Cousins will miss Pelicans' matchup with Pistons (Mar 01, 2017)
NEW ORLEANS -- All-Stars DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis partied on Tuesday as the tallest float riders in Mardi Gras history by throwing beads and trinkets from a double-decker float to the teeming Carnival crowds on St. Charles Avenue.
Cousins, however, found out as he finished the Zulu parade that he will have to sit out the New Orleans Pelicans' Wednesday night game against the Detroit Pistons at the Smoothie King Center.
The NBA upheld Cousins' one-game suspension after he picked up his 18th technical foul of the season just 32 seconds into New Orleans' 118-110 loss at Oklahoma City on Sunday, the Pelicans' third consecutive defeat since acquiring the 6-foot-11 center in a blockbuster deal with the Sacramento Kings.
According to league rule, Cousins will be suspended for every second technical foul the rest of the season. Even though Cousins said he did not merit the technical in an arm-wrestling match with Thunder center Steven Adams, the NBA reviewed the play and let the technical stand.
The Pelicans (23-37) have struggled to find any offensive rhythm since acquiring Cousins, in part because Cousins has been mired in early foul trouble and in part because guard Jrue Holiday, playing with two talented big men in a completely different offensive set, has struggled with turnovers and by passing up shots he normally takes.
Holiday scored only six points on 3-of-9 shooting and committed five turnovers against the Thunder on Sunday. It was the second time in the three games that Davis and Cousins have played together that Holiday was held to six points. Holiday has committed 16 turnovers in the three losses.
Since Jan. 1 -- and before the Cousins acquisition -- Holiday was the Pelicans' second-best player. He averaged 18 points on 50.2 percent shooting, 7.9 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 turnovers. But over the three-game losing streak, Holiday is averaging 10.0 points on 28.9 percent shooting, 6.0 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 5.3 turnovers.
"We've got to find a way to get him going offensively," Davis said. "I think he's looking to be a pass-first point guard, and we just need him to be aggressive. I think when we get him going, we'll be fine."
Holiday admitted he is trying to figure out how best to exploit the benefits of the Pelicans' new double-post offense.
"I'm obviously trying to figure it out," Holiday said. "Again, they're so dominant down there, you can't not throw it to them, especially when you have Boog (Cousins) down there. There might be times of (indecision), but there's times when I have wide-open shots and just overthink it."
Davis will have to carry a larger share of the load against the Pistons without Cousins in the lineup. Davis scored a career-high 24 first-quarter points against Oklahoma City and finished with a team-high 38. Cousins finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds in just 21 minutes before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
"It sucks that I keep leaving (Davis) out to dry," Cousins said. "It sucks, but he's been carrying the load."
Behind Marcus Morris' game-high 37 points on Tuesday, the Pistons (29-31) won for the sixth time in nine games with a 120-113 overtime victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers. Morris scored Detroit's first seven points in overtime as the Pistons outscored the Blazers 11-4.
It was the third victory since Feb. 12 in which the Pistons rallied from at least 13 points down in the third quarter.
"We're playing with a lot of fight," Detroit's Andre Drummond said. "We're not out of the game, ever. When things get tough, we really come together."
The Pistons snapped an eight-game losing streak to New Orleans with a 118-98 victory in Detroit on Feb. 1. Shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a career-high 38 points and made 8 of 11 3-pointers in the win.
Detroit will play six back-to-backs in the final 43 days of the regular season.
