Tuesday night's matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns was not short in action. There were more than a few intense moments during the game, and at one point, things got so heated that Patrick Beverley earned himself an ejection after shoving Deandre Ayton to the ground.

Unsurprisingly, the incident caused a bit of an on-court skirmish between the players. Beverley eventually took to the locker room for an early shower after the game officials deemed his antics worthy of an immediate ejection.

Before anything else, here is the incident in question:

As you can see, Beverley did not appreciate how Ayton was standing over Austin Reaves as the young Lakers guard was lying on the floor. Beverley rushed to shove Ayton from behind, who himself fell to the ground after tripping on Reaves. At that point, Beverley looked like he was ready to go to war against any Suns player who wanted to challenge him.

For his part, Russell Westbrook could not help but heap praise on Beverley's actions. According to Russ, this is exactly what he expects from his teammates:

“I love it, personally,” Westbrook said. “Protecting and understanding that we have each other’s back is the most important part of a team.”

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Patrick Beverley is no star and he's not going to stuff the stat sheet every night. However, the intangibles he brings to the table are undeniably invaluable for the Lakers. Tuesday night's incident is a clear testament to this fact.

In the end, the Lakers still lost, though, 115-105, snapping their three-game winning streak.