Play the largest selection of free online games at Games on AOL. Including puzzle games, card games, casino games, strategy games and many more Headlines from the network and other sources, as well as downloads of trailers and clips. Archives and past articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly. Get the latest celebrity news and hot celeb gossip with exclusive stories and pictures from Us Weekly. Leonidas I ca. 530 BC480 BC was a Spartan king immortalized in Greek literature and legend because of his heroic last stand against Persian invaders. Leonidas is a. Is De. Marcus Cousins or the Sacramento Kings the real problem A white towel clings like Saran Wrap to De. Marcus Cousins nearly 3. Kings locker room. Its an hour after the final buzzer, and most of his teammates have long vacated the arc of wood paneled lockers. Cousins stall is at the end beside it, a pyramidal mass of reporters and videographers huddles in wait. On this December night, the Kings trounced the Lakers 1. Play Family Feud For Without Ing' title='Play Family Feud For Without Ing' />Cousins 1. Sacramentos favor. But whatever pride hes taken from the performance what it says about the body of work hes assembled in his seventh season, what it portends for the Kings as they prepare to hit the road just two games out of the playoffs all of that is now secondary. Among the reporters stands Sacramento Bee columnist Andy Furillo leather jacket, baseball cap atop strawberry hair, rimless glasses. Before Cousins even finishes toweling off, he engages Furillo, the author of an opinion piece lambasting Cousins choice of New York City nightlife venues the prior week a piece that cites an earlier incident at a Tampa club in which Cousins brother, Jaleel, was tased and arrested. The confrontation begins. Cousins wants to know whether Furillo knows Jaleel. He doesnt. Then why would Furillo mention him in the column Furillo replies that the altercation was relevant. Moreover, theres a published video that captures it, and De. Marcus was there. Cousins suggests Furillo is simply out to criticize him. Then it escalates. Youre a coward, Cousins says. Youre a f ing coward. Youre a coward. Why would you say that Furillo answers. Because you are. Bulls. Meanwhile, less than 3 feet away, Kings guard Garrett Temple stands, offering his impressions of Cousins extraordinary season. Whot Card Game. His skill set offensively is something Ive never seen before, Temple says, being able to score from the perimeter the way he can, obviously in the post, the way he can shoot the ball, his touch, his understanding of the game. He can pass he can do a combination of things Ive never seen a center do, or a power forward, honestly. He. Temples testimonial trails off as he strains to hear whats simmering behind him where Cousins now towers over Furillo before he stops talking and looks over his shoulder. You sit here hiding behind a f ing computer screen, Cousins is saying, talking s, articles and all this other s. I am not hiding. You are a f ing coward. I am not a coward. A lot can happen in a 3 foot radius, and this one contains multitudes. Its a life size diorama of the Enigma of the Kings, who employ, in Cousins, one of the games top talents and its most temperamental. And so it is that Temple finally decides to step between Cousins and Furillo, placing a hand gently on Cousins torso. You ever talk about my f ing brother again, we are going to have some real f ing issues, Cousins says. Dont ever mention my brother again. You dont know my f ing brother. And then, as Cousins retreats to his locker, Temple, sensing the storm has passed, returns to the discussion of his teammates basketball genius, opening his mouth to speak. Cousins confronts Furillo again. You can say whatever the f you want to say about me, but dont mention my motherf ing family. To Cousins, the piece in question is a cheap shot, yet another in a long procession of takedowns about his work ethic, his weight, his judgment, his attitude. And in the ensuing days, after the Bees executive editor defends Furillo by suggesting that he held his ground against Cousins because the veteran journalist had experience being shot at by rioters in Los Angeles, Cousins will be blown away by the connotations. Who am I in these metaphors, exactly But back in the moment, when asked what the explosion he just helped defuse says about Cousins, Temple sighs. Ive only been here for two months, so I really dont know that much, he says. But Im trying to figure it out. Hes a very emotional guy. Thats one thing Ive realized. If Temple is struggling to figure out Cousins, hes hardly alone in the pursuit. Theres a tantalizing question about the Kings franchise star, and its answer might well determine his future Is Cousins madness at the heart of the Kings dysfunction or is the dysfunction of the Kings driving Cousins mad To answer it requires a return to 2. It was then, sources say, that so much went wrong. Can De. Marcus Cousins win in Sacramento The question isnt simply what the steps to success are but whether Cousins and the Kings actually succeed together. Steve YeaterAP Photo. ITS AN AFTERNOON in early 2. Mike Malone, first year coach of the Kings, is conducting a particularly brutal practice. Malone was hired by the Kings the previous June, and Cousins has experienced practices like this before. Mike has his days, Cousins says. Youve seen him on the sidelines, veins popping out of his head. This was one of those days. Cousins is having one of those days too, dead tired from what seems to have been an almost intentionally sadistic practice. And when Malone yells at the team to line up to run sprints, Cousins turns defiant F this, man. Im not runningAnd then, as Cousins recalls, every bit of 5 9 Mike Malone comes up to me and says, Motherf er, youre going to run or youre going to get the f out of my practice, you big p y And I say, I aint running, MikeMalone promptly shows Cousins the door. Nearly three years later, Cousins shares the story with the affection youd expect from a retired player reminiscing about his youthful fury. Hes neither proud nor embarrassed. But its an incident he cites as evidence that there can be accountability and friction in the NBA, that a player can be both insubordinate and not a terrible person, that a coach can be tough even hysterical but fair. British Standard Bs 1363 Firefox. Cousins, at the time, was a 2. Malone, though, appeared to have located Cousins escape key. There were days where we got into it, but I think at the end of the day, he always knew that I cared about him and I loved him, Malone says. It was never personal. Once you earn his trust, hell go to war for you. I think pretty early in our relationship I earned his trust. Trust. Virtually everyone whos had an association with Cousins coaches past and present, teammates, Kings execs, his agents, journalists, even nonprofit directors calls that the key to unlocking the riddle. Being a member of Cousins trust circle, in the words of a former Kings assistant, is the great Rorschach test that determines how you see Cousins as a manifold, deeply emotional, bighearted man full of contradictions or a volatile, needlessly aggressive bully who is accountable to no one or nothing not even his immeasurable talent. Malone, now the coach of the Nuggets, declares himself squarely in the first camp. I think hes very coachable, and I loved my time with him, Malone says. I always wonder what might have happened. What actually happened was this In fall 2. Kings started the season 9 6, with Cousins playing the best basketball of his life tallying career highs in points and rebounds and a phenomenal net rating of plus 1. November. For the first time since Cousins was drafted, Malone and his staff were beginning to believe that a sense of order had been established. Cousins still required maintenance, but the cues were now mutually recognized.