There’s a weird sort of rivalry brewing between the Kings and the Clippers, that, on the surface, doesn’t seem to make much sense. While L.A. has two current All-Stars and is likely to be a top-four seed when the playoffs begin in a few short weeks, Sacramento is a perennial lottery team with a couple of decent assets, but not much else.
When you look at the way Blake Griffin and DeMarcus Cousins each play the game with a chip on their shoulder, things begin to come into focus.
Griffin and Cousins went at it last Thursday, and the moody Sacramento big man didn’t like the way Griffin was treated by the officials. In his eyes, Blake received the benefit of the doubt far too often, so Cousins called him an “actor,” who “is in L.A. where actors belong.”
“It hurts. It hurts so bad,” Griffin did not say, and never would say under any circumstances.
Not a terribly creative jab from Cousins, and not a terribly offensive one, either. At least not to Griffin, who actually did respond Saturday night after his Clippers beat the Kings for the second time this week.“Well, I first heard about it from my acting coach. He sent me an e-mail and obviously he was thrilled. It was a complement. I guess he’s seen some commercials and stuff, so I appreciate it. Nah, I don’t care. I’m not into going back and forth and name calling players through the media and all that, just let it go.”
Griffin was then asked if his reaction to Cousins speaks to who he is as a player:
“I mean this in the nicest possible way. You have to consider the source. If this is somebody that’s really has been in the league a long time, and really knows the ins and outs of the game, and has a great reputation for carrying himself the right way, then it’s something I would kind of look at and be like I really rubbed this guy the wrong way, but someone like that you just keep going.”
Cousins was fined by the league for his comments about the way the officials treat Griffin after Thursday’s game, so wisely, he didn’t want to go down that road again on Saturday.
“I’m in enough trouble as it is. ... It’s not a (personal) rivalry,” he told reporters afterward. “We’re just playing ball. They’re a playoff team and we’re not, so it’s not much of a rivalry.”
Neither Cousins nor Griffin play a style of basketball that is endearing to anyone but fans of their respective teams. Griffin’s act is a little more widely-accepted due to playing in the large market alongside Chris Paul, and of course for the sensational (if sometimes illegal) way he’s able to dunk over his opponents.
Cousins, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the better rebounders in the game in his young career, and you can see a time in the not too distant future when his overall game takes him to an All-Star level, as well. But his brooding on-court personality is something only his teammates could love, so expect the majority of fans to side with Griffin in this silly back-and-forth that hopefully, mercifully, and thankfully appears to be over.
