DeMarcus Cousins on Sunday needed only one quarter to outperform his fatigued 13-point debut in Taiwan, lifting the Taiwan Beer Leopards to the top of the T1 League.
In his second home game in Taoyuan, the four-time NBA All-Star played about 31 minutes, scoring 25 points, including 14 in the first quarter, to lead his team to a 105-85 victory over the New Taipei CTBC DEA, setting a new franchise-record six-game winning streak.
He also had 17 rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks.
Photo: CNA
Both teams had five players with at least 10 points. Edgaras Zelionis led New Taipei City with 24 points and eight rebounds in the team’s second loss in three games.
Unlike his sluggish start on Saturday against the Tainan TSG GhostHawks, Cousins showed off his long-range shooting caliber, making three of four three-pointers to establish a 37-25 lead in the first quarter.
Although the DEA made it a one-possession game on a 14-4 run in the second quarter, the Leopards punched back, with Cousins twice muscling his way to the paint for scores that got the crowd of more than 5,500 fans on their feet.
In a post-game interview, Cousins said the jet lag was less severe on Sunday, but he still “felt not like myself” and was “struggling to sleep at night.”
“Doing the ice bath earlier, I was able to take a two-hour nap before the game. Being able to do this definitely helped me prepare for the game,” he said.
Leopards point guard Chiang Yu-an, last season’s all-star, had high praise for Cousins.
“After rebounding, Cousins launches passes quickly and with good timing, and that gave us many more fast break opportunities,” Chiang said, adding that the team’s defense had improved since the American joined.
Prior to Cousins’ arrival on Thursday, the Leopards averaged 104.2 points per game, the second worst in the league. The team gave up only 85 and 90 points in the past two games.
It might be too early to compare Cousins’ performance with that of Dwight Howard, who last season played 20 games for the Leopards, but Taiwan Beer veteran Cheng Wei, one of the few Taiwanese to play with both of the former NBA stars, already has an answer.
Cousins “plays better team basketball and is willing to pass the ball instead of stat padding,” Chinese-language sports Web site TSNA quoted Cheng as saying.
However, while Howard only had one Taiwanese player, Lu Chieh-min, who averaged double-figure scoring per game, Cousins has three, including Chiang.
Cousins is contracted to play five games with the Leopards, including a cross-league exhibition game with the P.League+’s Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers on Tuesday next week.
Cheng said he might stay longer.
“Although he did not bring as much laughter as Dwight, he asked our names before he came... He does not need to do that if he just wants to play here short-term,” TSNA quoted Cheng as saying.
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