DeMarcus Cousins has long been considered a player with "character issues", which is code for headcase. So everytime he does something remotely controversial, you can expect it to rise to the surface.
Case in point. With Sacramento on the verge of an unbelievable collapse against Golden State, Cousins again drew plenty of attention to his character issues with some poor gesticulations near the end of the Warriors game. After three missed free throws by Reggie Williams and Dorell Wright in the final minute, Cousins made the same motion with his hand that Reggie Miller serenaded Spike Lee with once upon a time. Although Reggie went all the way with the full two-hand grip.
Check the photo of Cousins's gesture after the jump.
(HT Rumskee of Sactown Royalty and warriorsworld's Twitter)
Perhaps it was just a sign of what Cousins was thinking of his own play--down the stretch of the fourth quarter and overtime he missed all four of his shots, none of them coming closing to going in the basket, another one blocked by the defensive behemoth that is David Lee. He also turned over the ball twice, including a travelling violation. And of course, when he needed to nail down the critical rebound off the missed free throw by Reggie Williams, he fumbled the ball out of bounds, setting the stage for Vladimir Radmanovic to nail the game-tying three at the buzzer at the end of the fourth quarter.
Not a good night for Cousins supporters. Hopefully it's just a growing pain rather than another mark on a supposed growing list of transgressions.
(UPDATE: Cousins has been fined and benched for that gesture)