DeMarcus Cousins had 14 points and seven rebounds on 6-7 shooting that included nine fourth quarter points to help the Western All-Stars prevail.
In what was hopefully the first of many All-Star appearances for the Kings big-man, DeMarcus Cousins had 14 points and seven rebounds on 6-7 shooting as the West All-Stars edged out the East 163 to 158. Cousins played big minutes down the stretch and scored nine fourth quarter points to help the West maintain the lead before being pulled with four minutes to go.
Cousins was the first Sacramento representative in the NBA's showcased February event since Peja Stojaković and Brad Miller appeared in the 2003-04 contest at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Cousins wasn't originally voted as a reserve by the NBA's coaches, but made it in as an injury replacement for the sidelined Kobe Bryant.
Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook led all scorers with 41 points on 16-28 shooting, while LeBron James had 30 points, seven assists and five rebounds to lead the Eastern squad.
With the All-Stars mostly focusing on three-pointers and fast-break dunks, there were minimal looks for Cousins as Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr relied heavily on the freestyling speed of his own Stephan Curry (15 points), Houston's James Harden (29 points, eight assists) and Westbrook.
Cousins entered the contest at the beginning of the second quarter and hit his first look on an 18-foot corner jumper, but with the hot-shooting Westbrook taking a majority of the West's looks, the touches for Cousins weren't frequent. Cousins had a reverse layup attempt fail moments later, mainly in part to Westbrook attempting to dunk it when it hung on the rim. Cousins got a dunk off an easy feed from recent King-killer Klay Thompson with 4:31 to go and finished the half with four points and three rebounds.
His second-half stint began in the waning minutes of the third quarter but he remained on the court until four minutes left in the game. His nine-point fourth quarter included two straight buckets-a dunk followed by an and-one layup with 7:26 left to go.
With the Kings next contest coming next Friday against the Boston Celtics, Cousins and the rest of the Kings players will have decent practice time with new Coach George Karl.
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