Patrick Beverley Discussed The Emotions Of Playing Game 4 After Losing His Grandfather

Patrick Beverley woke up from a pregame nap on Sunday afternoon to terrible news, learning that his grandfather had passed away. Beverley was visibly upset during pregame warmups, but insisted on playing. His effort with 10 points, six assists, and four rebounds helped the Rockets to a 125-104 victory over the Spurs, evening the series at 2 games apiece.

The emotions of the day were evident on Beverley’s face, especially early in the game after his first made shot just a minute into the contest, but he was able to give Houston 25 quality minutes, with a +27 rating while on the floor.

After the game, Beverley took to the podium for the postgame press conference and was asked about the emotions of the night, to which he gave an open and honest response to what he was dealing with.

You could see as it continued the emotions start to come flooding out of Beverley as he expounded on the virtues of his grandfather and how much he meant to his family and Beverley’s journey to the NBA.

[It’s been] long, frustrating. Wake up from a nap to hear the person that raised you and nine other cousins or siblings or whatever, to hear that he passed. The man of the family. Didn’t have any children, but accepted everyone like we were his. It’s tough, man. Tough. He’s been in my life since I can remember. Been in my cousins’ life since I can remember. Tough. Today was tough.

His name was Rheese Morris. He spent a lot of time in the military. My grandma adopted a lot of children, so growing up I had a lot of siblings and he was there since the beginning, as long as I can remember. It’s just tough. So hard, so tough. I mean, just him being at every single game that he could probably make it to. It’s a tough one for me.

I talked to my family members, my first cousin, all my family back home in Chicago. Everybody wanted to play tonight. I was going to try and 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 anyone 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 tonight, man. It’s 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 so tough. Everybody knows I work so extremely hard to prove myself each and every night, and to have somebody that was there supporting me the whole way, he 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 taken from you, it’s hard. It’s so hard. But there’s a bigger plan, and I’m going to keep my faith and be there for my family.

Beverley’s status going forward in the series is unknown, which is the least important detail of this story, but however he proceeds through his grieving process, the courage he showed on Sunday night was tremendous.