DeMarcus Cousins hears it all the time.
He's immature. His body language is bad. His attitude makes him tough to coach.
But was Spurs analyst Sean Elliott right to tear into Cousins during Spurs broadcast?
Cousins would say what Elliott said that bothered him after the game, except to say the comments about him were "immature."
Well thanks to Twitter followers that helped me and courtesy of the folks at Spurs Nation you can read the entire post of why Cousins was so upset.
Yes, Cousins said something to the effect of he was going take it to Duncan's (butt). But I didn't think what Cousins said was out of the ordinary for an NBA game.
Cousins yelled that toward his bench and teammates, not at Duncan. And the two had some fun jawing with each other in the fourth quarter of the Spurs win.
Here's what Elliott said:
"That's why some humility is in order. You think you're dominating Tim Duncan, you get it stuffed right back in your face. Timmy doesn't like to talk trash. But if guys start talking mess to him, he's going to respond. All that trash talking was premature. I'm not about to let these guys off the hook. Young ballclubs...should learn from this. Don't start talking and flapping your gums against one of the greatest players ever. He's going to make you pay. Tell me who got the best of this exchange."
I'm not sure how Cousins knew what Elliott said so quickly after the game. But the words definitely bothered Cousins to the point he mentioned them without being asked by the media.
Cousins assumed I'd heard the comments already, but during a game I don't hear the television feeds.
Why was Cousins mad? Believe it or not Cousins does care what people think about him, especially if he believes what is being said isn't based on the truth.
Athletes often say they don't read what's written about them and don't care. Well that's not true. Many of them know everything written or said about them.
Cousins would like to see his reputation change. He just doesn't want a person he doesn't know like Elliott telling the world that he was disrespecting Duncan.
Cousins holds Duncan in very high regard. But as long as the reputation is one of immaturity, Cousins will be subjected to this criticism.
About the only way Cousins can avoid the verbal lashings would be to keep quiet and show no signs of anger during games.
Well that's not going to happen. Cousins doesn't have a poker face on the court. So this won't be the last time Cousins hears something like this from a commentator.
That is, unless the Kings start winning often. Then Cousins will simply be intense.
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