In Thursday’s win, James Harden and Russell Westbrook combined to shoot 60% against Pat Beverley with an average of 2.60 points per shot.
In a potential playoff preview, the Rockets have won two of three games in the 2019-20 NBA season against the Los Angeles Clippers and could easily have won all three. Consider that in the one loss on Nov. 22, Houston led by five points at Staples Center with under a minute to play.
How have the Rockets (19-9) been so good versus another perceived title contender in the Clippers (21-9), including twice on the road? There are a number of storylines to this matchup, but one big one is continued underperformance by one of Los Angeles’ most prominent role players.
Pat Beverley’s calling card is supposed to be his defense, but it hasn’t played out that way versus Houston. Facing his old team in the Rockets and a personal rival in Westbrook, Beverley has fouled out all three times.
Foul trouble has limited his ability to cover backcourt stars James Harden and Russell Westbrook, and the Clippers have paid dearly. In the two matchups in November, Harden averaged 42 points per game, while Westbrook scored 40 in Houston’s win this Thursday. Harden still had key contributions, of course, with 28 points and 10 assists on 50% shooting.
According to The Athletic, Beverley left the home locker room postgame without speaking to media. By the next morning, a holiday Photoshop meme involving Westbrook and Beverley was born.
Per NBA.com’s tracking data, Harden and Westbrook were especially effective in Thursday’s game when covered by Beverley — shooting a combined 60% against his defense and averaging 2.60 points per shot. For comparison, Harden and Westbrook average 1.55 and 1.15 points per shot on the 2019-20 season as a whole.
After the first meeting in November, Westbrook said this regarding Beverley’s defense after Harden scored 47 points:
Pat Bev trick y’all man, like he play defense. He don’t guard nobody, man. He’s just running around doing nothing. As you’ve seen what happened, 47. All that commotion to get 47.
Their rivalry dates back to the 2013 playoffs, when Beverley — then on the Rockets — went for the ball after the Thunder had called timeout and collided with Westbrook’s knee, all after the whistle had been blown. It led to a torn meniscus and ended Westbrook’s season early, and tension between the now 31-year-old guards has lingered for over six years since.
As far as this season goes, Beverley also fouled out in the second meeting on an epic Harden three-pointer in the final two minutes.
It could be argued that the rigors of chasing Harden and Westbrook defensively have compromised Beverley’s effectiveness on offense. In three games versus Houston, Beverley is shooting just 36% from the field and 18.8% on three-pointers — down significantly from his season averages of 41.0% and 32.7%, and career marks of 41.2% and 37.6%.
Beverley has grabbed only 2.3 rebounds per game against the Rockets, which is less than half of his usual 6.0 average.
Westbrook didn’t offer another specific one-liner about Beverley after Thursday’s win, though he did reference “a lot of antics going on.” After Beverley fouled out late in the game, Westbrook picked up a technical foul for taunting after waving at Beverley on his way off the floor.
Fortunately for the Rockets, Harden intervened to prevent Westbrook from potentially picking up a second technical foul and being ejected.
In the end, Westbrook got the last laugh against his rival when the Rockets finished off the 122-117 victory.
The Clippers and Rockets have one more regular-season meeting on Thursday, March 5 in Houston before a potential playoff matchup in the spring. For Los Angeles to reverse the early results, one big priority for head coach Doc Rivers is figuring out how to keep Beverley on the floor.
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