Cousins overcame urge to give up after quad harm
DeMarcus Cousins was devastated after tearing his quad within the first spherical of the playoffs, saying he was “simply able to give up.” Fortunately for the Golden State Warriors, he did not.
Cousins, as an alternative, has fought again to turn into an important piece for the Warriors as they enter Recreation three of the NBA Finals on Wednesday (9 p.m. ET, ABC) towards the Toronto Raptors tied at one sport apiece.
“I do know the sensation of like, you already know, this could be it. You realize?” Cousins informed ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an interview on The Leap on Wednesday. “So each probability I get to be on the ground, I am gonna go away it on the ground. As a result of, you already know, this can be a sport I’ve performed my total life and I’ve grown to like since I used to be a child.
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“And, you already know, as a lot as I beloved it then, I like it now. And I understand how quick it may be taken away. It may be gone with the snap of a finger.”
Cousins suffered what many inside the group feared was a season-ending quad tear in Recreation 2 of the Warriors’ first-round sequence towards the LA Clippers on April 15. And that was after he did not play his first sport of the season till Jan. 18 after spending nearly a whole yr rehabbing from an Achilles harm.
“I might be mendacity to say I did not actually should [fight to get back so soon],” Cousins stated of the quad tear. “Like, I needed to dig deep. I needed to do some soul-searching and, you already know, all through each accidents, it was instances the place I simply — you already know, like, ‘Overlook it.’ Like, I am going to simply take my time with it and no matter occurs, occurs. And f—, I simply could not exit that approach.”
Cousins stated he struggled to get into the precise mind set to get again on the courtroom.
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“I used to be simply able to give up,” Cousins stated. “Like, throw the towel in. … Human nature is the very first thing. It is like, ‘Why? Why me? Why now? What did I do unsuitable? Why do I deserve this?’ And that is not all the time the case. It is normally [that] it is repaying you for the subsequent second.
“That is you placing your armor on. Slowly however absolutely. As a result of your subsequent second’s gonna be even harder.”
After enjoying simply eight minutes in Recreation 1 towards the Raptors, Cousins began Recreation 2 on Sunday evening and was a pressure, with 11 factors, 10 rebounds and 6 assists in 28 minutes throughout a 109-104 victory.
“That is what it is about,” Cousins stated. “Leaving all of it on the ground and attempting to make the perfect play and the precise play each possession. And I feel we, as a group, did that in Recreation 2 and we had been the higher group that evening.”
ESPN’s Nick Friedell contributed to this report.