Golden State Warriors All-Star DeMarcus Cousins is playing in only his second game this season against the Los Angeles Lakers. That said, Los Angeles’ third-year center in Ivica Zubac had a rude greeting for him in the second quarter of their matchup, swatting Cousins’ shot and then locking him down to force a shot clock violation. Ivica Zubac has wowed Laker fans with his defensive ability. The seven-footer has proved nimble enough to hang with perimeter players, while also proving to be a solid shot blocker. Zubac, as of this writing, is averaging 7.6 points a game to go along with 4.5 rebounds. He got his chance to stick around in the Lakers’ rotation when both JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler were injured at the same time. Zubac embraced the starter role with enthusiasm and performed so well that he has stuck around even now that the two big men ahead of him on the depth chart have returned. The Croatia native is only 21 years old, and the Lakers hope that he could improve his game even more. While his back to the basket game is respectable, Ivica Zubac still does not have the range that so many centers show in today’s league. He is limited to shots in and around the paint, mostly coring off lobs and drop-offs. It’s uncertain if the team will bring back McGee after this year, as he is only on a one-year contract. If Zubac continues to play the way he has, he could be the Lakers’ starting big man of the future.<doc-sep>Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! The Golden State Warriors will be participating in the celebration of this American icon with a nationally televised showdown against the Los Angeles Lakers. The last time the two teams met was over the Christmas holiday when the Lakers ran into Oracle Arena and threw coal into Dub Nation’s stockings with a 127-101 trouncing. LeBron James injured his groin that game and hasn’t played since. Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo have joined him on the injured list and all three of L.A’s vital playmakers will be unavailable for this contest. On the flip side, the Warriors roster health is near full strength with the return of superstar center DeMarcus Cousins from his Achilles injury. This will be his second game back, and he’ll be looking to build on his encouraging performance against the other Los Angeles squad, the Clippers. His presence should throw a wrench in the strategy the Lakers successfully employed on the champs on Christmas where they smothered Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson and dared anyone else to make a play. Dave McMenamin reported this intel for ESPN: What they were doing was a game plan aided by Lakers assistant Jesse Mermuys, who was responsible for scouting the Warriors all season. He suggested a radical scheme: just concentrate on blanketing Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson and leave pretty much anyone else -- including All-Star Draymond Green -- open. ”I just remember Jesse being really excited at about 8 o’clock in the morning,” Rajon Rondo told ESPN. “He told me he thought he had figured out a great game plan, and seven or eight hours later it turned into the truth.” The Warriors ended up shooting 40.9 percent. Green shot 2-for-7 and Alfonzo McKinnie shot 2-for-10 as the Lakers’ defense purposely sagged off of them like a pair of early ‘90s jeans. We’ll see how it goes this time. Let’s go Dubs!<doc-sep>LOS ANGELES -- Hours before DeMarcus Cousins' second game as a Golden State Warrior, Klay Thompson captured the full breadth of Cousins' appeal as a ballplayer when he praised him as "such a talented, cerebral player. You can plug him anywhere -- he's going to make the right play." Thompson experienced these qualities up close on Monday night in the second quarter of the Warriors' 130-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. First, Cousins freed him up with a pin-down screen, allowing Thompson to catch the ball and go to work at the top of the floor. Then, when Thompson hit traffic, Cousins was available on the wing for a pass. From there, the two-man game ensued. Thompson darted behind Cousins, playing hide-and-seek with Kyle Kuzma in pursuit. With his gaze straight ahead, Cousins dropped the ball behind his back off the wood so that it bounced directly into Thompson's hands as he skirted by -- basketball choreography of the highest order. And when Kuzma met Thompson on the top side, the sharpshooter reversed course behind Cousins, took a single dribble and launched a 3-pointer. With this #SPLASH💦, Klay passed both LeBron James and Steve Nash on the NBA's all-time made threes list. He's now 19th in NBA history with 1,686 three-pointers made. pic.twitter.com/3rvG7hTe6T — Golden State Warriors (@warriors) January 22, 2019 It wouldn't be the only time Thompson and Cousins would team up for a nifty dribble-handoff set -- the pair clearly have some big man-shooting guard telepathy. And it wouldn't be the only time over the course of the Warriors' holiday weekend in Los Angeles that Cousins would reveal the tendencies that make him a natural fit. This is Warriors basketball at its purest, and although Cousins has logged all of 36 minutes over two games, the style and sensibility appear to be a handsome fit for the six-time All Star. Because for everything that has defined Cousins' nine-year career -- the heft, the histrionics and all the rest of it -- Cousins is at his essence the thinking person's big man. Though Cousins is more than capable of playing bullyball in the post and excelling in mismatch basketball against smaller defenders (a brand of play Warriors coach Steve Kerr loathes as a matter of principle), his versatile playmaking has a true home with Golden State. Like Andrew Bogut, circa 2015, or Draymond Green, Cousins is an unselfish passer who willfully and often brilliantly facilitates