After a tightly contested matchup, the Golden State Warriors recorded a 125-123 win against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night.
Following the hard-fought victory, Dubs forward Draymond Green admitted that teammate DeMarcus Cousins may have felt a miffed by not being given the opportunity to close out this contest against his former team:
Draymond on DeMarcus not closing out: “at this point, he’s probably pissed off.” But he said DeMarcus will overcome it and understands the team’s need to protect players from themselves
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) February 22, 2019
It has now been over a month since Cousins made his much-anticipated return to the court after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a career-threatening Achilles injury. However, he does still appear to be on some sort of maintenance plan (though he's supposedly on to the next phase), and this may have been why Warriors head coach Steve Kerr opted against letting his prized big man close out Thursday night's contest.
Cousins did still manage 26 minutes against the Kings as he finished his night with 17 points (on 6-of-12 shooting), 10 rebounds, three assists, and a block. It is worth noting that the 6-foot-11 center has yet to eclipse the 28-minute mark in his 12 games as a Warrior (he averaged 33.8 minutes per game prior to his injury). However, the fact that he is now playing for a team that is absolutely stacked with talent surely plays a part in this regard.
Nonetheless, as Green explained, DeMarcus Cousins is a professional who definitely knows what he signed up for when he joined the Warriors. He may feel a bit aggrieved for now, but a championship at the end of the season might just do the trick for him.
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