The Weekside: DeMarcus Cousins has become an unstoppable force of domination

DeMarcus Cousins scored a career-high 48 points in a win over the Indiana Pacers last Saturday. Two nights later he hung 56 on the Charlotte Hornets. Two career highs in three nights, and Cousins was equally undealwitable in both games, scoring his combined 104 points on just 59 shots while earning 36 free throws.

It was a career-elevating sequence for a player who for several seasons has widely been considered one of — if not the — best big man on earth even while lacking the … the … something to really deliver on his talent.

Cousins has had off-court concerns, reportedly feuding with coaches and confirmedly getting into an altercation with Spurs announcer Sean Elliot. Throw in the lackluster concern and effort he has shown towards defense for long swaths of his career, and it was starting to feel like the nickname “Boogie” was an ideal fit for the seriousness with which we should take the teams he led.

Fair or not, this is where it all seemed to be heading for a player who just turned 25 years old a few months before this season started. Rumors of an impending trade have swirled around the frustrated giant for years now.

It’s funny what a little winning and lot of dominance will do though.

With these two outrageous outings, Cousins showed that he has harnessed his MVP-caliber talent in a way that can take a team to great heights.

And it wasn’t just those two games. DeMarcus is now averaging 33.1 points, 13 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game in January. Nobody — not Steph, not Durant — has scored more since the calendar flipped to 2016.

Another Boogie stat is even more impressive. He has been trying to add shooting range to his game this season and has been consistently shooting 3-pointers all year. That strategy has had mixed results, but Cousins is knocking down 1.4 triples per night so far in January at a 43.9% clip.

While there is an argument that it would be better for him to spend all his time down low, today’s space-valuing style of play means that having this as a weapon in the scouting report, even if not employed, is an asset. Drawing away a rim protector to follow him out to the perimeter opens up lanes for Rajon Rondo and others. Additionally, even with his statue-like physique and buzzdozer strength, it has to help his fatigue level and late-game endurance to serve as a spot up shooter a few times per game.

If he can keep that accuracy at even 35%, then the league’s most unstoppable force in the paint becomes an even more lethal force. If DeMarcus Cousins was previously the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, he may be transforming into the Franken-Rex dinomonster from Jurassic World.

(One related downside: Boogie is having the worst offensive-rebounding season of his professional life, dropping down significantly from a career 10.9% offensive rebounding rate to 7.9%.)

Cousins likely knows that nobody is handing out trophies for monthly stats and offseason gym work that expands your game. He has to be aware that most know him more for being the guy who cursed out his coach, George Karl, in November. He knows he is still no fan favorite, noting that he would get rid of fan voting for the All-Star Game if he could.

More than everything, he understands that one stat still looms more than any other: 0 playoff games.

Nobody can possibly think this is his fault. Even taking the most dysfunctional, unfair view of DeMarcus, the Kings have been more dysfunctional. Coming into this season, Cousins had played for four coaches in the past two years. The team’s owner meddles in decision-making. The team’s previous owners tried to move the franchise to another state.

Really, the Kings have seemingly done nothing right in the half decade Boogie has been there.

Not until now, with Cousins playing as well, or better, than ever and showing just how untradeable he is. There isn’t a soul in the league who can even consider stopping him from scoring, and Sacramento is now turning it around while being led by Cousins, Rondo, and Karl: three hard-headed men with rigid outlooks on how they like to operate within this sport.

Looking at Rondo’s stint with the Mavericks, Karl’s falling out with the front office in Denver during his last job, and DeMarcus’ lifelong public record as an adult, this shouldn’t be working.

But it is.

The three are reportedly now seeing eye to eye and this dynamic is showing results. The team is 13-13 since the three sat down for a meeting on December 1. The Warriors they are not. But the outcomes have been improving even more of late. The team has gone 8-5 in January while outscoring their opponents by 1.8 points per 100 possessions, good for 12th best in the league, due to them having the ninth-best offense, this month.

