Frank Kaminsky isn't very good at pushing Patrick Beverley, his team captain. Photo by Getty ImagesHave you ever heard of James Butler, Yall?Butler, a former professional boxer from Harlem was most well-known for his loss to Richard Grant, a Brooklyn native on November 29, 2001 at the Roseland Ballroom. Grant won by unanimous decision and went to shake Butler's hand. Butler instead sucker-punched Grant and knocked him unconscious. He was later arrested for assault.AdvertisementAlthough Patrick Beverley's last night's parting shot on Chris Paul did not replicate the infamous incident, there was an identical level of corniness from each loser on their way out. You could have avoided it with better defense, but we'll get to that in a moment. Let's get on with it.First, 41, CP3. This is the second highest number of NBA playoffs ever for any age 36 and older. This was the real dagger. It put the Los Angeles Clippers at 26 with 5 minutes remaining. Marcus Morris guarded the jumper, but it didn't matter. Clips called timeout and you'll see that Beverley and Marcus exchanged glances right before the commercial break, which was delayed. Beverley, who was 26 years old, took exception to this and walked alongside Paul, who had been attempting to get to his bench and shoved the shitout of him. Beverley was ejected and Paul then got up to celebrate, laugh, and hit the technical free throw. It doesn't appear that Paul said anything, and Beverley just shoved him from behind, WWE-style. At that point, he might have been able to hold a chair.Beverley made a sportsmanlike gesture of apologizing Thursday.This could have been avoided if Frank Kaminsky had not intervened. Kaminsky was not the cause of this escalation, but the 7-footer was inefficient in putting out the sudden fire. To be fair, he probably didn't expect Beverley would explode. You can see that Kaminsky is the only person who could possibly stop Beverley's journey to Paul. He didn't. Instead, he stared Beverley down while the agitated guard bulldozed past the ex-Wisconsin lottery pick and pushed Paul from behind. Kaminsky watched the entire thing unfold and saw Paul fall to the ground like a skittle. He then shoved Beverley back three seconds later. Who was the first Paul teammate who arrived on the scene to really take the step to Beverley's aid? Jae Crowder, you guessed it.You can watch it again by clicking here, but skip the 0:52 mark.It was a shameful act. Pat, you too!(Carbon Phillips, our Carron Phillips, points out that Kaminsky may not have been there the first time his team needed him.AdvertisementAlthough Beverley's actions were somewhat serious, Kaminsky was not without fault. It's one thing to be surprised at your team leader being shoved, but it's quite another to react so quickly after seeing him get dropped. Bobby Portis will be there to make sure the Milwaukee Bucks don't win.
