Clippers point guard Patrick Beverley isn't afraid to stand up for himself when he thinks an injustice has occurred, and that's exactly what happened on Sunday night when he was ejected against the Mavericks in the fourth quarter. Beverley was tossed after throwing the basketball at a fan, later identified as Don Knobler, who was heckling him. Beverley claims that the fan told him to "fuck your mother." Knobler, a courtside fixture in Dallas, denies Beverley's claim.
This isn't the first time Beverley has been involved in a fracas with a fan. He was investigated for confronting a Thunder fan in the playoffs in 2017. This time seems different, though, particularly because it was so overt—he threw the ball at the fan in plain sight.
Here's Beverley explaining what happened:
Beverley makes a good point. Everyone has a breaking point and it appears that family is Beverley's. The incident is the second in as many weeks in Dallas, after Kevin Durant told a Mavs fan to "shut the fuck up" during a game.
It was an eventful game for the notoriously feisty Beverley, who chipped Dennis Smith Jr.'s tooth while wrestling for the ball. He later went over to the Mavs bench to apologize, but then chastised them for not giving him enough credit for doing so.
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But even if Beverley's version of events are true, it's his job to take the high road, something his coach Doc Rivers echoed after the game. "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 per theL.A. Times. “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.”
