The Most Petty NBA Beefs That Never Got Speeched About..

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Now throughout NBA history, there's been plenty of beefs that got so ridiculous that things got heated on the court. With Westbrook and Lillard both being top tier point guards in their team, they'd often guard each other in their Western Conference matchups, which led to some unwanted beef between the two. In late January of 2019, Russ and Lillard matched up in a game where Russ was still on the Thunder, and during that game, when Lillard was shooting free throws, Russ began to say stuff to him, including, I've been busting your ass for years. The Thunder went into winning that game at 123 to 114, and after that game, Lillard spoke about the situation, saying, walking down the court, he was like, you know this is how we do it, I respect you, you respect me, that's all it was. I mean, he knows, he knows, he knows I'm not one of those people that there ain't no fear. I'm coming out on the same way you come at me, and he knows that. Where he came from and where I come from, that's regular. We ain't best friends, but I respect him, and he respects me. And in the first round of the 2019 playoffs, Damon Westbrook battled it out during that first round matchup. But early on in the series, Lillard would do his Rock the Baby celebration, had to make it a play which triggered Westbrook a bit. And although the beef didn't pursue, after the game, Damien spoke about the beef between the two saying, the funny thing is, off the court, me and Westbrook were real cool. I see Russ, he asked about the family, how's the family doing and all that, we're actually cool. So it's funny when they try and say, me and Russ hate each other. It's not really like that, but it's something about when you get on the court, I guess. You could tell they always felt a certain way about each other, especially with each of them trying to do whatever it takes to make their teams win. But Damien Lillard still the situation when he hit the game winner from the logo against the Thunder, which ended the series with the Blazers victory. Damien was seen waving to the Thunder bench immediately after and that summer it caused OKC to break up their entire team, training Paul George to the Clippers and Russell Westbrook to the Rockets. Russ never had any hard feelings toward the city of OKC, so it's safe to say he'll never forgive Lillard for pretty much ending his career there. With Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul both being known as players who don't take anything from anyone, they definitely didn't take it from each other back when their beef started. The age-old comparison of both their talents on the court has been a topic of discussion for many years. A topic so worthy that even the great Shaquille O'Neal had some words to describe Rondo as being the better point guard saying, Chris Paul is not better than Rajon Rondo. Rajon Rondo is the true definition of a point guard, period. He gets everybody involved and he scores when he has to. Chris Paul has a lot of points, but when's the last time you made it to the playoffs? The only traceable origin of how their beef started was during a small altercation during the 2009 season. During an early season Celtics-Hornets matchup, Rajon was on Paul and was noticeably aggressive with Chris. So much so that an over and under the rim scuffle happened and both were given technicals. A little heated perhaps, but nothing to have fans thinking it was more than just that. It would be at the end of the game that during the team's post game handshakes, Rajon would confront Paul. And we'd come to find out that Rajon was heard telling Paul, I've got a ring and you're never going to have one. An obvious time at the fact that while Paul was an excellent player, he'd failed to even come close to a championship at that point. And before a scuffle could ensue, the two were quickly separated and all was forgotten, but many believe the beef is still held today. With Kendrick Perkins and Zach Randolph both being dominant big men when they played in the league, they too had their beef when they played against each other. During the 2012 season, which would be the beginning of what would become Oklahoma's run to the finals, the Thunder were matched up against the Grizzlies during an early season game. With two minutes and five seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies were up by 12, and after a foul on Westbrook, the teams lined up in their positions for free throws where Mark Gasol could be seen talking to Perkins, trying to de-escalate a situation. While we don't know what was said during the free throws, after Westbrook landed his last shot, Perkins tells Randolph, I'll meet you by the bus. To where Randolph responded by saying, I'll beat your ass. The ref immediately got involved by landing them both technical fouls and ejections from the game. With their teammates holding each other from each other, Perkins backs off suddenly and starts to jog to the tunnel where Randolph does the same, going to his tunnel. It was confirmed both players met each other in the back by the locker rooms, and while there was no physical altercation back there, both started