NBA on Jan. 18: DeMarcus Cousins returns for Warriors

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The Golden State Warriors claimed an easy 112-94 win against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center on Friday. More importantly, DeMarcus Cousins came back from injury and made his debut for the champions.

'Boogie' does a good job on debut

DeMarcus Cousins #0 of the Golden State Warriors talks to Boban Marjanovic #51 of the Los Angeles Clippers during their game at the Staples Center. /VCG Photo

Stephen Curry again scored GSW's highest 28 points but had to watch his record of sinking at least eight pointers every game come to an end in three. Kevin Durant put down 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Cousins played 15 minutes in which he dropped 14 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block, one steal, one turnover and, of course, six fouls.

Tobias Harris scored the highest 28 points and nine rebounds for the Clippers who were without Louis Williams. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 24 points, which tied his career-high scoring performance. However, they were the team's only two players who scored double digits.

First-lineup of the Warriors: Stephen Curry #30, Kevin Durant #35, Draymond Green #23, DeMarcus Cousins #0 and Klay Thompson #11, all make it to the 2018-19 NBA All-Star teams. /VCG Photo

Having been away from the court for 357 days, four-time NBA All-Star center Cousins finally came back and joined the Warriors in the first-lineup, making Golden State the first team with five All-Star players from last season since the Boston Celtics in the 1975-76 season.

The Warriors apparently tried to get the "Boogie" (Cousins' nickname) better involved from the beginning by passing the ball to him for the team's first two attacks. Though he missed the first post-up in the low block, Cousins scored his first two points for the Warriors with a dunk by Durant's assist after setting a screen for KD. The bad news was that Cousins committed two fouls in less than three minutes and thus had to return to the bench.

In the first quarter, Warriors put Durant in charge of their offense and he dropped 10 points, three rebounds and four assists. As Curry made two three-pointers, the defending champions led 28-25 over the Clippers that had only Harris to go to in offense. Harris delivered remarkable efficiency of 83.3 percent in field goal (5/6) and 66.7 percent in 3-pt (2/3) to score 13 points.

Cousins of the Warriors dunks in the game against the Clippers on January 18. /VCG Photo

Cousins returned from the beginning of the second quarter and tried something different in the five minutes he played. He missed one perimeter shot, made one of the two 3-pt shots and earned a foul by attacking the rim against Clippers' players. The last two things were exactly what GSW needed from him: Big man stretching out from the 3-pt line and attacking the paint.

Though Golden State sent the "Hampton Five" in the last four minutes of the game, their struggling 3-pt shooting and carelessness in defending penetration actually helped the Clippers narrow down the score difference by two (51-52 after the first half). Harris continued his high efficiency with another seven points.

Tobia Harris of the Los Angeles Clippers drives to the rim in the game against the Warriors on January 18. /VCG Photo

However, the Clippers got some bad news before the second half as their other key player, Danilo Gallinari, could not play because of injury. The Warriors took the advantage of the opponent falling into a scoring drought and launched a 17-3 run. Cousins stayed with the first-lineup and began to adapt himself to Golden State's offense style. He first posted up in the low block and helped Curry take two points in a typical GSW back door play. Then he set a screen for Klay Thompson to shoot a three-pointer (which he missed). Before Cousins went back to the bench, he even scored two points in early offense via transition with his over 130-kilogram-weight.

Both sides continued their cold hands from the 3-pt line-1/8 for GSW and 0/5 for the Clippers, but thanks to the more options they had, the Warriors managed to expand their lead to nine points (81-72).

Stephen Curry of the Warriors shoots a three-pointer in the game against the Clippers on January 18. /VCG Photo

Cousins returned from the start of the fourth quarter and immediately sank two straight three-pointers before he assisted Andrew Iguodala to make another 3-pt shot. Before Cousins was fouled out, he literally did everything on the datasheet: Scoring (16), rebounding (5), assisting (3), stealing (1), blocking (1), turnover (1), 3-pt (3/4), free throw (1/2) and foul (6).

Compared with GSW's 9-0 run, the Clippers found themselves totally out options and scored only six points in the first six minutes of the last quarter. Soon the team sent the bench franchise to admit their loss.

Cousins #0 and Green #23 of the Warriors high-five each other in the game against the Clippers on January 18. /VCG Photo

Cousins' first game for Golden State told a few things: He still needed time to get used to NBA-level game to avoid easy fouls; he was still quite a distance away from becoming part of GSW's complicated basketball machine; he could offer what the team lacked the most, especially in the restricted area; head coach Steve Kerr had to figure out where Cousins' time on the court came from; Jordan Bale and Jonas Jerebko did not play until the garbage time at last.

Though Cousins' return was still far away from Draymond Green's Tweet of "All hell about to break loose," at least the win over the Clippers was a good start.

Other results on Friday: (away teams come first)

Memphis Grizzlies 116-122 Boston Celtics

Miami Heat 93-98 Detroit Pistons

Brooklyn Nets 117-115 Orlando Magic

San Antonio Spurs 116-113 Minnesota Timberwolves

Cleveland Cavaliers 99-115 Utah Jazz

New Orleans Pelicans 112-128 Portland Trail Blazers