Patrick Beverley got some really bad news just hours before the start of Game 4 of the Spurs/Rockets playoff series on Sunday night. Beverley’s grandfather died, and he was obviously very broken up about it prior to the game:
Despite his loss, Beverley decided to play against San Antonio, and he opened the game up by hitting a three-pointer and getting emotional on the court. He appeared to fight back tears as he pointed to the sky:
The emotions continued to pour out of Beverley after the game. The Rockets beat the Spurs 125-104 to even their series up 2-2, but Beverley wasn’t in the mood to talk basketball with reporters. Rather, he spent his entire post-game press conference talking about his grandfather and what he meant both to him and the rest of his family back in Chicago. Beverley was clearly still trying to process the events of the day, but he explained why he decided to play against the Spurs rather than skipping the game to fly home to be with his family:
"Everybody wanted me to play tonight," he said. "I was going to try to get on the next flight to Chicago. I’m really a strong guy, and I can deal with a lot of things. But I can’t deal with anybody suffering. He suffered, but he’s in a better place now. I tried to go out there and play as hard as I could for my teammates. It was just tough. I have to be there for my grandmother. That’s the only man she knew for the last 26 years. I have to be there for my mom. I have to be there for my cousins back home in Chicago. It’s just tough, man. It’s so tough. Everybody knows I work so extremely hard to prove myself each and every night. And to have somebody that was right there supporting me the whole way, wore my jerseys every single day of his life, wore my Russian jerseys every single day of his life, to have a person like that be taken from you is so hard."
James Harden also said a few words about Beverley and the courage he displayed by playing in Game 4 during his post-game press conference:
Beverley and the Rockets are scheduled to travel to San Antonio to play the Spurs in Game 5 on Tuesday night. Beverley’s status for the game is unknown at this time.