DeMarcus Cousins’ vast powers are — finally — translating to some success. Rondo has made one of the most notable career turnarounds in the past decade. Karl is overseeing this improbable franchise resurrection less than six months after headlines like “The Sacramento Kings … are a disaster” were commonplace.

Best of all, this franchise is sitting on the cusp of a playoff berth, something Sacramento hasn’t sniffed the postseason since 2005-06. Cousins has never been there.

But if he keeps playing like he has so far in 2016, that will all change soon.

Around the Association

Atlanta Hawks

Cue the Ludacris song.

Cleveland Cavaliers

It may seem like the sky is falling in #TheLand these days, but there are plenty of reasons to think they are fine. Here are two: (1) They are 18-3 at home, and (2) in the 321 minutes that LeBron, Kyrie, and Love have played together, the Cavs have shot 49.5%, including 38.6% from 3-point range, and outscored opponents by 11.5 points per 100 possessions.

Denver Nuggets

Ringing endorsements for the Nuggets. Though in fairness, “Not Good, Don’t Suck” should be TNT’s tagline for the Eastern Conference playoffs this year.

Golden State Warriors

The Warriors have won their last five games by 20, 30, 12, 31, and 34 points, respectively. This brought their average margin of victory so far this year to 12.7 points per game. So now, since the devastation — which included 30-plus-point wins over the Spurs and Cavaliers — has seemingly reached even new heights, perhaps we need to adopt some golf rules. Steph Curry is an avid (and reportedly excellent golfer), so how about we give the Warriors a handicap? It only counts as a win if they win by 13 or more?

Another interesting factoid: Entering their game last night, Steph’s Warriors were every bit the equal to MJ’s best Bulls team. Same record, near-identical point differential, and almost exactly the same scoring average for their MVP.

So which team is actually better? Moreover, who of Mike and Steph is a better golfer? How do you decide? It’s impossible to say right now, really. But as the bylaws strictly state, tie goes to Riley’s dad.

Los Angeles Clippers

In the dumbest injury since Amar’e Stoudemire punched a fire extinguisher, Blake Griffin broke his thumb trying to beat up a team equipment manager. The normally mild-mannered big man and Kia-pitchman isn’t someone you expect to hear this about, but it certainly fits into Clippers lore.

The team, presumably informed by its highly trained and licensed medical staff, said he would missed four to six weeks as he recovers. Doc Rivers, who isn’t an actual doctor, oddly told the media it should take that long. So, regardless of conflicting reports from people we call doc, we know he did something dumb and will out until after the All-Star break.

Los Angeles Lakers

There have been many Kobe variations over the years — MJ imitator, Black Mamba, Vino — but Retirement Tour Kobe is just so different from any version we’ve ever seen. It’s odd yet endearing and helping to make an otherwise pointless Lakers season entertaining.

New York Knicks

This kid is still all arms and legs, flopping about uncoordinated like with weak toddler muscles. Yet he is blocking shots like this — against Russell Westbrook no less — and flying in for improbable putback dunks routinely.

Presuming he doesn’t make the All-Star team, this will be the last year in a long, long time that he doesn’t.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder have won nine of their last 10, while Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant do unfathomable stuff nightly. Yet, somehow, Dion Waiters is always here to mock.

Orlando Magic

I like almost all of Orlando’s young players individually but watching this team play can be taxing. You think they should put it together, but they just never do. Then you dig in to figure out why, and things like this pop up and you’re just like, “gross.”

Philadelphia 76ers

The reality is that the arrival of Ish Smith has turned the on-court Sixers into more than a joke. But a good comedian knows jokes > facts.

 San Antonio Spurs

One blowout to perhaps the best team ever doesn’t change much. Spurs are still the Spurs.

Words With Friends

This week’s five must-read articles about the NBA. Excerpts here — click through to read the full piece.

