DeMarcus Cousins has been as dangerous of a force as any NBA player this season. The Indiana Pacers learned as much on Saturday night when Cousins scored a career-high 48 points on 29 shots. The Pacers’ bigs – indeed the entire Pacers squad – tried their level best to stop Cousins, but they simply had no answer for Boogie.
Yet, while Boogie was undeniably happy about scoring a career high, more important to him was that those points didn’t come in a losing effort. Here’s Boogie explaining what’s most important to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee.
“Honestly I’m more happy about the win,” Cousins said. “I’m glad to get a new career high but I’m more happy about the way this team is playing.”
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When it was suggested his play was good enough to earn a second consecutive All-Star game selection Cousins, said that was not his motivation.
“Playoffs,” Cousins said. “Playoffs, playoffs, playoffs.”
This has been Cousins’ motivation all along. As great as he’s been from a pure numbers standpoint, he’s never tasted postseason success – or even the postseason slot. Usually, by this time of the year, the Kings have been all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. This year, they sit at 20-23, good for eighth in the Western Conference. If their strong play continues, we’ll get our first look at playoff Boogie, which would be terrifying for the opposing team.
