Kings star DeMarcus Cousins has been handed his automatic one-game suspension for his 16th technical of the season. He also was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Tuesday for his actions during a 109-106 overtime win against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night.
Cousins will sit out Wednesday’s home game against the Celtics. He picked up his 16th technical and second of the game with 1.1 seconds left in a 112-107 loss to Chicago on Monday night.
He also had one Saturday against Golden State that triggered the fine for his gesture and inappropriate words at referee Bill Spooner.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was ejected in the third quarter for his profanity-laden tirade directed at Spooner, and the reigning NBA Coach of the Year apologized Monday when he received a $25,000 fine.
From now on, every two technicals Cousins receives will result in another one-game suspension.
Hornets 111, Nets 107 — Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum, and Marco Belinelli each had 17 points as host Charlotte snapped a seven-game losing streak by handing Brooklyn its 10th straight loss.
Charlotte (24-28) had not won since a Jan. 21 triumph over Brooklyn. The Nets’ last victory came on Jan. 20 at New Orleans. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 22 points and Brook Lopez added 20 for the Nets (9-43).
Jeremy Lamb added 16 points for the Hornets, while center Frank Kaminsky recorded 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Rockets 128, Magic 104 — James Harden had 25 points and 13 assists as host Houston built a big lead early and held off a late rally to beat Orlando.
The Rockets had led by as many as 23 before the Magic begin chipping away at the lead. Serge Ibaka made a turnaround jump shot midway through the fourth quarter to cut Houston’s lead to 9 points. Harden grabbed a bad pass from Evan Fournier not long after that and dished to Eric Gordon, who finished with a 3-pointer. Trevor Ariza added a 3-pointer for Houston to extend the lead to to put the game away.
Patrick Beverley made 7 points after that to help extend the lead to 120-99 with less than two minutes left and send Houston’s starters to the bench.
It is Houston’s second straight win and the 10th loss in 13 games for the Magic.
Harden’s scoring slowed down a bit on Tuesday after he scored 41 and 42 points in his last two games. But his 13 assists ended a streak of four straight games where he had fewer than 10, which was a season-long drought.
Ibaka had 28 points for the Magic, who have lost 10 of 13.
Trail Blazers 114, Mavericks 113 — C.J. McCollum scored 32 points, the last 2 on a runner in the lane with 0.9 seconds left to lift visiting Portland over Dallas.
McCollum’s shot capped a final minute in which the two teams traded the lead six times and Dirk Nowitzki hit two clutch 3-pointers, the second a potential game-winner with 3.9 seconds left. McCollum scored Portland’s last 7 points.
