Kissing Cousins? Not if you’re Valanciunas
Raptors big man rolls with Pelican’s one-sided feud
Toronto Raptors centre Jonas Valanciunas swears he doesn’t remember, but at some point in his career he did DeMarcus Cousins wrong and the New Orleans Pelicans’ big man has never forgotten it.
Maybe it was that elbow in the 2014 semifinals of the FIBA World Cup. Valanciunas planted one right into Cousins’ Adam’s apple and Cousins made like he was going to take a swing at the Lithuanian, who was already turned and ducking away.
Cooler heads prevailed, but something had to spark this fire that burns within Cousins every time they match up. The player affectionately known as Boogie is constantly bumping, brushing, chirping at, growling at or just glaring at Valanciunas.
Conversely, Valanciunas barely looks at the Pelicans’ big man other than to size up his intentions on a drive or a three-point scoring attempt. To his credit, he refuses to take the bait. Bump after bump, jibe after jibe, shove after shove, Valanciunas plays through it, refusing to engage.
“I don’t have nothing against him,” Valanciunas said after two games — both Raptors wins — against the Pelicans. “I even like to play like that, see him barking all the time. It’s fun. It’s a different matchup. He’s a good player, but he barks a lot.”
It’s not just the barking with Cousins. It seems every chance he gets to bump shoulders with an opponent or make contact, he goes out of his way to do so. Valanciunas said it’s not the first time he has had to deal with this kind of bully behaviour.
“I found Kevin Garnett like that,” he said of a former divisional nemesis with the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets. “I had a chance to play against him and he was like that, maybe tougher, but now we got Boogie.
“It’s fine with me. I’m enjoying it too. That just motivates me even more.”
Valanciunas says it’s not a matter of keeping his composure.
“I’m telling you that is what motivates me more,” he said. “He gives me that shot. He’ll say something. I’m not a talker. I don’t talk on the court. We won two games in a row against them. That’s all I need to say, right?”
The question was put to him: If he had the chance, would he like to meet Cousins off the court?
Valanciunas didn’t hesitate. “Nah, I got my own problems,” he said.
What Valanciunas does night in, night out with the NBA’s bigger, more physical centres is not lost on head coach Dwane Casey, who said Cousins is a special case.
“The problem is you rassle with him, you battle him down, there’s so much — then you have to go out and guard his three ball,” Casey said. “That’s the difference, that’s the change of pace you’ve got to have, and I thought J.V. did an extra special job.”
I don’t have nothing against him. I even like to play like that, see him barking all the time. It’s fun.