I watched the latest DeMarcus Cousins ejection live. Just because he wasn’t innocent doesn’t mean he was guilty either. I can’t help but feel it was an embarrassment of NBA “rules.”

While crashing to the offensive boards from the top of the key, Cousins was undercut by Mike Dunleavy of the Milwaukee Bucks with a “box out” to the knees. DeMarcus fell badly to the floor. No call.

A lot of centers would’ve been out for the year with an ACL injury.

‘DC’ got up, like a man, and quickly made his feelings known to both the refs and the nearby Milwaukee bench. The result was the usual ‘double tech’ call. This, most annoying of NBA traditions, is intended to diffuse situations. It had the opposite reaction in Sacramento on Sunday night.

By punishing both players, they actually alienated the one who really took the worst of it to begin with. It was like a double-insult for DeMarcus.

The next play downcourt, Cousins let his emotions get the best of him and caught Dunleavy with an elbow to the head. As bad as the replay looked, it was actually a basketball move. He was spinning on a smaller player who was leaning hard on him in the post. Again trying to “diffuse,” the refs ejected ‘DC’ with a flagrant foul 2.

The Sacramento Kings ended up losing the game by 2.

Yes, Cousins’ elbow was way too high on the play but I think an ejection wasn’t warranted. A flagrant foul 1 would have sufficed.

I’m tired of hearing the old ‘reputation’ argument when it comes to player punishment, especially after seeing the angelic Serge Ibaka castrate Blake Griffin last week and not even miss a game. It’s becoming a farce.

Back to Cousins, the Kings and its players are growing concerned that he’ll never get his emotions under control. Teammate Jason Thompson said after the game, “You can give a person as much advice as you can. From us, to coaches, to Hall of Famers, to whatever. But at the end of the day you’re in this league because you’re a grown man, you’ve going to do what you want to do.”

I agree that serious maturity is the one major thing holding DeMarcus back from greatness in this league. But I also think the NBA and its officials need to stop treating him with a different set of rules. That allows role players like Mike Dunleavy to completely instigate an incident and cause the talented ‘bigmen’ to get a raw deal.

It takes two to tango…..Cousins ain’t dancin’ all by himself.