Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
DeMarcus Cousins is facing a one-game suspension after picking up his 16th technical foul of the season in the Sacramento Kings’ 112-107 loss to the Chicago Bulls.
Cousins, who leads the league in technical fouls, collected two on Monday night. The second technical foul came with 1.1 seconds remaining in the game.
An accumulation of 16 technical fouls leads to an automatic suspension.
Cousins, who is not expected to be traded before the deadline, led the NBA in technical fouls last season as well, with 17. He left the arena Monday night without talking to the media.
Cousins received his first technical Monday night just after the third quarter ended. A minor fracas broke out that involved Cousins, teammate Matt Barnes, Bulls assistant head coach Jim Boylen and Chicago forward Taj Gibson. Cousins shoved Boylen’s arm away as tempers flared, and all three players were given technicals.
The second came when a furious Cousins thought he was fouled on a 3-point attempt.
If both technicals are upheld by league review, Cousins will miss Wednesday’s game against Boston.
The Celtics open a 4 game (Kings, Blazers, Jazz, & Mavericks) road trip on Wednesday in Sacramento and it appears they won’t have to face the game’s best center. Thank you, DeMarcus Cousins (and Matt Barnes).
It’s possible the league rescinds one of the technical fouls but after watching the clips, I find that highly unlikely:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUYPdQK_GgE?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOteXEMlcJY?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0]I realize Cousins is a big boy and can be an asshole all by himself but having Barnes in his vicinity isn’t helping the situation.
I wonder if John wants to reconsider his trade proposal where he mortgages the Celtics future for these clowns.
On Page 2, Isaiah Thomas is named Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
Boston Celtics star Isaiah Thomas continued his remarkable run Monday by capturing the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award.
While leading the Celtics to a 4-0 record during the week, Thomas averaged 37.8 points and 6.8 assists per game. Incredibly, he averaged 17.5 points per fourth quarter, including 24 to top the Detroit Pistons and 21 to overcome the Toronto Raptors.
Since coming off an injury in December, the 5-foot-9 guard has averaged 33.0 points and 6.5 assists on 50.1/41.4/94.1 percent shooting.
This award is great and all, but Thomas deserves more – like serious consideration for the MVP.
Many fans, bloggers and analysts around the league laugh off the idea, but Thomas’ 4th quarter dominance proves he’s deserving.
His numbers are flat out ridiculous.
And finally, the trade rumors are really start to piss-off LeBron.
“Not coming from our end,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said when asked about a New York Daily News report that cited a league source as saying LeBron James is pushing Cleveland’s front office to swap Love to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony. “Kevin should be happy that teams want him. But he’s not going anywhere.”
Cavaliers general manager David Griffin was also adamant, telling ESPN’s Michael Wilbon after the win that James had not pushed him to trade Love to the Knicks.
And further, a Cavaliers source told ESPN there have been no follow-up calls to the Knicks beyond the original call from New York to gauge Cleveland’s interest.
“It’s trash,” James said of the report. “And the guy who wrote it is trash too, for writing that, especially during the game like that. So it’s always about outside noise, and that’s just outside noise for us. We got to focus on what needs to be done and that’s to continue to compete for a championship. And we got who we got. Our GM will do a great job of figuring out if we need something else, but right now we’re in a good place.”
I can’t imagine Cleveland would willingly ship Kevin Love for Carmelo Anthony. But LeBron always gets want LeBron wants.
The rest of the links
Globe – Could Celtics actually be top seed in East? | Herald – More members in IT fan club | ESPN Boston – Torch passed
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