Cousins looking like part of the family
Big man finally clicks with Warriors in win over red-hot Rockets
Through it all, through the boredom of the season, through the odd conflict between players — and between players and coaches — and through the disappointing losses at home, the Golden State Warriors are still the Golden State Warriors.
When a challenge is presented to them, the Warriors meet it, as they did Wednesday night in Houston.
Reeling from one of their most disappointing losses in years — beaten at home by the cellar-dwelling Phoenix Suns on Sunday — the Warriors rolled into Houston and met a Rockets team that was at full strength and riding a ninegame winning streak. It could have been seen as one of those “statement games” that are talked about each season.
All the Warriors did was get 30 points from Klay Thompson and a season-high 27 from DeMarcus Cousins to beat the Rockets 106-104, despite playing without an injured Kevin Durant. Point made. The most significant part of the night had to be the production the Warriors got from Cousins, who has been ordinary since making his debut in mid-January after a year off recovering from an Achilles tendon tear.
Cousins is a gifted big man who should have fit seamlessly with the Warriors because of his passing ability, post play and shooting skills that can stretch the floor. But Golden State had been a pedestrian 15-7 with him in the lineup. And the Warriors had lost six of 10 games before meeting the red-hot Rockets.
“There was a little sensitivity to how everybody was going to get their shots,” Stephen Curry said in story in the New York Times. “At the end of the day, we’re all talented and we all have high basketball IQs, so just let things happen. You don’t have to force anything. We’ve been good at it at times, and not so good at other times. So it’s just a matter of sticking with the program.”
In some ways, maybe the addition of Cousins late in the season is just the tonic the Warriors need to re-energize them through a boring part of the season. Getting a new toy, like a perennial all-star, for the final half of the season could be seen as disruptive to cohesion and force some changing of roles but it also gives a good team a reason to work hard at time when the games tend to just run together.
“Sometimes we’ve played a little too fast and shot too many quick shots instead of letting him get down on the block and controlling things,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said of Cousins.
“I think we’ve got to remind ourselves that this is still early in the process. We’re all learning. Me too. I’ve got to learn to use him better.”
The Warriors, two-time defending champions, have scuffled at times and would seem to be the furthest thing from a lock to play for another title in June. But if they can get Cousins to be a consistent producer along with Thompson, Durant and Curry, it would be folly to count them out. The win in Houston may not be a huge thing in the long run — the Rockets have beaten the Warriors three times already this season — but it should certainly provide food for thought.