Kyrie Irving and Patrick Beverley Open Up About Friendship

It's all love between Kyrie Irving and Patrick Beverley

The Monday night matchup between the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers is certainly appealing on paper. That wasn't the case on the hardwood. The contest did not feature Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, LeBron James, or Anthony Davis. 

Instead, Kyrie Irving was the sole star on the court, and his matchup against Lakers' guard Patrick Beverley was the show at Barclays Center. 

Los Angeles' feisty guard held Irving to only two made field goals (2-of-8 shooting), but Irving finished Brooklyn's win with a game-high 26 points. Beverley was shadowing Irving every time on the defensive end, and his defensive tendencies are what the Nets' superstar guard wanted. 

"Some other guys would probably use that word [irritating], but for me, [when it comes to] Patrick, I enjoy the competitive spirit he brings out of me and he brings out of other people," Irving said postgame. "If you can get him, if you can score on him, then I feel like you can score on the majority of people in the league. That's the respect I have for him." 

There's no secret the Lakers guard accepts the challenge of guarding the opposing team's best backcourt player. That was the case with Irving.

"Obviously wise words for a wise man," Beverley told Kristian Winfield of the Daily News in response to Irving's postgame comment. "The ultimate competitor. Master of his craft. The master at that positon to ever play. It wasn't easy tonight, but it's always been like that. I make sure I get my rest the night before I play Kyrie, for sure." 

After the final buzzer, Irving and Beverley shared a long exchange. It's the respect between the firey defender and a skilled shot-maker. Despite the two only see each other twice in the 2022-23 season, both contests are one each player has penciled on their calendar. 

"I love Kai because every time I bump into Kai, we always keep this personal chart we have from when we always matchup," Beverley said. "Obviously he's in the East and I'm in the West, so we don't really see each other a lot, but when we do it's always like, 'Ok Pat, I won tonight. Ok Pat, good one.' So it's always a good vibe with him." 

The same goes for Irving. The special competitive bond between the two guards stems from their similar upbringing on the basketball hardwood. 

"When we're out there, it's gonna be back and forth. It's gonna look like he's doing a lot, but from where we're from, and growing up in the trenches, and playing against guys like that, it's nothing new," Irving said. "I welcome the challenge, but I just kept telling him that the objective of the game is to win. So me going back and forth with [him] right now and trying to score over [him] every single time is not really where my energy is. I'm just trynna play the game, Pat. 

"And a few times I missed shots and he's like, 'That's off! I told you you was gonna miss!' I'm just looking at him like, 'the objective is to win, Patrick.' I'm not really gonna get into this,' but it makes the game a lot more fun."