By Ailene Voisin
avoisin@sacbee.com
If anyone could have predicted that Steve Nash was going be a perfect 8-for-8 while providing his usual brilliance (12 assists) running the Suns offense, rational minds would have predicted another Kings loss. Well, Nash was brilliant. He distributed 12 assists and grabbed four boards. He scored 20 points on a variety of shots - three's off one leg, pullup jumpers, and one ridiculous, high-arching reverse layup. But in spite of his spectacular effort, the Kings dominated the final period, controlled the boards, and won a second consecutive game on their home court.
DeMarcus Cousins makes his own point
The rookie center had an excellent all-around game with a career-high 28 points, eight boards, and six assists. Touch passes. Bounce passers. Quick-hitters to cutters. All were on display, as was my personal favorite: a skip pass from the left side to Omri Casspi in the right wing for a crucial three-pointer in the fourth. Cousins really sees the floor, and equally important, he enjoys finding open teammates. I am really curious to see how Paul Westphal incorporates Cousins' exceptional passing skills, from both the high and low posts, as the season moves along. An overdose of isolation play and sluggish pacing only sends fans reaching for their remotes and heading for the exits.
A few notables off from Sunday's 94-89 victory
• Carl Landry (12), Cisco Garcia (11) and Casspi (10) were the main contributors in the Kings' 60-32 advantage on the boards, and not surprisingly, on the floor for the deciding moments of the fourth.
• In another indicatiion of how quickly he is developing, Cousins earned his fifth foul with 7:31 remaining but didn't foul out and made several key plays down the stretch.
• This might have been a first: Paul Westphal left Tyreke Evans on the bench and went with rookie Pooh Jeter for the closing stretch. (Beno Udrih was unavailable after bumping knees with Nash in the third period). Westphal said he felt the players who initiated the rally deserved the chance to finish the game. Evans struggled, who is contending with plantar fasciitis, finished with six points (2-for-12) and had four turnovers to go with five assists. But while the Kings were taking over the game, the second-year star was standing near the bench, cheering, waving his towel, and in general, just being a good teammate. His mother (Bonita) and grandmother (Alice) were so excited at the final buzzer, you never would have known Tyreke had a poor performance.
• Several of the Kings cited Jeter's tempo-changing presence (and four assists) as the most significant factor of the fourth period.
• Samuel Dalembert, who became ill during the Kings' recent road trip to Denver, played only four minutes. Westphal said he went with offense-oriented players in his matchups against the Suns, but it's obvious that Cousins will get the bulk of the minutes at center if he continues progressing.
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