Phoenix Suns too much for Lakers, bush league Beverley

The Phoenix Suns handled the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday despite a huge night from Anthony Davis. However, the story of the game was the bush league behavior of Patrick Beverley.

It was a beautiful evening in the valley of the Sun on Tuesday night, yet, the Suns were battling the elements inside Footprint Center. Not only is Davis in the best stretch of his career, but the referees are also back at it and allowing unacceptable behavior in today’s NBA.

Phoenix Suns simply too much for LA Lakers

Forget Davis, forget the referees, forget Beverley, the Phoenix Suns are simply a better basketball team than the Lakers, and it showed on Tuesday evening. Despite the massive game from Davis, the Suns outrebounded LA, had more assists than LA, and had fewer turnovers. Heck, the Suns even had the same seven blocks the Lakers did.

The bottom line is that the shorthanded Suns were too much for the shorthanded Lakers, which was obvious from the start. Thus, the NBA and the whistles worked to make it a ‘watchable’ game for TNT.

Are referees more worried about the score than being right?

Sure, the Suns shot a lot of three-pointers, 34 attempts to be exact. Those 34 attempts were one less than how many free throws the Lakers attempted.

On Tuesday, the Lakers attempted 35 free throws to the Suns’ five. Yes, five free throws in a 48-minute NBA game, including none in the second half, despite an opponent being ejected.

How a team can take more than 100 shots and grab 49 rebounds yet only get fouled 12 times the entire game is anyone’s guess.

If the Lakers hadn’t had all those free throws, the game probably would have gotten ugly sooner than it did, but Pat Bev ensured the night went off the rails.

Bush league cheap shot from Beverley

Announcers like Reggie Miller can talk about Beverley standing up for his teammate. However, his shove in the back of Ayton was nothing short of pathetic.

Beverley was the worst player on the court Tuesday, scoring zero points in 29 minutes and accumulating the game’s worst +/- of -15. Nevertheless, his shove in the back of Ayton late in the game stole all the headlines.

Maybe Ayton was standing over Austin Reaves too much; however, with a 7-foot plus Davis right next to him, how much trash was Deandre talking?

Davis did not appear to be upset with Ayton and made no effort to help his teammate when Beverley decided to play hockey goon and checked Ayton from behind.

If not for Reaves being on the floor next to Ayton, he may not have fallen over. However, Reaves was there, and Deandre went flying as Beverley did what Beverley does — took a cheap shot.

As a fan, watching the referees suck for 48 minutes trying to keep the overmatched opposition in the game is one thing. However, it is quite another to see a player take a cheap shot from the blind side and see his team get the ball after such a poor play.

This was the second time we have seen Beverley hit a Suns player from behind after a game was decided. Pat Bev shoved Chris Paul with two hands two seasons ago in the playoffs. Now, we get this.

It is time for the Association to stand up and start protecting one of its best teams instead of propping up failing franchises.