Timberwolves’ Patrick Beverley roasts Chris Paul and the Suns
There were no prisoners taken when the T’Wolves star point guard gave his thoughts on the disastrous performance of the Suns and their star player.
After an impressive season that saw them enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, the Suns saw their post season come to an abrupt end.
Suns called out by T’Wolves’ Patrick Beverley after loss
With many expecting the Phoenix Suns to make their second consecutive appearance in the NBA Finals, it would likely have been a shock when they were not just defeated by the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night in Game 7, but actually taken apart in what turned out to be a blow out 123-90 loss. Indeed, the Suns only managed to muster 27 points in the entire first half. Needless to say the reactions to their failure came thick and fast and at the center of them was Patrick Beverley of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Never one to shy away from confrontation whether verbal or physical Beverley was true to form when he criticized the Suns for replacing Deandre Ayton instead of All-Star point guard Chris Paul. “First off, I’m going to get a lot for this, but I don’t really care. They benched the wrong person. Should’ve benched [Chris Paul],” Beverley said. “And I’m not saying bench him now. Once you see they started attacking Chris early and you know that might become a problem later on, you need to see how the team works without Chris in the game a little bit. I got benched. We won, though, so you don’t even remember that.”
Patrick Beverly talks coaching decisions
The Timberwolves’ point guard didn’t stop there either. Beverley also had words for some of the coaching decisions made on the night. “So as a coach, you have to understand, they’re attacking my main guy, I can’t get buckets from him, I have to make an adjustment, whatever that adjustment is. And that’s no fault against Monty [Williams], he’s a great coach, Coach of the Year. But [Ty Lue], if T-Lue’s there, he’s making that decision. It’s a hard decision, but he’s making it.”
Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards joins in the roast
With the Suns surely going through a period of mourning at the moment, Beverley’s criticism will certainly not be well received, yet he wasn’t Minnesota’s only player to have a go at Phoenix. Indeed, star guard Anthony Edwards also had his say on social media when he called the Suns a “disgrace.” Edwards went on to speak of the recent past saying, “I remember we were playing Phoenix. They were talking so much s---, telling us we better make the playoffs, we ain’t gonna make the playoffs. We outta the playoffs, but y’all, this is a disgrace, bruh,” Interestingly, Edwards went on to delete his post.
What happened with Chris Paul against the Mavericks?
To be clear the Suns’ Chris Paul is without doubt one of the best players in the league, but on a night when his team needed him most it simply didn’t show. With just 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, along with four assists in the 31 minutes that he played, Paul didn’t actually score his first points until the third quarter of the game. Unbelievable. Needless to say, by the time the game and the series were well and truly out of their hands. It was later reported that Paul had an undisclosed injury, but there can be no sympathy for him or the Suns as that was never officially stated. Where Ayton is concerned - Beverly’s pick - it must be said that he didn’t fair much better. The center only managed to put five points on the board along with four rebounds across 17 minutes. Suns coach Monty Williams would only use the word “internal” when asked the reason for Ayton’s lack of minutes. Whether it was a sign of things to come or not, it should be noted that Ayton declined to speak with the media post game.
What now for the Phoenix Suns?
It goes without saying that this is not what the Suns envisioned for themselves when they came into this series against Dallas. Having been seeded No. 1 the Suns were largely expected to be one of the last teams standing if not the eventual champions of 2022. Yet in the end what we have is a disastrous loss to a Mavericks team which essentially did everything right along with the inspiring performance of their best player, Luka Doncic. As for the Suns themselves, we can only wait and see what the fall out is as they come to grips with the end of a dream.