DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings readies a layup. (Getty Images)

Don't let him pull that move on you, David Lee. Don't let him pull that move on you! Oh, that's the move! That's the move!

DeMarcus Cousins pulled a few dope moves for the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night, but he couldn't keep the Kings too competitive against the Golden State Warriors. I don't think Cousins cares more about looking good than he cares about winning, but I do think he cared enough to look good here. And I, for one, appreciate it.

Best caption wins entry onto the "Jeopardy!" lot. Good luck.

In our last adventure: The eyes are the windows to the soul, and Tim Duncan's soul wants the [EXPLETIVE] ball in the post.

We all appreciate that you're trying to be more physical on defense, Travis Outlaw. When you're not bringing much else to the table — and, by the looks of things, you're not — it's always a good idea to recommit yourself to providing great effort and intensity on the defensive end. Even if your shot's not falling — and I mean crazy not falling, to the tune of a 29.5 percent mark from the floor, 16.7 percent from 3-point range and 62.5 percent on freebies — you can still make a difference for the Sacramento Kings by getting up into your opponent's chest and making things difficult for him.

Well, you definitely got into Nate Robinson's chest and made things difficult for him. Two things in particular that you made difficult for the Golden State Warriors guard were "standing" and "controlling what was happening to his body."

It's like every Atlanta Hawks fan always says: "Just get me to the closing seconds of the game with a chance to win and the ball in Zaza Pachulia's hands, and I believe we'll get the job done."

That was the situation the Hawks faced late in overtime against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. The Associated Press sets the scene:

Trailing by one with 3.5 seconds left, Atlanta got the ball to Zaza Pachulia at the foul line. He drove the open lane before [Danilo Gallinari] rotated over to disrupt the play, and Pachulia missed a layup off the glass with 2.2 seconds left and Denver grabbed the rebound.

"There wasn't anything wrong with our execution. We ran it just like it was designed," Atlanta coach Larry Drew said. "It was the best executed play we ran all night." [...]

"I just missed it," Pachulia said.

The miss sealed the Hawks' fate, handing the Nuggets a hard-fought 118-117 win in an entertaining affair that Nuggets coach George Karl said was "way too offensive minded for me." The loss drops the Hawks a full game behind the Indiana Pacers for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, while the win pulls Denver within a half-game of the Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 5 slot out West.

Following the game, Pachulia took to Twitter to apologize to Hawks fans for the miss (thanks to Dime's Ananth Pandian for the head's up):

Had a great opportunity to win the game but blew it up.I'm very disappointed.Hope I'll be in same situation soon and will execute it better.

— Zaza Pachulia (@zaza27) March 14, 2012

Happens to the best of us, big guy. No worries.

Check out a video of the up-close miss — complete with diagramming of the play that Drew, um, drew up — after the jump, thanks to our friends at the delightfully named blog Basketball Things.

Say it to LeBron James' face, America. (Getty Images)

Nestled within the results of a new joint lifestyle survey conducted by Yahoo! Finance and Fitness magazine is an interesting little NBA nugget. Asked to identify people who make way more money than they deserve, nearly a quarter of survey respondents picked LeBron James.

In addition to questions about monthly finances, planned uses for tax refunds, spending preferences and how money impacts relationships, 2,000 Americans were asked, "Who do you think makes way more money than she/he deserves to?" The most popular choice was mom-and-wife-to-be Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi of "Jersey Shore" fame, picked by 51 percent of those surveyed. She was followed closely by Kim Kardashian (45 percent), with whom we are all very familiar.

There's a big gap after the two reality stars — the third-most popular answer didn't get even a quarter of respondents' votes — but James is No. 3 on the list. Twenty-four percent of the 2,000 people surveyed said the Miami Heat superstar and two-time league Most Valuable Player gets paid more money than he deserves.

[Related: LeBron James to sell pork donuts in China for Dunkin' Donuts]

The view on James was pretty consistent across age groups, with 24 percent of respondents in both the 18-34 and 35-54 demographics calling him overpaid, and 25 percent of participants 55 and older agreeing. The only real differential came in the gender split — 27 percent of men said they think LeBron is overpaid, compared to 21 percent of women. (The data wasn't broken down along racial/ethnic lines; a Y! consumer communications spokesperson told me that only age and gender get analyzed in these surveys.)

The results make sense in real-world terms, of course — most people would likely argue that nobody "deserves" to make $16 million a year to do anything, let alone play a sport as a job. That, of course, to some degree trivializes not only the incredible amount of work that NBA players do, but also the value of the natural talent they must have to reach and remain at the highest level of their chosen profession, but still, it makes sense.

