With 2:23 left in the first half of Monday's matchup with the Utah Jazz, Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins received a technical foul for what looked like carping to the referees after missing a shot at the rim on which he thought he was fouled by Paul Millsap. At the time, the Kings trailed Utah 40-32 and were hanging in there with the West's No. 7 seed; Cousins was a large part of that, leading Sacramento with eight points, five rebounds and two steals in 17 minutes. Upset at the T, Cousins walked across the court to ask why referee Tre Maddox had rung him up; teammate Tyreke Evans walked over and wrangled his big man, and nothing came of the interaction. After the halftime buzzer, though, Cousins re-engaged Maddox, and the outcome was a bit more volatile: The second tech, issued by referee Scott Foster, was Cousins' 12th of the season and ensured his third ejection; both lead the league. As a result, Kings coach Keith Smart didn't have his leading scorer and rebounder available for the balance of a game that went into overtime, an extra frame in which the Jazz doubled up Sacramento to come away with a 98-91 win . After the game, Cousins explained what happened during the just-before-half chat to reporters, including Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee :
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