DeMarcus Cousins after Pelicans win: Strange facing Kings again

NEW ORLEANS -- DeMarcus Cousins said he didn't want to make Friday night's game about him, even if the opponent was the same team he suited up for in the first 470 games of his NBA career.

But there were indeed moments that reminded him of the disconnect between his past with the Sacramento Kings and his new reality with the New Orleans Pelicans.

"It was very weird, actually," Cousins said after a 117-89 Pelicans victory at the Smoothie King Center. "You practice against those guys and to actually come out against them in a game setting ... it's a very weird feeling. I'm so used to those guys being on my side."

Cousins said at one point he looked over to the sideline at Kings coach Dave Joerger like he used to.

"It was weird for me," he said. "At the end of the day, I'm just glad we got the win."

Knowing the game's importance to Cousins, Pelicans players said they tried to feed their new All-Star center the ball as much as possible. Cousins responded with one of his best performances since his trade to New Orleans during the All-Star break -- 37 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

"We were feeding him early in the game, late in the game, just getting him the ball," teammate Anthony Davis said. "We just wanted him to do him. He did a great job of that."

Cousins' five made 3-pointers tied a career high and marked the third time he's done it in his past four games.

"I wanted him to play well against them, I did," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. "And he did everything we asked him to do."

Cousins dished out hugs and high-fives to Kings players and employees on the court both before and after the game, and even some more in the Pelicans' locker room after addressing the media.

He said Kings center Skal Labissiere, also a former Kentucky Wildcat, came up to him and thanked him, only to tell the rookie that he put in the work to get to this point.

But the 26-year-old Cousins said he didn't view Friday's win as an official end to his chapter with the Kings.

"I still communicate with those guys all the time," he said. "I don't look at it as closure. My chapter with putting on a Sacramento Kings jersey, of course that's done. I still got nothing but love for those guys. I still talk to them on a daily basis. There's no bad blood, so I don't look at it that way."

The Kings were without four regulars for the matchup: Arron Afflalo (personal), Kosta Koufos (rest), Ty Lawson (rest) and Anthony Tolliver (rest). Rudy Gay (torn left Achilles) and Malachi Richardson (right hamstring partial tear) had been previously ruled out for the remainder of the season.

Former Pelicans Tyreke Evans and Buddy Hield started the game for Sacramento, finishing with 11 points and 13 points, respectively. Langston Galloway, another player traded to Sacramento, had three points off the bench on 1-for-7 shooting.

Pelicans forward Solomon Hill said it was "weird" seeing Hield and Galloway at pregame chapel, just like they did so many times earlier this season as teammates.

"You've got to play the game, regardless of who it is," Hill said.

The Kings are now 5-14 overall since the Cousins trade; the Pelicans are 10-9, with wins in eight of their past 11 games.

"If he could get 100 [points], we would have tried to get him 100," Hill said of Cousins. "But he [kept it] respectable. He wanted us to win as a team. Of course he's going to go off, but he wanted us to do it collectively, and that's a great teammate."