DeMarcus Cousins was spooked after seeing the pile of bodies that wound up banged up through the course of the NBA Finals, one which ended in an extra sour note for the Golden State Warriors, with two of their top guns suffering season-ending injuries.
“It was like, ‘Who is going to die next?’ You really just wanted to get to the end so you could see who survived,” DeMarcus Cousins told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
Cousins, who was coming off a season-ending Achilles injury last year, saw his teammate Kevin Durant suffer the same fate in Game 5, upon returning from a 32-day layofff due to a calf injury.
Durant lasted all but 12 minutes before suffering this devastating injury, one that could prove to challenge his prime as an NBA star.
To make matters even worse, Klay Thompson landed awkwardly after a dunk attempt, tearing his ACL and heroically coming back from the tunnel to shoot his last two free throws.
“I saw it and I knew exactly what happened. I knew he f—ed up his leg. I saw exactly how he landed,” Cousins said before sighing. “[Injuries] were just happening so freakish. It was just déjà vu.”
Unaware of the extent of his injury, Thompson had told Steve Kerr he'd only need two minutes before re-entering the game — true to his well-chronicled iron man mentality.
Prior to it, Thompson missed the first playoff game of his career in Game 3 with a hamstring strain, though he made the case to play through arduous sessions of physical therapy.
This injury-marred playoff run will be one to forget for Cousins, Durant and Thompson; and even for those who managed to escape it with a somewhat clean bill of health.
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