Houston's Patrick Beverley is many things, and one of those things is an elite irritant. He is so annoying. Sometimes it's fruitless, sometimes it's injurious and sometimes it's just sly enough to make a difference in a basketball game:
That is Utah's Gordon Hayward preparing to shoot free throws with the Jazz up two in the final seconds of Tuesday's game. Beverley gives him a little nudge, then grabs his arm while he's doing his customary gooseneck warmup.
Well, maybe it was just a coincidence, but...
He missed! It worked!
And while the Jazz would go on to win in overtime, this moment was temporarily pivotal. Hayward hit his second, but left Utah up only three instead of the game-clinching four. Houston's Jason Terry hit a three-pointer on the next play, which sent the game to OT. Patrick Beverley may have legitimately bought his team five minutes of life by being a world-class pest.