DeMarcus Cousins vs. Trail Blazers: Stats, Highlights and Reaction

Fans in the Golden 1 Center on Tuesday got the entire DeMarcus Cousins experience. 

The Sacramento Kings big man led his team to a 126-121 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers with a dominant performance. He finished with 55 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks and hit 17-of-28 shots from the field, 5-of-8 from three-point range and an impressive 16-of-17 from the free-throw line.

However, it was a sequence near the end of the game that drew the most attention.

Cousins scored and drew a foul with less than one minute remaining to put the Kings ahead, 121-119, but he spit his mouthpiece during the celebration and was temporarily ejected with a second technical foul. He sprinted off the floor in frustration but was later summoned back when the officials overturned the ejection.

Cousins hit the free throw to increase the lead to three and then blocked Damian Lillard down the stretch to help the Kings clinch the victory. 

Sean Cunningham of ABC 10 in Sacramento, California, said Cousins received a "hero's welcome back" as he returned from the tunnel, which proved appropriate considering how important he was in the game's final minute. 

Dan Carson of Fox Sports had an idea for the big man's triumphant return:

The bizarre sequence of events naturally led to plenty of reaction on social media:

While Cousins' ejection and then non-ejection overshadowed the game and his overall performance, his outing should be more than a footnote. It was one of the best games of the entire 2016-17 NBA season to this point, and Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated noted he joined Klay Thompson, John Wall, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis as the only players to crack 50 points in the early portion of the campaign.

He also outplayed Portland big man Mason Plumlee, as the Duke product finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds.

Sean Highkin of The Athletic had some fun with the back-and-forth between the two centers:

Cousins dismissed the idea of Plumlee as a defensive stopper during his postgame interview that matched the uniqueness of the entire evening:

Cousins' performance capped off an eventful two-day stretch.

Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated noted before Tuesday's game the Kings issued a "substantial fine" to Cousins for his interactions with a reporter from the Sacramento Bee and shared the statement from the organization:

"

The Kings have a clear set of standards of conduct expected of our entire organization. As a result of negative interactions with certain members of the media that were not corrected after verbal warnings, we have decided to impose a substantial fine. If this behavior is repeated again we will be forced to consider further discipline.

"

Dan Devine of Yahoo's Ball Don't Lie reacted to Cousins' showing against the Trail Blazers with the penalty in mind:

Next up for Cousins and the 11-17 Kings is a two-game road trip against the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves.

While Sacramento has struggled this season, it pulled to within a single game of Portland for the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference playoff picture with Tuesday's win. If Cousins continues to play like he did Tuesday, the Kings could make some noise at the back end of the postseason race in the immediate future.