Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins is no stranger to the technical foul, and Cousins picked up two more of them on the way to an ejection from a 129-103 blowout loss to the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night.
DeMarcus Cousins screams at ref, gets ejected
Cousins picked up his 14th and 15th technicals on Tuesday, meaning the next one will result in an automatic suspension.
Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Cousins' fuse was lit after he was called for a weak foul trying to defend a Dwight Howard alley-oop. Cousins was clearly upset with official Courtney Kirkland over the call, and the big man was soon whistled for his first technical for arguing.
Kings head coach Mike Malone took up the cause as Cousins fumed over on the bench, but then the 23-year-old really lost it, unleashing a tirade on Kirkland that resulted in a second technical and ejection:
The two technicals were Cousins’ 14th and 15th on the season, and one more triggers an automatic suspension. Cousins reached that threshold last season when he led the league with 17 technicals.
Following his temper tantrum, Cousins took to Twitter to apologize for his actions:
Disappointed with the way I acted out on the court tonight. I want to apologize and say sorry to my team and the fans for letting them down
— demarcus cousins (@boogiecousins) February 26, 2014 While the apology is nice to see, it doesn’t mean all that much unless Cousins tones down his act on the court. In his three prior NBA seasons, Cousins never finished lower than fifth in the league in technicals, and he’s leading the league again this year.
To be fair to Cousins, numerous other stars, including Howard, often join him near the top of the technical foul leaderboard. But Cousins has built himself a bad reputation, and he also doesn’t have nearly as much goodwill as some other players because the Kings have been so bad. While it would be a bit much to expect Cousins to completely change his act, it would be beneficial to himself and his team if he was able to keep his emotions better in check.
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