Warriors stand up for Cousins
Stars shine as they take down new center’s former team
OAKLAND >> Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson had yet another dominating scoring performance. But something else fueled them in a 131-121 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday at Oracle Arena. They faced DeMarcus Cousins’ former team.
“We definitely want to win for him,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said beforehand. “Obviously he feels a way about whatever the way he feels about.”
The Warriors then posted the an NBA season-best 39 assists against New Orleans. The Warriors leaned on their stars, including Curry (37 points), Durant (24) and Thompson (18). But the Warriors also drew on their strength in numbers, including Green (16 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists), Jonas Jerebko (10 points), Andre Iguodala (nine points), Alfonzo McKinnie (five points, five rebounds) and Kevon Looney (six rebounds).
How did the Warriors know Cousins wants them to beat his former team on his behalf?
“He said it,” Warriors center Damian Jones said, laughing. “Not even a speech, he just said it.”
Cousins has said the Pelicans never offered him a deal amid concerns about the left Achilles tendon he sustained in late January. The Pelicans have maintained they remained interested in re-signing Cousins, who averaged 25.2 points on 47 percent
shooting, 12.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 48 games before suffering his seasonending left Achilles injury on Jan. 26 against Houston.
“He’s close with a lot of guys on our team,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. “As a coaching staff, we like having DeMarcus on our team. I think everybody forgets he was putting MVP type numbers when he was healthy on our team.”
• Jones had a calm response on the Warriors exercise his team option for the 2019-20 campaign. When the Warriors informed Jones they would guarantee his $2.3 million option, the third-year center had an interesting reaction.
“I was playing my [Nintendo] Switch, and they gave me the paperwork,” Jones said. “It was cool. Went back to playing the game. I wasn’t really tripping about it. It’s good, I’ll be at Chase Center.”
Jones, an avid gamer, leads the team in blocks and has started all started all eight of the Warriors’ games this season. During his career, Jones has battled injuries and multiple stints in the G-League, making the Warriors’ decision all the more special for the big man. Still, Jones is keeping perspective.
“We may have picked it up anyway based off his potential. But it’s a nobrainer. He’s a really good young talent,” Kerr said. “He’s gotten miles and miles better from where he was a year ago. He’s going to be a big part of our team going forward.”
• Green predicted it is inevitable that Cousins will have a flare-up this season, and Green considers it a good thing.
Green even told Cousins that when he talked to him about joining the Warriors last July.
“I’m an honest guy. If we get mad, we probably will. That’s the nature of it,” Green said. “You don’t back down from your
teammates. You hold each other accountable. Sometimes there’s that clash. That’s what it takes to win. We’re going to keep winning. So I’m pretty sure that’s going to happen.”
Green also dismissed concerns about Cousins’ reputation as a volatile player who has emotional outbursts. Green appreciates Cousins for his versatility that has sparked four All-Star appearances, mentoring Jones, providing a sense of humor and his philanthropic work in the Sacramento area.
“You’ll never hear about those. It’s not what you guys write. It’s not what sells,” Green said. “You’ll never hear about that. It is what it is. I don’t think that’s fair. But I don’t spend much of the day worrying about how misunderstood he is.”
•Warriors veteran Shaun Livingston missed Wednesday’s game because of a sore right foot that has sidelined him for the previous two games.
Kerr said that Livingston took an MRI and that “everything was fine.” He
added, though, the Warriors will be “very careful” both with Livingston and veteran Iguodala over minor injuries.
“We want both guys to be fresh and ready to roll in the playoffs,” Kerr said. “We’ll be very careful throughout the regular season. If there is anything nagging, we’ll keep them on the bench.”
• The longer Patrick McCaw remains absent, the more likely he will never wear a Warriors uniform again. Does it surprise Kerr that McCaw declined a two-year, $5.2 million offer despite showing mixed progress his first two seasons as a role player?
“Nothing really surprises me too much in the NBA,” Kerr said. “We’d love to have Patrick here, but the ball is really in his court.”
• The Warriors celebrated Halloween by honoring Thompson, who set an NBA record 14 3-pointers on Monday in Chicago. Thompson arrived to Oracle Arena dressed as Jackie Moon, Will Ferrell’s character in “Semi-Pro.”