In all of his exhibition games with Team USA basketball, former Kentucky Wildcats star DeMarcus Cousins was virtually unstoppable.
As arguably the most talented big man in the NBA, it makes sense that the Kings center would shine on the Olympic stage. His success continued into the first game of pool play against China where he finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds in only 15 minutes.
However, he has been played by foul trouble in the last two games and has struggled to contribute to the Team USA victories.
Cousins’ troubles began against Venezuela on Monday. He picked up some early fouls and only played 9 minutes during the game, scoring only 6 points and pulling down 5 rebounds. Despite his lack of production, Team USA still cruised in the second half to a 113-69 win.
Earlier today against Australia, things only seemed to get worse. While his numbers were better than against Venezuela (6 points and 8 rebounds in 10 minutes), Cousins’ frustration really started to show as U.S.A. narrowly pulled away to a 98-88 victory.
The good news is Boogie still managed to throw down a monster jam:
Team USA returns to action on Friday at 6 p.m. EDT against Serbia. It will be interesting to see if Cousins retains his starting position even though DeAndre Jordan has gotten the majority of the playing time at center in the last two games.