In the Denver Nuggets’ 124-92 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night, JaMychal Green posted his first double-double of the 2021-22 season and DeMarcus Cousins produced a stat line that hasn’t been achieved in the NBA in at least 45 years.
Coming off the bench, Green had 20 points and 10 rebounds, reaching his season high for rebounds and matching his season high for points for his first double-double since he had 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 109-82 victory over the Miami Heat on Jan. 27, 2021.
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Cousins had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists while playing 17:37 in a reserve role against Portland. He’s the only player to reach those levels in the three stats while playing fewer than 20 minutes in a game since at least the 1976-77 season, when minutes-played data became available.
Green and Cousins starred as prep players in Alabama – Green at St. Jude in Montgomery and Cousins at LeFlore in Mobile.
“I think it’s something in our water,” Green said of the Nuggets’ Alabama pair after Sunday’s game. “We got a chip on our shoulders. We’re not going to back down from anybody. We just want the smoke.”
After spending four college seasons at Alabama, Green had to battle to catch on in the NBA. Three 10-day contracts – one with the San Antonio Spurs and two with the Memphis Grizzlies – finally gave him a toehold in the league in 2015, three years after his final season with the Crimson Tide.
In his second season with the Nuggets, Green is playing on the first year of a two-year, $16.4 million guaranteed contract.
Cousins’ NBA story is the opposite of Green’s. Cousins entered the NBA as the fifth player picked in the 2010 draft after one season at Kentucky.
Cousins played in four consecutive All-Star games before a torn Achilles tendon in 2018 and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in 2019 derailed his career. After playing in 17 games for the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this season, Cousins landed with the Nuggets on a 10-day contract. Another 10-day contract followed, and Denver signed Cousins for the rest of the season last week.
“Signing Cuz for the remainder of the year, I think that was a big signing,” Green said. “I think we need the size and the physicality, everything he brings. I match that, so it’s good to have both of us on the same team.”
The Nuggets’ roster lists Cousins as 6-foot-10 and 270 pounds and Green as 6-8 and 227 pounds.
Cousins has played in 10 of Denver’s 15 games since Jan. 23, and the Nuggets have won all of them. Denver has posted six consecutive victories to climb to 36-25 and into sixth place in the Western Conference standings.
“I think we’ve arrived,” Green said. “I think we’re starting to get that chemistry together. This is the best time to start hooping right now, getting ready for the playoffs, so I think we’re doing a great job.”
The Nuggets host the Oklahoma City Thunder at 8 p.m. CST Wednesday.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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