Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
Lost in the chaos and seemingly endless sequence of reviews at the end of Tuesday’s Western Conference Finals game was the decision by Los Angeles Clippers big man DeMarcus Cousins to shove Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker.
Cousins was punished for his actions one day later.
On Wednesday, NBA Official announced Cousins was issued a technical foul for the shove upon further review, although there was no fine or suspension.
Booker and the Suns were celebrating one of the most memorable plays in recent NBA history when Cousins shoved him. The celebration came after Deandre Ayton dunked home an incredible alley-oop pass from Jae Crowder in the final second to give the Suns the 104-103 victory and a 2-0 lead in the series.
Prior to that, Paul George missed two critical free throws that could have pushed the Clippers’ lead to three. The visitors also failed to grab the rebound on Mikal Bridges’ missed three-pointer and knocked the ball out of bounds, which is what set up the Crowder-to-Ayton assist.
While Cousins now has an additional technical foul on his record, this is not unfamiliar territory for Los Angeles.
It lost the first two games of its first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks and the first two games of its second-round series against the Utah Jazz only to come back and advance to the Western Conference Finals.
Doing so for a third straight series may ultimately prove too difficult, as Kawhi Leonard has not played in the conference finals because of a knee injury and Phoenix may be set to get its veteran leader back.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported Chris Paul plans to return for Game 3 “barring an unforeseen setback.”
Paul has yet to play in this series because of the league’s health and safety protocols.
