After watching replays of the sequence leading to DeMarcus Cousins' ejection in Saturday's Kings-Jazz game at Sleep Train Arena - say, about 25 times over the past 24 hours - my conclusion is this: Unless I totally missed something, Cousins did nothing that warranted a second technical and automatic ejection. I was seated a few feet from where the incident occurred, and from what I observed, after referee Gary Zielinski pointed and directed Cousins to walk away, the third-year center started to protest, but then restrained himself and quickly closed his mouth. He was hit with the second technical after he turned his back and started moving toward midcourt.
Though TV never compeletely captures the moment, the replay confirmed my gut reaction, so I won't be surprised if the league rescinds the second technical. An argument can be made that Cousins didn't even deserve the first technical assessed moments earlier when he slapped down on the ball during a bang-bang play with Jazz backup center Enes Kanter.
That said, the refs are human. Until Cousins cools it with the frowns, headhakes, and constant verbal complaints, he will remain an easy, obvious target. His recent postgame confrontation with Spurs' analyst Sean Elliott (and resulting two-game suspension) doesn't help his cause, either.
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