Patrick Beverley says guarding LeBron James is 'no challenge' after getting cooked by Lakers

After a chippy loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Patrick Beverley unsurprisingly had something to say about LeBron James.

When asked about the challenge of guarding James, the Los Angeles Clippers point guard didn’t even wait for the reporter to finish his question to say it was “No challenge.” He followed that up by saying it’s “not hard at all.”

James finished the game with 28 points on 7-of-17 shooting with nine assists and seven rebounds.

I really wanted to know what goes through a guard’s head when LeBron targets them in late game forward/guard pick and pop situations pic.twitter.com/qrVlHnhY9C

— Harrison Sanford (@HarrisonSanford) March 8, 2020

For his part, Beverley had a game to forget with two points on 1-of-3 shooting, four rebounds, one assist, and three turnovers The Clippers, which ended the game with more turnovers than assists, were outscored by 16 points with Beverley on the floor.

Beverley was more complimentary of the Lakers as a whole, per ESPN:

"We gotta give them a lot of credit," Beverley said after Sunday's 112-103 defeat. "... They took it personal ... It's one game. Of course, living in L.A., man, it's hard to deal with this loss, but we have to wash it down the shower, keep getting better, and we will."

There were also, of course, some chippy moments between James and Beverley that preceded Beverley’s comments.

The LeBron brush off 😂 pic.twitter.com/lbwRhw62C7

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 8, 2020

LeBron and Patrick Beverley get involved in another kerfuffle pic.twitter.com/uYlg8oBFvP

— The Render (@TheRenderNBA2) March 8, 2020

Those comments might sounds ill-advised after a discouraging loss, but this is Patrick Beverley. He didn’t go from playing professional basketball in Ukraine to a $13 million per year contract by getting discouraged.

So much of defense is a mental game, and thinking that even James is no challenge might simply be how Beverley’s mind works. Or he just didn’t want to answer a tough question after a tough loss. It happens.

Either way, a seven-game Lakers-Clippers series in the NBA playoffs just keeps becoming more attractive.

Guarding LeBron James on Sunday seemed like quite a challenge. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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