verbally attacking one another. Following the incident, Randolph spoke to USA Today, and he said, there's a lot of bluffing going on in the court, and I don't bluff. When asked about whether he could have taken Perkins on, Randolph responded, ha, I'm good with these hands. I'm jacking, dude. I'm pretty good with these hands. Every day I come out of the house, I had a fight, so me and my brothers, I'd say I've probably been in too many fights to count, probably 30 or 40 We're talking about like from middle school and freshman year, mainly when I was young. Randolph additionally denied going into the locker room, stating, nah, I didn't try to go in their locker room. There are some doors and their locker room is right there to the left, and I went through some doors into the hallway. Lesson learned, it won't happen again. I ain't gonna lose no 25,000 again. I'm done with that bluffing on the court because them guys do a lot of bluffing. I'm from the bluff city. We don't do no bluffing, man. And Kittrick Perkins' only comment on the situation said, There's too much talking. I was frustrated, but at the same time, I have a problem with losing. You do have to see this team three more times and can't be showing no signs of weakness. With Paul Pierce being so legendary, his ability with the Celtics obviously got in the head of many. Quinton Richardson, yet another player who doesn't like taking things from anyone, and Paul Pierce once got into it and their beef was never resolved. There's a little bit of mystery surrounding the origin of this beef between these two players, but what we do know is that it dated all the way back to their days in college, when the two had apparently met in Kansas. At the time, Pierce was already a player for the college while Quinton was on a campus tour. Quinton had mentioned in an interview with The Players Tribune having met there and an altercation had occurred. Whatever did happen that day affected Quinton the rest of his career when he was matched up with Pierce. Quinton, for the better part of his early career in his entirety, could never win a match against Pierce's Celtics. His first three seasons with Phoenix, they were 0-6 against the Celtics, and some notable quotes of his throughout his matchups with Pierce included Quinton shouting, I'm not in awe of them, when referring to the 2007 acquisition of Allen and Garnett to the Celtics, and him even saying, they ain't won any championships yet, I'll see you out back. I'd just be real curious to see what a lot of those guys would say if we weren't in the basketball arena, when there ain't no referees, and the NBA officials aren't going to stop certain things. Perhaps the most notable altercation they had took place in the 2010 playoffs. At the time, Quint was playing with the Miami Heat, and while they had a very good regular season run, there were no match against the Celtics. We beat them all but for one game in the regular season. With just seconds to go into the Celtics, we just secured the game one victory. Richardson moved the double team Paul Pierce in the sideline. Being too pushy, Pierce falls off to the sideline, where Richardson then proceeds to say, I knew nobody touched him. Is he taking another break like he does so many times? Sometimes he falls like he's about to be out for a season, and then he gets right back up. Kevin Garnett then rushed over to the aid of Pierce, elbows Quinton out of the way, a move that would suspend him for the remainder of the game and game two. But Richardson didn't go away without any penalty. He received a $25,000 fine for what he said after the game in the locker room. Quinton told reporters, I got no business talking to him while he's on the ground crying. I don't know what's going on. They two actresses the way that they are. I don't like them. As Celtics head coach at the time, Doc Rivers said, he had no business over there. We had a guy in the floor injured. There was no reason for him to be there. And then going by all the reporters, not just the one crowding, but it was taunting. You got a guy injured on the floor. I don't think you should be standing over and telling him to get up. I can't even use the words he used. When Pierce was asked why Quintinous's strong feelings of animosity toward him, he responded, I don't know, ask him. It's been nothing but talk truthful. With Larry Bird and Dr. J constantly facing off against one another during their playing days, the competition wasn't enough for them, and they often got physical and got in each other's faces. During a matchup between the 76ers and the Boston Celtics in November of 1984, veteran NBA legend Julius Irving found himself matched up with the then young and dominant Larry Bird. A low stakes game having took place early that season, most wouldn't have expected anything more than just an entertaining game between the two teams, who were sporting their respective legends, but Larry was known to carry an infamous reputation of being a trash talker in the court and with a large in life personality. For every point that Larry scored, he would shout to J two numbers, the amount of points he had and J's points. Eventually that number had hit 42 for Larry and six for J, so you know, shouting 42 