If DeMarcus Cousins is this good, the NBA is as doomed as we all expected

A Golden State Warriors three-peat felt inevitable even before DeMarcus Cousins suited up. Now, thoughts to the contrary seem plain irresponsible.

There was a time fans dreamt the Warriors could come crashing down if Cousins couldn’t come back in full shape from a ruptured Achilles that cost him the end of last season and the beginning of this one. NBA contrarians hoped his injury restricted his movement, took lift from his jump shot, and immobilized an already slow big, to say nothing of the chemistry problems his combustable personality might cause.

But Boogie has slowly been proving those ideas invalid, and on Wednesday night, he made his biggest statement so far in a win over the Rockets.

With Kevin Durant out of the lineup and Golden State on the road, Cousins powered the Warriors to a 106-104 win against a Rockets team that had won nine in a row. Boogie went off for a season-best 27 points, with a well-rounded eight rebounds and seven assists.

The Warriors played their offense through this supposed potential weak link, and won. They played at a drastically slower rate with Cousins in the game and outscored the Rockets by 13 points per 100 possessions in those minutes.

What a luxury it is for one of the greatest dynasties ever to also add a player like Cousins.

Boogie scored only seven points in the first half, but he made the most of his minutes as a facilitator early on. This is the first time in Cousins’ career that he’s been around so much talent, and his willingness to pass on so-so shots to create better ones was never a given. Yet he’s been a terrific all-around teammate, and showcased that vision against Houston.

Cousins saw cutters and passed out of the block, which negated any double-teams Houston sent his way. Occupying the opposing big men — whether they were Kenneth Faried or Clint Capela — was essential in making way for a cutting Klay Thompson all night.

Cousins is a rare shooting center with natural vision to look off one cutter for another.

Against Houston, Boogie regained his finesse and drained a three-point shot as well as a handful of mid-range jumpers. These are areas of his game that have been suspect at times this year, as should be expected for someone who missed an entire year of play.

But breakouts like Wednesday night show the rust can come off.

More importantly, Cousins showed he had burst, too. He beat defenders off the dribble for reverse lay-ins, crashed the boards, and had little issue moving laterally.

He really looked brilliant.

Once upon a time in February, the Rockets beat the Warriors on a night Cousins went 4-of-12 from the floor for 13 points. Since that night, Boogie is scoring 19 points per game on 53 percent shooting from the floor while also averaging a steal and two blocks. He’s not all the way back, but he’s close enough that nothing else might matter.

With Cousins surging, The Golden State Warriors really have five of the best players on Earth on the same team. How is any team supposed to compete with that?