DeMarcus Cousins had a simple but clear message for anyone questioning Kevin Durant’s heart and the length of time it took the Golden State Warriors’ star forward to (briefly) return to the court for Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
“[Expletive] them. [Expletive] them,” Cousins told reporters after the Warriors beat the Toronto Raptors, 106-105, on Monday
Cousins was blunt, concise and clearly not interested in validating any criticisms against his injured and obviously incredibly tough teammate.
Out for a little more than a month with a right calf strain, Durant returned to the court for the Warriors’ must-win Game 5 — Toronto still has a 3-2 series lead over the defending champs — and scored 11 points in 12 minutes. But he left the game in the second quarter with a new injury to his Achilles and will have an MRI on Tuesday to determine the severity of it.
When Durant left the court, Raptors fans were cheering and celebrating his injury, and players for both teams quickly admonished and tried to silence them. Cousins — who tore his Achilles in January 2018 and was sidelined for nearly an entire year — had thoughts on that moment too.
Asked what he thought of Toronto fans after they cheered KD’s injury, Cousins said:
“Trash, so trash. But like I said, we’re only idolized as superstar athletes, not human beings. It’s always about what we can do between those lines. That’s it. That’s all that ever matters. And then once we lash out and do human-type things, then we’re considered bad guys.”
Warriors general manager Bob Myers spoke with the media following Game 5 and said “blame me” for Durant’s injury. Myers described the process Durant went through before being cleared to play Monday. But his Achilles injury still makes you wonder if he rushed coming back because the Warriors were down, 3-1, in the series.
In response to a question about Myers’ emotional press conference discussing Durant’s latest injury, Cousins said:
“It’s obvious they care. It’s bigger than basketball here. Outside of these lines, we’re human beings just like everybody in this room. We go through things. We have life crises. We have emotions. We have up and downs. It’s just, when we get in between those lines, we have to zone out all of that and become these superstar athletes.
“So with that being said, they know us outside of the lines. They know the everyday struggles. They know the adversity and the ups and downs we go through on a daily basis. So that being said, [Myers] is feeling for the guy. It’s not about basketball. It’s about everything else — the [expletive] that y’all don’t care about.”
Game 6 of the NBA Finals is back in Oakland on Thursday.
