a tough game,” Beverley added. “We got a lot of guys out so the guys that played tonight (Tuesday), I think we went like nine deep really eight deep, six or seven deep, heavy minutes. We came out, we played the right way. We scored the ball at a high rate tonight. We got stops when we needed to get stops in the fourth quarter. I think that was the key to the game.”
Beverley will play a key role in whatever the Sixers want to do as they move forward with their title quest.
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