Patrick Beverley apologizes to Chris Paul for shove that led to ejection

Clippers guard Patrick Beverley apologized Thursday for shoving Suns point man Chris Paul in the prior night’s Game 6 Phoenix victory in the Western Conference Finals.

“@CP3 emotions got the best of me last night gang,” Beverley tweeted at Paul. “My bad wasn’t meant for you. Congrats on making it to the Finals. Best of Luck.”

@CP3 emotions got the best of me last night gang. My bad wasn’t meant for you. Congrats on making it to the Finals. Best of Luck 🤞🏾

— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) July 1, 2021

Beverley was ejected for pushing Paul in the back heading into a timeout during the final six minutes of the Suns’ Finals-clinching victory.

Paul had hit a three-pointer to give himself 38 points in Game 6 when the Clippers called timeout. Paul looked at Beverley heading to the Suns’ bench and continued walking, but Beverley turned and shoved the Phoenix guard from behind.

“We know we broke them,” Suns forward Jae Crowder said of Beverley’s ejection. “There’s no better sign of defeat than knowing that moment, that moment where it’s like competition meets and we just — you can’t do anything else to help your team overcome that situation. He just broke. That’s what we were trying to reach. We were trying to reach that point without even trash talking.

“You saw a breaking point with one of their leaders in their locker room. And then that’s a greatest feeling to have, especially in the playoffs. Such a great feeling.”

Following Beverley’s ejection, Paul earned a technical foul with just more than two minutes left in the 130-103 win by having choice words with the Clippers’ bench.

The Suns point guard finished with 41 points — scoring a career-high 31 in a single half — on 16-of-24 shooting. He hit all but one attempt from three-point range.

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