If the NBA All-Star break was happening this weekend, DeMarcus Cousins would have to be in the three-point contest. I’M NOT WRONG.
For one glorious night, DeMarcus Cousins was the NBA’s best 3-point shooter
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
In Cousins’ first game of the season, a spirited Kings loss to the Clippers, the big man got loose for five open three-point attempts and he hit four of them. Among NBA players who have attempted at least five three-pointers this season, Boogie shoots the best percentage. Again, this is a fact, and I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that.
That’s what most of the Boogie threes looked like. Cousins, trailing the play, would arrive at the top of the arc, a station from which he typically acts as a passer or giant renegade dribbler. DeAndre Jordan would not meet him out there -- he waited no higher than the free-throw area for Cousins to enter the paint. So Boogie pulled.
And pulled.
It's scary if Cousins can consistently hit his 3s. https://t.co/u2ZCTn5CiG
— Basketball Society (@BBallSociety_) October 29, 2015 The Kings even almost sorta ran a play for him, springing their lights-out shooter with a very casual pick-and-roll:
(If Boogie freezing his man with a jab step to bury a three doesn’t make you squeal like a happy piglet, you and I wouldn’t get along.)
So what do we make of this? Is DeMarcus Cousins a three-point maven now? Here are the cases for and against:
It was one game, idiot.
Shut up.
Cousins has never been an accurate three-point shooter before ...
He was 11-of-69 in five years prior. He shot 1-of-12 in preseason.
... but he spent his summer gunning ...
He attended a Kentucky-UNC alumni game and casually buried a bunch of 40-footers! He included some shooting in his 91-point performance in a charity game!
... and George Karl’s going to let him keep gunning.
Karl, shaky relationship with Boogie aside, is on the record saying he’s comfortable with his center shooting “a couple a game” this season. After all, the Kings want to pair Cousins with another true big man, Kosta Koufos or Willie Cauley-Stein, and they’re already a little short on shooting in their backcourt. Need that spacing!
... but even in the opener, the Clippers caught onto him.
Cousins finished with eight turnovers Wednesday, many of them committed off the dribble when the Clippers applied a teensy bit of pressure. Boogie can be brilliant on the move, but any decent defensive team would be happy to close out and make him put the ball on the floor. So, yeah, maybe Cousins adding a reliable three-point shot to his game, so as to become the 280-pound shooting/slashing point-center we’ve always dreamed of, isn’t QUITE in the cards.
Still, three-point Cousins was fun, and it will continue to be fun as long as he doesn’t get discouraged. Four to five from downtown is probably fool’s gold, but some of us are fools and Wednesday night was fool’s paradise.
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SB Nation presents: How the 3-pointer has gone from novelty to necessary
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