Police Had to Separate Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley

When Pat Beverley and Russell Westbrook got into an altercation Tuesday night, the police had to come on the court keep them from destroying one another.

Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley
USA Today Sports

Image via USA Today Sports/Alonzo Adams

Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley

There's a reason Patrick Beverley has been tagged with the moniker Pat the Pest. No one understands this better than Russell Westbrook, who was knocked out of the 2013 playoffs with a torn meniscus after Pat's dangerous dive at his knee, dashing any chance the Thunder had of returning to the Finals for a second consecutive season. To say there's antipathy between the two would be an understatement. That beef continued on Tuesday night during the Thunder's 128-110 win over the Clippers. In fact, the police had to get involved to keep things copacetic. 

It started when Russ took Pat to the cup for a layup and rocked the baby on him afterwards.

Beverley came right back and rocked the baby on Russ after his own layup (though you can watch Russ standing idly by in the corner while it happened because Dennis Schroder was matched against Beverley).

Then Pat dove for a loose ball and instead smacked into Russell Westbrook's knee...again.

Russ bounced right up with steam coming out of his ears, and that's when the trouble began. Beverley was assessed a flagrant 1, but as the refs were reviewing the dive for the loose ball, Russ started jawing at the Clippers' bench, and the whole hold-me-back song and dance took place.

It got heated enough the police had to come down and act as a barrier between the two teams, which created an odd optical illusion as a group of short (though probably of average size), frumpy, slightly overweight men acted as enforcers for muscled athletes nearly twice their size. However, the cops should be commended for their mustache game.

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Both point guards were awarded a tech for all the mid-court peacocking.

Beverley was asked about the brouhaha after the game and accused Westbrook of "cappin'" toward the bench, which he thinks caused the whole thing. Unsurprisingly, he didn't think his reckless dive for the loose ball necessitated the flagrant, either.

"I have no comment on it," Westbrook said after the game. "I just know that we won." When he was asked about the rocking-the-baby celebration, he took a shot at Beverley. "Yeah, when you got little kids on you, you gotta put them to sleep. That's what happens. Little guards, you gotta rock 'em."

It was another night in what is increasingly one of the best beefs in the NBA.

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