San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Cousins can’t find his rhythm
When the Warriors spot the visiting team a 15-0 lead out of the gate and you’re waiting for the Warriors to mount one of their famous charges, your mind can wander to odd thoughts, like ...
Would Steve Kerr ever consider shaking up his Michelin FiveStar starting lineup?
If so, the most logical move would be to slide DeMarcus Cousins out of the starting five. Or would that be seen as a panic move, counter-productive, as the Warriors ease Cousins back into basketball and into their flow?
The Warriors never did quite recov-
er Saturday night, losing 118112 to a one-man team without its one man — the injured James Harden.
As Kevin Durant said after the game, the Warriors never did recover from that wretched first quarter. They did scrap back and take the lead briefly, but the Rockets — among other teams — no longer roll over when the mighty Warriors storm back. The Rockets simply re-stormed.
Cousins, a little over a month into his comeback from Achilles surgery and rehab, was not the entire cause of the Warriors’ first-quarter woes. It was a sloppy, disjointed team effort.
It was so bad that Kerr didn’t bother to call a timeout even when the score hit 15-0. But he didn’t keep his seat in order to make a point.
“I’m not sure what I would have told ’em (in a timeout),” Kerr said. “There was no adjustment to make.”
Other than: Play better. Which they did, but too late and too little.
It’s not like the Warriors are in a death spiral. They won 15 of 16 games before losing the last game before the All-Star break, then beat the scrappy Kings after the break. Barely.
But the most glaring number on Saturday’s box score was Cousins’ plus-minus number, minus-17.
It’s not that Cousins didn’t contribute. He led the team with 14 rebounds in his 26½ minutes.
But the Rockets exposed him on defense with high pick-and-rolls that left Cousins defending small, quick guys at the arc.
And on offense, Cousins continued to struggle on the low post. He’s never been a high flier, but he just hasn’t regained the explosiveness he had before the injury.
Will he ever get that blast back? Without it, Cousins can’t get up shots underneath against quick jumpers like Clint Capela, and he can’t slash to the hoop effectively from outside, because he can’t change directions.
Cousins is 28 but at times he looks 42.
“He’s definitely frustrated,” Kerr said of Cousins, especially referring to the perimeter defense on smaller guys, out where Cousins is an easy mark.
“Guys are attacking me on the pick-and-roll, that’s obvious,” Cousins said. “I just gotta be ready for it, be prepared for it, and try to stay out of foul trouble.”
Speaking of his ongoing attempt to reclaim his explosiveness, Cousins said, “It’s tough, obviously I’m in a gray area when it comes to that. Trying to get back to being myself and just also knowing guys are coming at me. Nobody in this league is going to feel sorry for me and I know that. I’m going to go out and battle as much as I can and do what I can.”
Some players have come back all the way after an achilles tear, but more have not.
“There’s gonna be good days and bad days through this process,” Cousins said. “I’m in bad days right now.”
Fortunately for Cousins, Kerr and the Warriors are patient. They know what the upside is if Cousins gets back close to what he used to be. Through the process, Kerr has Cousins’ back, which Cousins surely appreciates.
And while Cousins’ plusminus is dragging, he isn’t. He appears to be playing full-tilt, and that level of effort can prevent the Warriors from going on cruise control.
The Warriors knew it would take some tinkering and some effort to work Cousins into the flow, and now they know that’s less about strategy and largely a function of how much of his old power Cousins gets back.
Stephen Curry said, “At the end of the day we understand who we are and what we are working towards. DeMarcus, especially, is grinding and getting his body to where he wants to be. He is finding his time and rhythm.”
Cousins was 4-for-12 from the field. He hasn’t found a rhythm on offense.
“(My) confidence isn’t there, obviously,” he said. “There’s no doubt in my mind it’ll come.”
The Warriors can be patient. For a while.