Malik Beasley issues James Harden apology following The Beard’s 50-point game vs Pistons, days after saying Clippers star was ‘easy to guard’

James Harden made Malik Beasley eat humble pie after the Detroit Pistons guard called him 'easier to guard' than other NBA players.

Malik Beasley issues James Harden apology following The Beard’s 50-point game vs Pistons, days after saying Clippers star was ‘easy to guard’

James Harden, Malik Beasley

When it comes to disrespected all-time NBA legends, James Harden is a name that should be somewhere near the top of the list. This man has 3 scoring titles, 2 assists titles, an MVP, a player-voted MVP award and a decade straight of All-Star game selections, and still can’t get love from many factions of NBA fandom. Not just that, he often faces analysts devaluing his contributions to his teams and the game.

However, the disrespect has seemingly reached new heights, permeating into the players he faces on the hardwood. Pistons guard Malik Beasley was interviewed by Kick streamer N3on recently. N3on mentioned in passing that James Harden is his favorite NBA player of all time, at which Malik Beasley seemed to sneer before making a snide remark

YouTube video

Your favorite player of all time is James Harden? He’s easy to guard.

Malik Beasley said

Even as Beasley uttered those words, he knew that he had caused a viral moment to occur in real-time. He retracted his statement and began acting apologetically for his statement, urging fans not to let the clip go viral.

Beasley then explained that guarding Harden was easy only in comparison to guarding Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson. Beasley justified this take by saying that chasing the Warriors duo around screens was a tougher task. Harden chooses to operate at a slower pace, in the halfcourt setting, which makes it a smaller effort to guard him.

However, the damage had already been done, and Beasley faced James Harden with little help at Intuit Dome on March 5th. The Beard turned the clock back on the Pistons and hung 50 points on them. Beasley knew it was time for him to own up for his words of folly. The Pistons’ Sixth Man of the Year candidate sent an apologetic tweet to the same effect on the following day.

Barack Obama witnessed James Harden dropping 50 points on Malik Beasley, Detroit

Harden’s special night was an affair also attended by the 44th president of the United States of America, Barack Obama. The Democratic party leader made a solo appearance at the Dome on Wednesday night and was treated to vintage James Harden play from his Rockets days.

Harden put his injury-hobbled Clippers team on his back and led them to victory over a surging Pistons team that will likely lock in a top-6 seed in the Eastern Conference. He scored 23 in the first quarter and ended up with the eighth 50-point game in franchise history, the first since Lou Williams on Jan. 10, 2018, at Golden State. This is the Rockets legend’s 24th 50-point game through 16 seasons in the league.

The Clippers needed every last point they could get from their 35-year-old franchise player in the absence of Kawhi Leonard, Norm Powell, and Derrick Jones Jr. It got them back on track after losing a couple of winnable games to the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns, who they’re competing with for a playoff berth.