LOS ANGELES - With last night's game ending so close to my deadline, I'm not sure how many fans have seen the late print editions of The Bee with my story that actually has quotes.
So here's something to fill in those blanks:
*DeMarcus Cousins cares deeply about basketball. He said he was "taking the blame for that L" because he had a layup spin out right before Eric Gordon's three pointer gave the Clippers a 94-91 lead.
"I know I'm supposed to move on to the next play but I believe that was the play of the game," Cousins said. "I messed up."
Cousins on another tough loss:
"The effort's there. Each quarter we've got to finish out strong. Every game there's a quarter that we let get away and that's where we get beat and then we have to fight back at the end. If we ever get to a point where we just play the game in the first three quarters and then just seal the deal in the fourth we'll win games."
One of the things coaches on the Kings have wanted to see from their young team is greater sense of professionalism.
Cousins, in another sign that he cares a lot, explained how he was able to help keep Blake Griffin to 13 points:
"I actually saw the game where they played Portland (Sunday) night. And I saw some of his habits and I brought it into this game and didn't let him get a running start."
Cousins declined to reveal all he picked up about Griffin's game because the Kings play the Clippers two more times this season.
*Pooh Jeter has a new nickname. Well new to a lot of us.
"When I get in the game they call me Spark or Spark Plug, I just have to continue to bring that energy. That's my job. Bring that energy and get it going because we're ready to run. We're young, so we're ready run."
The Kings rallied in the fourth because of their Spark. Jeter scored 11 of the Kings' 28 points in the fourth.
Coach Paul Westphal called the Pooh the "Juice" that gave the Kings a chance to win.
"We just had to loosen up," Jeter said. "Once we did that we started having fun and then we started getting stops."
For all the talk of where the Kings could find some help at point guard, it looks as if some of that help had been on the bench all a long with Jeter.
Omri Casspi had his best game of the season and looked very comfortable playing with Jeter.
Casspi said Jeter has played like the way he did against the Clippers in practice all season.
"That's Pooh," Casspi said. "That's what he needs to do. He needs to press the point guard, full court press and push the ball. And he's doing great. He's doing a great job."
The fast game clearly suits the Kings best. When the fast break isn't there, they can always give the ball to Cousins and let the offense run through him like it did last night in the fourth quarter.
"We have a lot of guys that run the floor," Casspi said. "I love to run the floor and we had Pooh pushing the ball like that so we can get a lot of easy ones and put some pressure on the offense for them to make plays. Because if we're running like that we punish them for every mistake they make."
For Westphal's take on the game, click here.
--Jason Jones
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