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Cousins drops 40 as Nets squander late chance, lose 111-109 in Sactown

By Anthony Puccio
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Nets are back to their losing ways. They can thank DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins for haunting them in the process.

Despite scoring a season-high 60 points in the first half, the Kings defeated the Nets, 111-109, following a 57-point second half for the Kings, and a 40-point night for DeMarcus Cousins.

Sacramento led 107-101 with Cousins watching from the sidelines after picking up his sixth foul. With 41 seconds remaining, the game looked to be over.

To their credit, the Nets put Rajon Rondo and Quincy Acy at the line and it paid its dues. They quickly cut the deficit down to two with two seconds remaining. Kings ball. Again, the game looked to be over until Brooklyn forced a turnover from sideline out-of-bounds play from Sacramento. Nets ball.

Of course, Nets will Nets.

On the following inbounds play, Wayne Ellington turned the ball over on an attempt to feed an open Joe Johnson (14 points) at the top of the key. Game over.

It was really a tale of two halves.

Despite dropping 40, they contained Cousins to 1-of-10 shooting in the first half. That was a completely different story.

The Nets' play in third quarters this season is a completely different story, too, despite once owning a 15-point lead in this game.

Cousins scored 19 straight points in the third quarter -21 total - and single handedly propelled the Kings on an 18-6 run to give them their first lead of the night. He out-scored the Nets 21-20 in the quarter.

He finished with 40 points and 13 rebounds on 12-of-17 shooting in the second half. The only thing that stopped him was his own self, after picking up his sixth foul with under a minute remaining.

He also held Brook Lopez to a 5-for-15 shooting night.

Despite an assist to turnover ratio of 16-2 in the first half, the Nets finished with eight assists to 13 turnovers in the second half.

The Nets are now 1-8 and face Steph Curry and the Warriors Saturday night at Golden State.

The starting point guards had a big night in Sactown: Jarrett Jack finished with 21 points and 12 assists in 33 minutes. For Sacramento, Rondo notched a triple-double of 23 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds.

Thaddeus Young chipped in 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He capped off his night with a beautiful one-handed "mammoth" slam, as Ryan Ruocco would describe it.

The Nets didn't even see the Kings at full strength with Darren Collison and Rudy Gay both sitting out.

Brooklyn's "bridge year" continues to be a long ride filled with bumpy roads.

Confident Bogie (No, not Boogie)

Coming off a 22-point, nine-rebound night in the win over Houston, Bojan Bogdanovic's summer funk seems to be long forgotten about. Bogdanovic was 9 for his last 19 from three prior to Friday's matchup with the Kings, and finished with 15 points.

He took five shots in the second half after going 6-for-8 in the first.

"It was tough," said Jack. "I thought it was a game we had control of for the majority, and we weren’t able to stop the runs that they made in the second half."

"[Cousins] was shooting the ball well, attacking. … He played well," Brook Lopez said. "I didn’t do a good enough job on him."

For more on Sacramento Kings, check them out at Sactown Royalty.

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