NBA looking into Elliott incident with Cousins
Posted on November 10, 2012 at 11:35 pm by Mike Monroe in Sacramento Kings, Sean Elliott
PORTLAND, Ore. — The NBA is looking into a postgame confrontation between Sacramento Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins and broadcaster Sean Elliott that took place on the Sleep Train Arena court after the Spurs’ 97-86 victory in Sacramento on Friday.
Elliott, the former Spurs star who serves as analyst on the locally produced telecasts of Spurs games, criticized Cousins for “talking trash” about Spurs captain Tim Duncan during the fourth quarter.
After overpowering Duncan for two baskets and drawing a shooting foul on the Spurs star with about five minutes left, Cousins bellowed to his teammates on the Kings’ bench after drawing a shooting foul on the future Hall of Famer.
Elliott paraphrased Cousins as saying, “I’m going to bust his (expletive).”
Elliott responded after Duncan blocked a Cousins shot at the rim and scored three baskets.
“That’s why some humility is in order,” Elliott said on the air. “You think you’re dominating Tim Duncan, you get it stuffed right back in your face. Timmy doesn’t like to talk trash. But if guys start talking mess to him, he’s going to respond. All that trash talking was premature. I’m not about to let these guys off the hook. Young ballclub should learn from this. Don’t start talking and flapping your gums against one of the greatest players ever. He’s going to make you pay. Tell me who got the best of this exchange.”
Apparently informed postgame of Elliott’s remarks, Cousins appeared on the court in his uniform and confronted Elliott after he and broadcaster Bill Land completed their postgame show.
“I was wondering why Cousins was out there in his uniform waiting for them to finish his postgame show,” said Bill Schoening, who does the play-by-play call on radio broadcasts of Spurs games. “Then I saw them in an animated conversation out on the court.
“I observed Sean walk away from Cousins and Cousins continue to talk to Sean as he left the scene, but I couldn’t hear what was being said.”
An NBA spokesperson said the league is aware of, and reviewing, the incident.
Elliott declined to comment, saying he would let the league investigate and respond as it saw fit.
Cousins was critical of Elliott’s on-air commentary, telling the Sacramento Bee newspaper the Spurs broadcaster was “immature.”
Spurs-Lakers chosen: Tuesday’s Spurs-Lakers game at Staples Center will be televised by NBA TV after being selected for viewing by fans. The game will still be televised locally on Fox Sports Net Southwest.
mikemonroe@express-news.net
Twitter: @Monroe_SA
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2012/11/10/nba-looking-into-elliott-incident-with-cousins/