1. Oral History: Kobe’s Masterpiece
by Arash Markazi, ESPN

When he wrote a letter to fans this past November announcing his retirement, the photo behind the text was of him walking off the court after scoring 81 points — his right arm stretched high with his index finger pointing to the sky. When he introduced the “Channel the Villain/Unleash the Hero” slogan for his final season with an online video, the opening scene featured him scoring his 81st point at the free throw line. “It’s really a testament to the power of imagination, honestly,” Bryant told ESPN.com earlier this month. “There’s a lot of players who come up now who don’t think 80 points is possible. You think 50, and if you’re really hot — 60. I never had that limit. Ever. I never, ever thought that way. I always thought 80 was possible. I thought 90 was possible. I thought 100 was possible. Always. I think that game is a testament to what happens when you put no ceiling to what you’re capable of doing.”

2. How and where to trade Pau Gasol
by @BullsBlogger, Blogabull

This is kind of a useless exercise since the Bulls probably aren’t looking to make a deal. But the idea that they can’t because Gasol wouldn’t get you anything as a ‘rental’ just doesn’t hold water to me. I think there are deals out there! Rajon Rondo was dealt last year for a first-rounder and Jae Crowder, who was an underperforming rookie-scale guy approaching restricted free agency, and is now signed on a very valueable contract. Pro scouting can happen, where you identify players who aren’t doing well on other teams but could potentially flourish on yours.

3. Steve Kerr back doing what he loves
by Sam Amick, USA Today

Kerr … is certainly no stranger to loss. His father, Malcolm Kerr, was the president of American University in Beirut when he was assassinated on Jan. 18, 1984. Kerr, who was a star at the University of Arizona at the time, has spoken openly for years about the profound effect losing his father had on who he would later become. But these past six months have been trying in their own right. Kerr, who spent most of his time in his San Diego home with his wife, Margot, until reappearing around the team recently, was forced to step away from this job he so dearly loves. His return date kept moving. The symptoms kept coming. Those constant chats with [GM Bob] Myers, though, helped keep his restless mind sane.

4. How Rondo solved a last-second Hawks play before they even ran it
by Mike Prada, SB Nation

The last play of the Kings’ 91-88 win over the Hawks on Thursday was interesting for basketball nerds. Atlanta needed a three to tie the game and set up in an alignment with four players in a diagonal line on the opposite side of the inbounder. In response, Rajon Rondo directed his teammates into a unique defensive alignment, causing lots of confusion on both sides.

5. For Raptors’ Scola, life revolves around traveling
by Ian Thompsn, NBA.com

“As soon as I got here, the first thing I want to do is go to Niagara,” says Scola, who is midway through his first season in Toronto. “And every time I have a day off there’s something happening, and I didn’t have a chance to go there yet. Niagara. I have to go there … Montreal is beautiful,” says Scola. “Vancouver, when I got there, I was like, what is this place? We spent there a week in training camp. I took this little floating plane; it was right in front of the hotel. The guy was really nice. He was taking me all over the places, and I was like, oh my God — these mountains, the beaches, the city — it’s an amazing place.’

Throwback Thursday

Chris Webber may end up being a “you had to be there” player. He wasn’t decorated in rings. But he was the lynchpin of multiple squads that were influential on how players behaved and the game was played after his time in the limelight.

Think of Velvet Revolver. As the saying goes, the Lou Reed-fronted underground music group only sold a few thousands albums. But everyone who bought an album formed a band.

Webber was as famous as players can be for a time so he was clearly more mainstream than that. But there is an influenced-the-influencers quality to his teams that won’t be seen in his numbers or postseason accolades, from his literally erased statistical records with Michigan’s Fab Five — arguably the team that defined a generation of basketball — to his clinic-in-passing, Rick Adelman-coached Kings team that revived a dull, stagnant post-Michael Jordan era NBA despite never even making an NBA Finals.

The video above shows how that second legacy marker got started. Nobody had ever taken the Kings seriously, so Webber set out to prove his team belonged on the court with the mighty Jazz from the jump.

They lost that series despite going up 2-1 and losing Game 4 by just one point. They were just a bit too young and couldn’t quite catch their break. But Webber put up 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block in a hard-fought five-game affair that would be the first of many for an emerging team that would evolve into the must-watch TV of NBA in the early 2000s.

(video via @Aykis16)