Patrick Beverley was recently part of numerous headlines after he received a $25,000 fine for the confrontation he had involving a fan following the Houston Rockets‘ Game 3 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.
Here is a small GIF of the live video between the fan and Patrick Beverley post game pic.twitter.com/4ZGkYvOx5c
— Thunder Digest (@Thunder_Digest) April 22, 2017
The 28-year-old Arkansas product recently spoke with ESPN's Ramona Shelburne about the incident and shared what he feels about receiving the sanction. Beverley added that he understands where the fans are coming from for booing him, but made it known that he will stand up against the “blatant disrespect” he receives from them.
“I'm OK with the hazing. I'm OK with the boos. I'm OK with other fans rooting for their team. But I'm not OK with the blatant disrespect while I'm on the ground after a foul and a fan is yelling out to me, ‘F-you Patrick Beverley, F-you Patrick Beverley, F-you Patrick Beverley,' and waving a clapper in my face,” Beverley said Sunday afternoon, before the Rockets played the Thunder in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series.
“I'm not comfortable with that. So if the NBA won't protect the players in that situation, I feel the need as a man, as a grown man who has children, who has morals and who stands up for the right thing, I have to protect myself.”
Beverley then called out the NBA for not doing anything to protect their players from verbal abuse against some of the fans.
“I accept the 25 (the NBA fine), it's OK, But at the same time, if it happens again and the NBA won't protect its players, I feel a need as a person and as a man with two young boys, who has a daughter, who has strong morals about myself, who was raised by a single mother to protect myself if no one else is going to protect me.
“And when I mean ‘protect myself' I don't mean go up there and start a fight with a person, because that's not what all happened. I walked up to the guy and I told the guy ‘At the end of the day, brother, this is a game. I'm a professional, you're a man, I'm a man. That's it and I left it at that.”
Rockets fans are hoping that this would be the last incident where their starting point guard will be involved with a fan. Despite leading the series 3-1 against the Thunder, they understand how tough it is to close out, especially with Russell Westbrook leading their opponent's charge. If Beverley can channel his frustrations to something that can inspire him to play better, it will give his team a huge chance to move on to the Western Conference Semifinals in their next outing.
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