DeMarcus Cousins gives Kings big lift over Jazz - Boston Herald

game - Google News Google News

DeMarcus Cousins gives Kings big lift over Jazz - Boston Herald Mar 31st 2012, 11:27 SALT LAKE CITY — Being seen as the bad guy is nothing new for Kings center DeMarcus Cousins. And following last week's game in which Cousins referred to Utah Jazz guard Devin Harris as "the kid" after Harris stared down Cousins in the first quarter in Sacramento, a large part of the sellout crowd at EnergySolutions Arena took pleasure in booing and heckling Cousins on Friday night. When the game was over, they had even more reason not to like Cousins. Cousins' free throw with 3.8 seconds left in the game was the difference in the Kings' 104-103 win over the Jazz. Cousins followed up on the solid statistics he's put up of late with his sixth consecutive 20-point game and fifth consecutive double-double with 27 points, 14 rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. Cousins said "Utah was definitely on my back" but relished the treatment. "I love it," Cousins said. "Especially when I can knock down the game-winning free throw and they just sit there." Aside from another good outing statistically, Cousins left the game with stitches under his left eyebrow after he said Utah forward Gordon Hayward caught him with an elbow. That was also insignificant to Cousins. What mattered most was the Kings ending a four-game losing streak that included many mistakes late in games. It was Sacramento's fifth road win of the season in 27 games. It also ended a four-game losing streak at Utah. This time, the Kings made the plays they needed down the stretch. Hayward missed a short shot with 1.4 seconds to play, and the Jazz made a putback after the buzzer. Kings coach Keith Smart said the Kings had lost 11 games this season in the final two minutes or so by making mistakes. This time, the Kings executed late by finding Cousins. "We found the right player to make the right pass," Smart said. "... We did the right things at the right time through the course of the game." Smart said Cousins' teammates were essential in keeping him in the game amid the hostile environment and physical play by the Jazz (27-25). "I prefer a guy with fire," Smart said. "We don't want guys that you've got to pump up and put air in them and make them play hard and play with passion. (Cousins) is going to grow out of that and know how to manage." ©2012 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) Visit The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) at www.sacbee.com Distributed by MCT Information Services This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions