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Damian Lillard and Patrick Beverley faced off for the first time during the 2013-14 regular season. Dame was drafted in 2012 as the starting point guard for the Portland Trail Blazers, while Beverley was trying to find his spot in the NBA. As both were in the Western Conference, they’d play each other several times during the year.
Beverley’s tight and annoying defense, as well as his tenacity on the court, is what started a long-lasting rivalry between the two.
“This competition between me and Dame is going on since I was a rookie, they say he can shoot from half-court, I need to see it,” Patrick Beverley said five months ago in the Gilbert Arenas Podcast.
And in their first matchups, the two even had some scuffles on the court.
After some bad blood between the two players in the regular season, they faced each other in the first round of the playoffs in the Rockets-Blazers series.
Lillard clearly outplayed Beverley averaging 25.5 points and 6.7 assists per game, while also knocking down this iconic game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer in Game 6 to send the Blazers to the second round.
