Kings center Kosta Koufos (41) fouls New Orleans Pelicans forward DeMarcus Cousins (0) as he goes to the basket with Kings guard De’Aaron Fox (5) on Thursday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com

By Tony Renteria

SACRAMENTO– DeMarcus Cousins return to the Capitol City resulted in a 114-106 win for the visiting New Orleans Pelicans.  Cousins who was the heart and soul of the Sacramento Kings for six seasons before being traded last season made his first return to the Golden One the stadium where Kings fans thought he who play for years to come.

Cousins who electrified the Sacramento fans with his talent but also polarized the fan base with his constant need to argue with officials and lead the league in technical fouls once again stood center court and received a huge standing ovation.  Cousins was acknowledge a few minutes in the first quarter during a time out  and reacted in a classy and professional way by waving to the crowd and pounding his heart to return the love that was being bestowed by the home town fans.

Cousins was the pregame story and he took that into the game as well as he scored 41 points and added 23 rebounds in showing the Kings and the fans what they gave up when they traded the All Star last season. “It was a special night,” Cousins told the Sac Bee “The fans were beautiful, they were into the game, they let it be well known they hated every shot I made but now I see how other players feel when I used to be on this side, on the other side of the fence. I can remember games where the crowd was the reason we won it. It’s well known the Kings have incredible fans. They showed up tonight as well.”

The Kings held an early lead but as in most NBA games the team behind made a run in third quarter and put the pressure on the Kings who folded late in the fourth.

The Kings were lead by Rookie De Aaron Fox who is continuing to show why the young man from Kentucky was selected fifth in this years draft as he scored a team high 14 points and five assists.

The Kings now drop to 1-4 on the year and host the Washington Wizards on Sunday.  The Pelicans 2-3 fly off to Cleveland to try to get to a .500 record on Saturday.