Early on in Game one of the Western Conference playoffs series between the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors, things got chippy when Patrick Beverley and Stephen Curry engaged in a bit of a shoving match.
Many Golden State fans were furious, and have been calling Beverley a dirty player. Curry disagrees, though. From Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN:
Curry pushed back when asked whether Beverley is a “dirty player.”
“Nah, he’s an aggressive player,” Curry said. “He plays hard. He tries to get under your skin with certain things that he does, but that’s kind of his M.O. I wouldn’t call it dirty at all.”
Beverley denies that he tries to get under the skin of opposing players:
“I’m not trying to get under anybody’s skin,” said Beverley, who roomed with Curry at developmental basketball camps while the two were growing up. “If that’s how they feel, that’s how they feel. I can’t help that.”
The Warriors wound up beating the Rockets in a rout, 104-78. Curry and Beverley played 20 minutes apiece in Game one. Curry finished the game with 24 points and 7 rebounds on 8/13 shooting from the field, and 5/7 from beyond the arc. Beverley finished with 2 points and 3 rebounds on 1/7 shooting, and 0/3 shooting from downtown.
