I Can't Even Blame The Cops For Showing Up As Things Got Predictably Testy Between Russell Westbrook And Patrick Beverley Last Night

I'm of the opinion that the Rajon Rondo Vs. CP3 spat, pun intended, was a one-off fight between two guys who have spend their entire careers more or less circling each other just waiting for one drop of bad blood to hit the water (or tainted saliva to hit the face), as opposed to some sign that the NBA needs a full-time police presence so as to not devolve into a combat sport. For that reason, in most cases, I'd consider the cops coming on to the court an overreaction to some good old fashioned competitive jaw jacking.

Unfortunately, the following case, and all that preceded it, is not one of them...

Russ rocks the baby twice after scoring on Patrick Beverley. □ pic.twitter.com/dVqCug54ba

— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) October 31, 2018

This "rock the baby" thing from Westbrook is getting progressively longer and more theatric. He even gave the baby a kiss the last time.

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) October 31, 2018

Pat Beverly rocks the baby at Westbrook and stares him down. □ pic.twitter.com/v1yvfXli90

— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) October 31, 2018

BEVERLEY VS. RUSS IT’S ON pic.twitter.com/5zWMzVn91G

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) October 31, 2018

Police have been brought onto the court to keep Westbrook and Beverley away from each other pic.twitter.com/FAlF1fm8gD

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) October 31, 2018

If there are two (more) players whose long-standing feud calls for security supervision they are Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley, and if there was a situation in which said security supervision should have felt called into action it was after a play that was eerie reminiscent of the reckless run-in the two had that cost the Thunder star the remainder of what was a promising postseason in 2013...

To put it far too mildly, the mood between the two has been about as copacetic as oil and water since...

This missed Patrick Beverly jumper left Russell Westbrook disgusted. □□□#ThunderUp #OKC pic.twitter.com/lT5fHcYAA6

— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) January 30, 2016

Westbrook looked at Beverly the same way ya girl look at you when shes mad at you for being right in the argument pic.twitter.com/NEGAEb3fwv

— Shooter Ray Robbin'Son□□ (@LindenIves) April 26, 2017

LMFAAAOOOO WESTBROOK ON PATRICK BEVERLY □□□ pic.twitter.com/oxK72oFoRE

— #KlayBetter (@kadeejra) April 26, 2017

Patrick Beverly on the words he exchanged with Russell Westbrook on the court.

pic.twitter.com/gqjiSYX5wD

— NBA SKITS (@NBA_Skits) April 26, 2017

So, mix in the pettiness of two grown men, with an absurd amount of pride, spending a half of professional basketball going back and forth implying that they are each other's daddy as they (almost literally?) milked each basket for all the emasculatory mimicry it was worth, and last night was a recipe for a rivalry to become a riot.  
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I don't particularly think either player would have rung the proverbial bell by throwing the  first punch, but that hate definitely runs deep enough for some surface level security detail to be placed on high alert. You could start wars with the amount of love lost between two high strung players that basically serve as each's other's arrogant equivalent as cutthroat competitors at opposite ends of the court, so - if the postgame was any indication - keeping some professional peacemakers present was probably the best idea. 

Westbrook on his rock-the-baby move: “Put em to sleep, you got little kids on you.” pic.twitter.com/yQPW6ln3A9

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) October 31, 2018

Patrick Beverley on his near-altercation with Russell Westbrook: “Somebody walked to our bench doing all that cappin’ stuff. I don’t know what that is.” pic.twitter.com/zsIF5ASJzx

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) October 31, 2018