DeMarcus Cousins obliterates Jae Crowder with coast-to-coast dunk
When George Karl officially became head coach of the Sacramento Kings right before the All-Star break, a fair number of observers wondered if the typically run-happy coach would still base the team’s offense around All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins. Such concerns were always a little off — any coach, let alone one with as much experience as this one, would be crazy not to rely on his best player — but it was sensible to consider how Cousins and Karl would mesh.
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Such questions were never going to be answered after one game. What we do know without any doubt, though, is that Cousins is still going to be the sort of player who absolutely devastates defenders when given the chance. With a few minutes left in the third quarter of Friday’s game vs. the Boston Celtics at Sleep Train Arena, Cousins went coast-to-coast and absolutely unloaded on Jae Crowder for a vicious slam. Take a look:
The referees must have been too distracted by the devastation to call a blocking foul on Crowder, who was camped out deep in the restricted area in the hopes of drawing an impossible charge. He was punished for his troubles. It was so bad that “RIP Jae Crowder” started to trend on Twitter shortly after the play:
Crowder got back at Cousins a few plays later by dunking on him, but the overwhelming reaction to the first slam ensured that no one paid much attention to the revenge. Here’s a look for posterity:
(Oh, and congrats to Crowder for now being only five trending topics removed from Kevin Bacon.)
The Kings ended up winning the game 109-101. Cousins overcame a rough first half to finish with the very impressive line of 31 points (12-of-18 FG), 15 rebounds, three assists, and two steals (plus an equally Boogie-like nine turnovers) to give Karl a victory in his first game in Sacramento. Rudy Gay was also excellent (28 points on 9-of-18 shooting), and the newly acquired Andre Miller was solid with eight points and four assists in 23 minutes.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
