Patrick Beverley is usually the hunter, but he suddenly became the hunted on Sunday night.
Beverley and the Chicago Bulls lost a heartbreaker to the Indiana Pacers when Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton sunk a deep three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left (over Beverley, no less) to give Indiana the 125-122 victory.
TYRESE HALIBURTON CALLED GAME 😱 pic.twitter.com/3cMs1svfm3
— NBA (@NBA) March 5, 2023
The clutch shot was actually the latest chapter in a history of beef between Haliburton and Beverley that NBA fans might not know about. Appearing on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man and the Three” podcast earlier in the season, Haliburton (somewhat mockingly) told a story of how Beverley was talking smack to him when he was a rookie on the Sacramento Kings and Beverley was on the LA Clippers.
Being mentioned by Haliburton on that podcast really rubbed Beverley the wrong way. During a game against Indiana in February, Beverley, now on the Los Angeles Lakers, served as Haliburton’s main defender. Haliburton still dropped 26 points, but the Lakers won by one point (112-111). After the game, Beverley said that he remembered Haliburton’s words about him and took them personally.
You can hear Haliburton’s original remarks plus Beverley’s reaction below (but watch out for some bad language).
Bev keeps the receipts pic.twitter.com/BWEz0sYuqg
— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) February 3, 2023
On Sunday however, it was Haliburton’s turn for some revenge. After the game-winning shot that he hit over Beverley, Haliburton trolled the abrasive guard over Twitter. He quote-tweeted the video of Beverley’ February press conference and included the legendary meme of Clay Davis (from the HBO series “The Wire”) dramatically stringing out a curse word.
Here is Haliburton’s tweet (though obviously beware of the language again).
https://t.co/n2muuilwCU pic.twitter.com/flTM6FV6dA
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) March 5, 2023
The 11-year NBA veteran Beverley is a generational instigator and has never been afraid to bicker with opponents over any perceived slights, real or fake. But he probably should have taken a lesson from this guy that Haliburton is not the one to mess with.
