The Denver Nuggets came apart at the seams during their Game 2 loss to the Golden State Warriors, and Will Barton had to explain himself afterwards.
Heading into a timeout in the second half of Monday’s first-round playoff contest, Nuggets guard Will Barton got into it with teammate DeMarcus Cousins on the sideline, and the two had to be separated.
Will Barton and DeMarcus Cousin had to be separated heading into the Nuggets’ last timeout just now. pic.twitter.com/TRxNppTriO
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) April 19, 2022
Another angle showed Nuggets forward Jeff Green having words for Barton as well.
While Will Barton and DeMarcus Boogie Cousins were still yelling at each other, Jeff Green was hitting and yelling at Will Barton to “FOCUS!” pic.twitter.com/QRsCxdtZsC
— The Whole Delivery (@TWDTV1) April 19, 2022
Barton had spent most of the game to that point yelling at his teammates on the floor. One particular sequence saw Barton visibly upset after a Steph Curry three-pointer towards the end of the first half.
What's Will Barton telling his Nuggets teammates after Steph Curry's 29-foot three with 19 on the shot clock?pic.twitter.com/DVAVyVeDE0
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 19, 2022
The Nuggets would go on to lose the game 126-106 to fall into an 0-2 hole in the series. After the game, Barton shared his side of the Cousins incident.
“Nothing, just some goofy s–t that I can’t even entertain,” said Barton of the episode, per HoopsHype. “Just some goofy s–t that happened on the bench that I shouldn’t even entertain. We can’t let that happen in a series, in a playoffs, in a game. I gotta be better than that.”
While Barton has been with the Nuggets since 2015, this is his first season as teammates with Cousins, who just signed with Denver in January. Cousins has a reputation as a bit of a rabble-rouser, but he is apparently very well-liked by most of his Nuggets teammates. Monday’s confrontation seemed like frustration boiling over on Barton’s part more so than anything.
