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DeMarcus Cousins mocks Joakim Noah's free throw stroke, Noah gets the last laugh

DeMarcus Cousins and Joakim Noah trade fours. (Getty Images)
DeMarcus Cousins and Joakim Noah trade fours. (Getty Images)

Over a decade after he rose to national prominence as a dominant college player at the University of Florida, and nearly 10 years after he was drafted into the NBA, we finally have the most accurate portrayal of Joakim Noah’s infamous shooting “stroke.”

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Leave it to Sacramento Kings star DeMarcus Cousins, he of the refined tastes from the basketball perimeter, to appropriately mimic Noah’s style. From Friday night’s Kings/Knicks blast in Sacramento:

That’s DeMarcus Cousins, the NBA’s third-leading scorer at 28.8 points per game, a rock solid shooter that boasts a 75.7 percent mark from the free throw line while working with an above-average three-point stroke (at center), taking on Joakim Noah and his dodgy free throw mechanics.

Noah finished the night with a 31 percent mark from the free throw line after raising his percentages with a 2-2 mark from the stripe. More on that in a bit.

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While you ponder what makes a man mock, recall that Cousins (tired of Noah’s physical play and gnashing) let loose with a little bump sent Joakim’s way last Sunday when the two teams met in New York:

On this particular Friday, though, the Knicks had the upper hand in more ways than one.

The team entered the contest with the press peeling the layers following Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony’s pointed back and forth, but it was Noah’s work from the stripe that helped move New York to a more-than-respectable 13-10 on the season. He hit two freebies, his only pair of the night, deep into the fourth quarter to give the team a late lead.

“It felt good to make ’em, clutch,” Noah said of his late free throws. “Just gotta stay positive and keep working.”

Cousins, meanwhile, missed a makeable layup with 81 seconds left that would have given his team a one-point lead. Boogie’s 28-point, 12-rebound, six-assists, three-steal night far outpaced Noah’s nine-rebound, four-point, two-block evening, but total points are total points, the Knicks won 103-100, and Joakim Noah’s Bob Fosse-hands are, indeed, clutch.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!