If you watched the broadcast of Friday night's San Antonio Spurs game vs. the Sacramento Kings, you likely heard former Spur and current Spurs color analyst Sean Elliott's dislike for Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins' trash talking with Tim Duncan.
After getting word of Elliott's criticisms, Cousins voiced his opinion and even called Elliott immature in a postgame interview Jeff Garcia posted on Project Spurs.
What you may not have known was that the Elliott-Cousins issue didn't just happen in the broadcast and during a postgame interview, according to a report from Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News.
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.”
Apparently now, the NBA is investigating the altercation. Elliott, always knows as a class act, did the right thing by walking away from Cousins, who's gotten a rap as being brash, immature and unfocused himself.
This was definitely a questionable move on Cousins' part. The NBA is a very big stage, and criticisms come with the territory, especially from the people who are paid to talk about the game. That's not to say that broadcasters should have no limits when talking about other NBA players, but I don't feel Elliott crossed any lines.
Most players laugh it off when someone like Charles Barkley or other TV personalities and broadcasters say something unfavorable of a player. Cousins has always been a bit unfiltered, and while he has also been complimentary of Duncan in the past, it might be in his best interest to grow thicker skin.
There likely won't be much stemming from this outside of a warning or a fine, especially since i can't remember an incident of this type before.
