The above spat between Sacramento C Demarcus Cousins and Boston G Marcus Smart took place towards the tail end of the Celtics’ 106-84 rout of the visiting Kings Wednesday night ; the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett managed to collect Cousins and Smart’s respective sides of the story :
Cousins got a technical foul for rookie-tossing. Smart got a technical for .?.?. well, no one ever really got an explanation for that, but the Celtics’ thought is that the officials were just trying to chill things out in a game that was pretty much out of hand on the scoreboard.
“I did have an issue (with Smart),” said Cousins, who had received a first-quarter technical for screaming at ref Danny Crawford and was ejected. “It didn’t start with the box-out. It was the pick. He tried to run through my chest, then he came and I felt he took a cheap shot on the box-out, and that’s what resulted to what happened.
According to multiple sources, Cousins said, “That’s OK. I’ll get him after the game,” on his way from the scene. There was, therefore, a bit larger security presence in the hallway between the two dressing rooms.
“To be honest, I’m not really worried about that,” Smart said of the altercation after going for 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. “He knows that I’m not going to back down from it. I don’t see why I got the tech though, but it’s all good. They didn’t really tell me that, but it’s all good. I’m one of those guys that’s not going to back down from anything, so I’m going to let that be known.”
Told of Cousins’ objections, Smart said, “Man, it was a box-out. That’s his opinion. Everybody saw the play. Like I said, I’m not going to back down from anything. If that’s what he thinks, that’s what he thinks.”
And the pick? “Once again, that’s what he thinks,” Smart said. “I’m just playing defense.”