MIAMI – It was flattering, but not unexpected.
Alex Caruso can say that about a lot of comments thrown his way from players around the NBA this season.
Still, to hear it from a new teammate, and one with the reputation of Patrick Beverley, didn’t go unappreciated by any means.
Last week, Beverley was discussing what it was like to play alongside Caruso from a defensive standpoint and fired off a detailed breakdown.
“I didn’t know he could slide them like that,” Beverley said of Caruso. “When I say slide them, I mean move laterally. He’s able to guard bigger guards too. He uses his body a lot, puts his body on the line, takes a bunch of charges. He’s elite. I knew he was solid. I didn’t know he was that good.’’
Another believer added to the growing flock, and Caruso appreciated the recognition.
“Because the world we live in everyone is kind of their own main character, so no one really worries about what other people are doing,’’ Caruso said on Friday. “I mean coming from him [Beverley], and I’ve had other guys from around the league tell me they love playing against me because they know I compete and it’s going to be a bit of a test.
“At the same time, there’s no gold star for me for having other people tell me that. I know the level that I’m capable of. I can judge it versus everyone else in the league and I see what people are doing. The more you do it, the more people start to understand, ‘OK, it wasn’t a fluke the first time.’ This is consistently what I do.’’
The latest evidence of what he does was on display in the second half of the win over Toronto on Wednesday, as Caruso and Beverley became a bad nightmare for the Raptors backcourt in the comeback.
That meant a lot of disruption and even more chaos. Just what teammates have come to love.
“We feed off those guys … It’s contagious,’’ DeMar DeRozan said of what Caruso and Beverley do. “It’s amazing how much pride they take in being defenders. With us being the leaders of the team, we gotta follow behind and rally behind that. They lock up, get steals, make big plays, sacrifice their body diving for the ball. It gets us going.’’
What that will translate into is what Caruso was waiting to see.
He’s been named All-Defensive team before, but it came in the SEC and was way back in 2016. To go undrafted out of Texas A&M, get kicked around the G-League for a few years, before finally landing with the Lakers, and then get All-Defensive honors at the NBA level?
“I think it would be really cool,’’ Caruso said. “I think it’s more of an accomplishment now than it’s ever been just because of how deep the league is. There’s so much more offense, there’s so many more players averaging 20-plus, 25-plus, 30-plus. There’s so many more possessions in the game, so I think it would be cool.
“And just to go from the point I was at six years ago, like couldn’t even get a team to bet on me. Didn’t get drafted and had to go to the G-League. The path it took to get to this point, it’s humbling, but it’s rewarding at the same time.’’
Scream-gate
DeRozan was still taken back by all the attention his daughter, Diar, received from her now infamous free throw screaming in Toronto, but as promised, she did not make the trip to Miami.
Despite offers from United Airlines to fly her to the game against the Heat, DeRozan said she had priorities. Specifically, he didn’t want her to miss another day of school, and she had a basketball game of her own to play in.