to six to someone could kind of make him mad. At the top of the third quarter, an offensive foul was called on Larry for what looked like an attempted elbow at J after a scuffle, which then prompted an argument between Larry and the ref. In an interview with ESPN's Get Up, Dr. J painted the picture of the moment saying, so the fight, actually, there was an offensive foul called on Larry. He didn't like the call, so he was really mad at the referee. Then he came down the court and he was kind of like stomping. He was in front of his bench and it looked like a moment in which he was going to take a swing. It's very uncharacteristic because, you know, we did converse commercials together. We did Spalding commercials together. So we were kind of cool, but I thought something was going to happen because he was definitely mad, but he was mad at the referee. He wasn't mad at me. I just extended my arm to hold him back and it ended up sliding into his neck. Then it was on. So it was really inadvertent. I didn't mean to grab him by the neck. I pushed him in the chest, hand slid up to his neck. He reaches for my neck. Next thing I know, it's a melee. That was it. A fellow Celtic, Danny Angelus, was asked about this Larry and Dr. J trash-talking moment, and he said, I think when he told Dr. J to retire, that it led to a fight. While Dr. J claims that the situation was inadvertent, in the video, you could see Larry approaching J after the foul. And shortly after, J has seen him bracing Larry by the lower back while pushing his other arm up by his throat. And Larry is spotted by choking him. Fellow 76ers teammates, Charles Barkley and Moses Malone are seen behind Larry shortly after, holding him down. J then launched multiple jabs to Larry's undefended face. Charles Barkley in the Day Patrick Show talked about the situation and felt he'd never forgive the NBA for the fine that he received that day. He said, To this day, I won't ever forgive the NBA for fining me. They fined me because they said I was holding Larry Bird down so Dr. J could hit him. I was trying to break the fight up. The NBA fined me. It really made me mad. They owe me money to this day. All the players involved received fines that totaled around $30,500, $7,500 going to each Larry and J, which was the second highest player fine for conduct ever dished out at the time. Just to put things into perspective, that same day, Derrick Rose was fined $25,000 himself for throwing a pin into the crowd, so it's clear that the money in the NBA was different back then. But both of these legendary players were ejected for that game, but avoided suspensions, and the Celtics would take the game 130 to 119 But according to Irving, by the next time they saw each other on the court, they were shaking hands again. With Patrick Beverly and Kevin Durant both being players who give both sides of the ball 110% every play, Beverly recently got into the head of Durant during the playoffs, which got a little out of hand. With Beverly being known as one of the most energetic defenders in the league today, and being matched up against arguably the greatest scorer in Kevin Durant, despite the size difference between the two, Patrick never let up. Patrick, a 6'1, was set to guard Kevin Durant in game one of the 2019 playoffs, with the Warriors facing the Clippers. Following a foul on Patrick during the third quarter against Durant, Pat started to flail his arms in the air mocking Durant after the foul, but not allowing the defender to get into his head. Durant laughed off the gesture. Later on, five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Durant caught a fast break assist into the rim work. Patrick jumps nearly to the top of Durant to block the ball and foul him. Durant now holding Beverly's shoulders lightly pins him underneath the hoop, as they exchanged some words. Durant was no longer quiet in the exchange, and was noticeably stirred up as Beverly continued trash talking. With Durant barking back, both were handed technical fouls, and just 19 seconds later, with Beverly having possession of the ball, Durant fouled Beverly to the ground. Springing back up on his feet, the two now looked heated with each other, and it didn't take long before the ref got involved and handed out an additional double technical, just seconds after the first, and they were both ejected immediately. In a post-game interview with Mercury News, Kevin Durant talked about the exchange saying, when a guy's that small, you got the advantage, but the refs see, you know, we hear David and Goliath a lot growing up, you know, so that story is pretty much prominent in people's minds. So when you put that out there in the court against me, then the refs gonna give him a little bit more. So when he run up on me like a pitbull, grab me, hold me, I don't mind it. That's how he makes his money. That's how he feeds his family. But if I throw something back, let us play. It was clear that this was Beverly's game plan from the start, pretty much to agitate Durant and try to get him off his game. In the following game, DMZ asked Patrick on whether or not there were any mausity between the two and Patrick answered, it's all fun, man. It's two good teams, two good players battling, man.