DeMarcus Cousins' reputation precedes him.
He's known to be volatile on the court, and picks up a lot of technical fouls. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that bets were placed on when Cousins would pick up his first technical foul in a Warriors uniform.
It might be surprising, though, that it was coach Steve Kerr placing the bet.
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"Yeah, I lost a bet," Kerr said Friday on KNBR 680. "I had Game 2 as his first technical. But it took three games."
While Cousins was in foul trouble during his first two games with the Warriors, he managed to avoid picking up a technical against the Clippers and the Lakers. That changed Thursday against the Wizards, when Cousins got tangled up with Washington center Thomas Bryant early in the second quarter. Cousins shoved Bryant as they untangled themselves, and he was hit with his first on-court technical foul as a member of the Warriors.
Kerr went on to evaluate what he's seen from Cousins so far.
"He’s rounding into form," Kerr said. "What’s exciting is that he’s so talented and he’s so different from what we have. And one of the reasons our team has been so successful, obviously we have great talent, but the talent that we have is really spread out at different positions and with different skill sets. And all of a sudden, we have a five man who can not only run the floor and seal you and score inside with ease, but he can step outside and shoot a 3. He rebounds like crazy inside, knocks people around."
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So far, through three games, Cousins is averaging 13.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 20.3 minutes. He has a plus-37 rating in 61 total minutes of action.
"He’s a perfect fit with us," Kerr said. "Though three games, it’s been fun to see the progressions because he’s getting better each day. He’s building his conditioning. Last night, he was able to play longer than the previous game and same thing prior to that. You can see it’s all coming together for him, and he looks really good."
By the way, in case you forgot, Cousins' technical against the Wizards really wasn't his first as a Warrior. Back on Oct. 26, 2018, a rehabbing Cousins was ejected from the Warriors-Knicks game in New York for arguing with the referee from the bench.
Cousins and the Warriors will be back in action Saturday night against the Celtics in Boston.
