The Lakers (5-11) had their three-game winning streak ended by the Suns (11-6) in Phoenix. Late in the fourth quarter, Patrick Beverley was ejected for pushing Deandre Ayton who taunted Austin Reaves after he got blocked by Devin Booker.
After the game Lakers, head coach Darvin Ham addressed the incident. “It’s an emotional sport,” he said. “Tough foul, hard foul, Austin gets knocked down, I think it’s a little bit of chirping going on with Book and Ayton and some of our guys.
“And then just from what I saw Ayton just standing right there about to walk over him and Pat Bev you don’t want just to be a tough man competition you actually want to play tough basketball.
“But at the end of the day I’m not mad at him. He’s there protecting his teammate. I’m sure he’ll probably go through some type of consequence for that. But at the end of the day that’s what we have to be as Lakers. We got to be together. One of the main words I said from day one ‘Competitive, together and accountable.’
“We were together, we are together and that has to be our identity. Teams have to know that they can’t just push us around. Albeit we playing within the rules, but we also got to have each other’s back and really be together. It’s an unfortunate play, but that’s what we have to be.”
