While the entire NBA world was watching the Warriors bring a holy whooping down on the Tim Duncan-less Spurs last night, the Sacramento Kings and the Charlotte Hornets played one of the very best games of the season, a 129-128 Hornets win in double overtime. It sort of made perfect sense that they’d be relatively invisible, opposite the most highly anticipated matchup of the regular season, and just a few hours down the road from Oakland. Neither team particularly matters to the NBA at large right now, but both are fighting for a chance to make the playoffs, no matter how futile the task of getting past the Warriors/Cavs might be. So, last night’s game was irrelevant, but it was near perfect.
It all starts with DeMarcus Cousins. Fresh off a 48-point demolition job of the Pacers this weekend, the Kings’ talismanic volcano of a center somehow one-upped himself and turned in one of the best games in the history of the franchise. Boogie finished with 56 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, seven turnovers, and six fouls. The gaudy point total jumps out at you (it’s the most in Kings history), but those last two numbers are critical too.
Cousins is an ugly player. Even when he’s feathering leaners in the lane or dunking on guys, there’s a visible strain to his game. He never takes the easy route to the hoop, as if he insists, “Can’t go over it, can’t go around it, gotta go through it,” only the “it” is Spencer Hawes, not the Misty Mountains. Three Hornets (Hawes, Marvin Williams, Tyler Hansbrough) were alternately tasked with stopping him, and they all fouled out. Boogie might get fouled on every single play, but he also might commit fouls on half of them. Every play is a rock fight, even the pretty ones. When he gets around hapless defenders and gets to the rim, it’s less a graceful slide into the paint and more like a ton of bricks somehow dunking on you. Here, watch him beat up a bunch of guys.
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