LA Clippers guard Patrick Beverley was ejected Sunday night after throwing a hard bounce pass towards a heckling Mavs fan.
Beverley says Don Knobler—a courtside fixture in Dallas—profanely insulted his mother; the fan claims he simply called Beverley a “dirty player.”
This is Don Knobler, the Mavs fan who was the target of the hard bounce pass that got Patrick Beverley tossed. Knobler says he told Beverley earlier in the game, “You’re a dirty player.” After Beverley responded, Knobler said, “Your mother.” pic.twitter.com/KpUK7SswVw
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 3, 2018
Patrick Beverley said the court side Mavs fan said “Fuck your mother” twice to him. He told the refs and Mavs security about it, but they didn’t intervene. So he felt a line was crossed and that was the appropriate response.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) December 3, 2018
Beverely finished with three points, four rebounds and three assists in the 114-110 road loss.
Clippers’ Beverley is ejected after incident with spectator https://t.co/xyjU7NL0Tg pic.twitter.com/MOWDvxkVSL
— L.A. Times Sports (@latimessports) December 3, 2018
Per the LA Times:
“I mean, I don’t know what you’d want me to do. What would you guys do? So, it’s all right. I’m going to stay professional and stay Pat and play hard and do what I do, but I’m a man and my morals are strong and I stand by my morals.”
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he heard the exchange.
“I told him at the end of the day it’s not right, fans should have control, as well, and they shouldn’t call you names, especially what I heard he called Pat and said something about his mom but it’s tough,” Rivers said. “I told him this is the life we live and you’ve got to turn the other cheek even though I know it’s hard. But we can’t get technicals, we just have to walk away. And then the league has to take care of stuff like that.”
The man stayed to watch the end of the game.
“I’m a grown man but you know, you bring family into it, especially in a basketball game, it’s only so much you can tolerate as a man. … Anybody who knows me, man, knows I’m a family-first guy and there are some things that are unacceptable,” Beverley said. “After I told the refs, I told security, the Dallas security, told both of them and again he said it again. So if no one is going to control fans what are we supposed to do as players?”
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Patrick Beverley: ‘I Have to Protect Myself’ from Fans
