BBNBA: It's DeMarcus Cousins Day

[caption id="attachment_254529" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo via Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle)[/caption] Good afternoon, folks. Our beloved DeMarcus Cousins will make his long-awaited return to the basketball court tonight and officially turn the Warriors into the Monstars. Let's talk NBA. Reminder to vote to send the BBNBA to the 2019 All-Star game. Another friendly reminder that NBA League Pass is free through Jan. 20.

RECAP

• The day of reckoning is here. We must all pay for our past grievances in the form of an NBA super team being created in the middle of January. DeMarcus Cousins is expected to take the court for the first time since tearing his Achilles tendon almost one year ago. It'll be his first game in a Golden State Warriors uniform and the first time ever that one team can trot out five All-Stars at once that isn't actually the All-Star game. The Warriors visit the Los Angeles Clippers for Boogie's debut, so he'll be going up against notoriously slower big men Marcin Gortat/Boban Marjanovic. I was curious as to why the Warriors didn't want to have Cousins make his return on Wednesday's game against his former team, the New Orleans Pelicans, but matching up with Anthony Davis on day one might have been a bit much. Against the Clippers, he'll have a much more favorable matchup. We are just hours away from watching Boogie take the national stage on ESPN (10:30 p.m. EST), don't you dare make any evening plans.

[10-34] Knicks - 100 @ [19-26] Wizards - 101

• The NBA's first game of the season located in London featured the John Wall-less Washington Wizards and the Enes Kanter-less New York Knicks. Wall is out for the season after undergoing heel surgery, but Kanter's story is a bit different, as you might have heard. Kanter decided to remain in the states instead of flying to London out of fear that he might be injured/captured/killed by the Turkish government. But even without those two, the game was actually quite exciting for a pair of sub-.500 teams.
• Kevin Knox had an off day playing in another country, shooting 2-11 from the field for only five points in 30 minutes.
• The Wizards won this game off of a goaltending call, oddly enough. Knicks guard Allonzo Trier was whistled for goaltending with 0.4 seconds left that gave the Wizards a one-point lead and ultimately the win. The Wizards outscored the Knicks 24-11 in the fourth quarter to hand New York their fifth consecutive loss.
• And don't look now, but Bradley Beal may be a superstar in the making. After putting up 26 points in London, Beal is now averaging 29.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 2.4 steals per game over his last 10 since Wall was ruled out for the season. The Wizards are 6-4 in those games - albeit against a mediocre schedule. Beal is the real deal (shoutout to his Twitter handle). Now let's all sit back and watch as the Wizards front office does absolutely nothing with their newfound All-Star.

[23-22] Kings - 95 @ [21-23] Hornets - 114

• After winning three games in a row, the Sacramento Kings dropped a bad loss to the Charlotte Hornets on the road. De'Aaron Fox and Willie Cauley-Stein were hardly their usual, effective selves as they scored 10 and eight points, respectively. Fox also added five rebounds and eight assists but with four turnovers.
• For Charlotte, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist played his most minutes of the season at 30, contributing 15 points on 4-7 shooting (he shot 7-7 from the charity stripe) and was a team-leading plus-26. Charlotte outscored Sacramento 43-25 in the second quarter to take full command of the game. 13 of those 43 points came from MKG, who was playing excellent defense leading to ample fastbreak opportunities. Malik Monk shot 2-3 from the field for five points in the win.

[25-21] Lakers - 138 @ [26-18] Thunder - 128 (OT)

• There was no Rajon Rondo or LeBron James for the Lakers still, but the young Los Angeles team pulled out a huge win over Oklahoma City in overtime on the road. Some impressive performances from a trio of youngsters - Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and Ivica Zubac - secured a massive victory with James still mending his strained groin.
• For the Thunder, Nerlens Noel played in his first game since the devastating concussion last week that forced him to sit out three games. He finished with four points, two rebounds, an assist, and a steal in 11 minutes. Patrick Patterson hit 3-4 shots deep and two of them came at big moments in the fourth quarter. Hamidou Diallo did not register a point in 11 minutes.

Other notes

• Devin Booker led the BBNBA in scoring on Thursday night, pouring in 30 points for his Phoenix Suns team in a close loss to one of the top teams in the East, the Toronto Raptors. Booker shot 10-21 from the field (4-9 from deep) to go along with eight assists (and six turnovers). With the game tied at 109, Raptors forward Pascal Siakim went isolation and hit the game-winning layup as time expired.

• Lastly, the boys in Denver put a beating on the Chicago Bulls, 135-105. Jamal Murray and company made sure to avenge their 31-point blowout loss to the Warriors on Wednesday with a shellacking of a depressingly sad Bulls squad. Murray dropped in 25 points on 8-16 shooting (he shot 7-11 from three) and hit six three-pointers in the third quarter alone. He also contributed five assists to only one turnover. Trey Lyles made the most of his 21 minutes, scoring 12 points on 5-10 (2-3 from deep) shooting in addition to four rebounds and two assists.

• Check out the full stat sheet below.

STATISTICS

[table id=261 /]

TONIGHT IN THE NBA

7:00: Grizzlies @ Celtics 7:00: Heat (Adebayo) @ Pistons 7:00: Nets @ Magic (Briscoe) 8:00 (ESPN): Spurs @ Timberwolves (Towns) 9:00: Cavaliers @ Jazz 10:30 (ESPN): Warriors (Cousins-he's playing tonight holy s**t) @ Clippers (Gilgeous-Alexander) 10:30: Pelicans (Davis, Miller, Randle) @ Trail Blazers

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