It also shows just how large a chasm exists between the "real world" and the world of the NBA. Because in the latter, if anything, LeBron James is underpaid.

Tim Duncan of the Spurs is guarded by Trevor Booker of the Wizards. (AP)

With all due respect to Trevor Booker, who works very hard and is one of the few things about this year's Washington Wizards that is enjoyable in a non-"oh God, did you even see that?" fashion (except for when he is enjoyable in exactly that fashion), it was probably hard for Tim Duncan not to actually scream for the ball. We applaud his decision to restrain himself and let his eyes do all the screaming for him.

Best caption wins advice from the Googly Eyes Gardener. Good luck.

In our last adventure: J.J. Redick angrily reminds Lou Amundson that you don't turn off another man's O.A.R. CD.

Hornets GM Dell Demps is working the phones, but what can he really do? (AP)Logic seems to dictate that the New Orleans Hornets should do something before Thursday afternoon's NBA trade deadline — the team isn't playing for anything this year and has to go about the business of planting roots for the future. The $64,000 question, though: What exactly should GM Dell Demps do?

More to the point: What can the Hornets front office do, with the sale of the team — perhaps to a California-based ownership group that includes former NBA coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy — reportedly close? Is the deadline about stockpiling assets or clearing up the books as best Demps can?

A season that was likely going to be lost anyway following December's Chris Paul fiasco has been totally doomed by injuries and apocalyptic offense, as a crawl-it-up Hornets squad that's been without Eric Gordon for 40 games, Carl Landry for 18 and Emeka Okafor for 15 has averaged less than one point per possession this season. The only team worse at putting the ball in the hole? The Charlotte Bobcats, who beat the Hornets in New Orleans on Monday night in a ghastly affair.

Despite game work from the likes of point guard Jarrett Jack, 26-year-old Mexican rookie Gustavo Ayon and head coach Monty Williams, the Hornets have struggled to the league's third-worst record through 42 games, and look like a sound bet to stay in the Western Conference's cellar for the duration of the 2011-12 campaign, casting their eyes skyward with a "wait 'til next year" gaze all the while. But what about next year?

J.J. Redick of the Orlando Magic and Lou Amundson of the Indiana Pacers. (AP)

Chill out, J.J. Redick. I know that sometimes people's sweaty, flailing arms get tangled up during basketball games, and that can be frustrating, but if you blow your stack about it, you are going to get T'd up, throw off your game and imbalance yourself. Remember: A bro divided against himself cannot stand.

You should try to be more like your bro Lou Amundson. Peaceful, easy feelings. Solid ponytails. Deep breaths. Great vibes. Very Californian. Namaste.

Best caption wins a trip to the chillout tent. Good luck.

In our last adventure: Vince Carter kicks the flavor like Stephen King kicks horror.

George Karl's sartorial salute to the injured Ricky Rubio. (Photo via the Denver Nuggets' Instagram)When news broke that the knee injury Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio suffered in the closing seconds of Friday night's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was a torn ACL that will knock him out for the rest of his rookie season and prevent him from starting at the point for the Spanish national basketball team during this summer's Olympics in London, just about everyone was bummed out.

Fans far and wide lamented the loss of one of the league's brightest and most exciting young stars. A host of Rubio's NBA peers took to Twitter to express their sympathies and wish the gifted freshman a full, speedy recovery. Perhaps the coolest sign of support, though, came from George Karl.

The Denver Nuggets head coach wore the colors of the legendary Spanish soccer side FC Barcelona in Rubio's honor on Sunday, sporting a Barça shirt to his media session before the Nuggets faced the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. Rubio played for the Barcelona sports club's basketball team from 2009 through 2011 before coming over to the U.S. to join the Timberwolves this offseason, earning recognition as the Spanish ACB League's top point guard and Most Spectacular Player in 2010.

The coach's comments were brief — "I feel bad for Ricky Rubio," according to Lindsay H. Jones of the Denver Post — but the gesture spoke volumes about the level of respect that Karl, one of just seven coaches in NBA history with more than 1,000 career wins, has for the young Spanish lead guard's talents.

Karl has some history in Spanish basketball. He coached Spanish club Real Madrid in the late 1980s and early 1990s, leading squads featuring top European players like Fernando Martín, who had just returned to Real after a stint with the Portland Trail Blazers that made him the first Spaniard ever to play in the NBA.