LA Clippers center DeMarcus Cousins has yet to play any minutes in the 2021 NBA Postseason.
An accomplished player in this league, DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins should be playing for the LA Clippers in this series.
The reason is because Cousins can stretch the floor.
A narrative that travels with Cousins at his current age is that he’s not as athletic as he used to be due to his age. Sure, the 30-year-old isn’t as athletic as he once was, but we haven’t seen a total drop-off in who he is as an athlete. In fact, he actually shot better than he ever has in his entire career since he’s been a Clipper.
Cousins is shooting 53.7% from the field with a .421 clip from behind the three-point line.
At many times in this series, the Clippers have chosen to go with smaller lineups in order to draw Kristaps Porzingis away from the rim, and to try to tire out the Mavs’ bigs in general.
If Cousins plays, the Clippers don’t even need to go small like that to be effective that way.
Cousins has a great three-point stroke, and the Clippers could serve up some threes for him which would still draw the Mavericks’ bigs to move away from the basket. Cousins is 6’10,” 270 lbs. It goes to show that the Clippers don’t even have to play small ball in order to achieve their objective of forcing the Mavericks’ big men away from the rim.
In Game 4, the Mavericks inserted Boban Marjanovic into the game as soon as they saw the Clippers going small. They did that so the Clippers would be forced to put Ivica Zubac in the game. The Clips did insert Zubac, and Marjanovic scored a couple baskets by that time.
The Mavericks wanted Zubac in the game so that they could use the pick-and-roll to draw Zubac to switch onto Luka Doncic, as they’ve had lots of success when Doncic is guarded by Zubac. The Mavericks couldn’t make shots, so everything was alright and the Clippers ended up dominating Game 4.
If the Mavericks do shoot the lights out, like they did in Games 1 and 2, then mixing in Boogie when the Mavericks want the Clips to go bigger like that would be a fresh look that could have some success.
There’s no issue with trying Zubac for a possession or two, but if it fails, Boogie is a good option to try, and you know he can shoot the rock offensively.
It creates an opportunity to stretch the floor.
The Mavericks even started Game 5 with Marjanovic in the starting lineup. They’re interested in going bigger, and Cousins can both stretch the floor and counter their move to be the much bigger team at the same time.
The Clippers don’t need to go small to tire out the Mavericks’ bigs, and they don’t need to go small to keep the Mavericks’ front court from staying down low and protecting the rim.
Boogie Cousins can provide more for the Clippers than Clippers Head Coach Ty Lue is currently giving him credit for.