offense from the elbow. Those vintage Warriors splits and staggers, the back doors that so often are available because defenders gravitate to the perimeter against Warriors shooters -- Cousins can conduct any and all. He already has tallied eight dimes. Among centers and power forwards, only Nikola Jokic assists at a greater rate. Editor's Picks Could Melo help LeBron and the Lakers? NBA Power Rankings: Does Boogie bring Golden State back to the top? 1 Related In this sense, Cousins is as much a creature of 2014-16 Warriors basketball as he is the new Kevin Durant-propelled model. On those occasions when Cousins was spoon-fed the ball in the post with an entry pass, he usually didn't hold the rock for long. Whether he was hitting Stephen Curry beautifully Friday night or Jonas Jerebko on Monday on basket cuts, Cousins seems cognizant of the Warriors Way -- if he's desperate for a shot out of the post, he'd better sprint the floor for an early seal. Otherwise, unless it's garbage time, it's a menu item reserved strictly for Mr. Durant. As Cousins showed against the Clippers, he's also an affiliate Splash Brother -- a giant cannonball Splash Brother. The smooth-shooting 7-footer who can trail the play, receive the ball and fire from 24 feet. On Friday night, he buried three of his four attempts from beyond the arc, and he went 0-for-2 on Monday from long range. Overall, Cousins shot 7-for-20 from the field and 7-for-9 from the line -- a healthy free throw rate that would rank among league leaders. Those concerned about his conditioning would've gotten whiplash watching Cousins sprint down the full length of the floor on a Warriors break, eager and ready to receive a pass from Thompson underneath. Somewhere, George Karl is scratching his head. In both games, Cousins actively ran the floor in both directions, off makes and misses, as is mandatory in a Warriors uniform (except when he was arguing with officials after non-calls on shot attempts). Defensively, the Warriors have done a nice job of keeping Cousins out of space, using coverage schemes more reminiscent of those of Bogut. Rather than switching onto a ball handler or be up on the screen, Cousins drops back -- and the results so far have been positive. The Clippers put Cousins into 14 direct picks -- and scored all of five points off those actions, per Second Spectrum data. The Lakers utilize the high screen from their center measurably less often, but on drives, Cousins corralled penetrators capably. He has an enormous reach and quick hands, and they served him well. Cousins always has been prone to fouling -- he has led the league in fouls per game in each of the past five seasons -- and the two games in Los Angeles followed form. He was disqualified on Friday, and he racked up four fouls in 21 minutes on Monday. He also is routinely among league leaders in charges drawn, and he took one in each game. Clippers coach Doc Rivers said that his first reaction to learning that Cousins had signed with the Warriors was happiness for the injured center in landing with a squad for which he could rehab without undue pressure. But after that immediate-release empathy, Rivers thought, "That's not right." The sentiment was shared by many fans of 29 teams, players and league executives. Never mind that Cousins' reps were cold-calling front offices to peddle his services to anyone who would listen -- the Warriors had once again stacked the deck. With two games in the books, the naysayers seem correct about this much: The team least in need of additional talent has just activated one of the NBA's most talented big men.<doc-sep>
LOS ANGELES — The nadir for the Warriors’ interior defense came on Christmas, when they surrendered 18 points on just 10 shots — most within a few feet of the rim — to the Lakers’ little-known, 21-year-old center, Ivica Zubac. As Golden State prepares to face Zubac and Los Angeles on Monday night at Staples Center, it finally has someone capable of matching the 7-foot-1, 240-pounder’s size. Those inside the Warriors’ organization believe that DeMarcus Cousins, who made his Warriors debut in Friday’s win over the Clippers, is a more capable defender than his previous stops in Sacramento and New Orleans suggest. At 6-foot-11, 270 pounds with elite court vision, Cousins is light on his feet and adept at getting into passing lanes. The problem has long been that, with so much offensive responsibility to worry about, he had a tough time putting full effort into his defense. Now the third or fourth scoring option, at best, for Golden State, Cousins can focus more on the other end of the court. Cousins showed flashes of his defensive potential Friday. Though he fouled out in just 15 minutes, he swatted a shot, nabbed a steal and corralled five defensive rebounds. Now Playing: Video: San Francisco Chronicle “I thought he was really solid,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “I mean, he obviously got into a little bit of foul trouble, but he’s quick. He drops on pick-and-rolls and understands how to take a charge, which he did the other night. He understands how to use his hands for steals. “He’s got very quick hands. He anticipates really well. He sees the game really well, and he just feels it, so that puts himself in a position to succeed.” Subpar defensive effort has been one of the biggest criticisms of Cousins. His defensive rating has hovered well above 100.00 his entire career, peaking at 110.7 while with the Kings in the 2016-17 season. After Friday’s game, it was at 40. When Golden State signed Cousins in July, it saw in him the tools to become a solid defender. Though he won’t lead the league in blocks, he offers the Warriors a big, physical presence on the low block, something they have lacked since Damian Jones sustained a potentially season-ending pectoral injury on Dec. 1 in Detroit. Interactive How Curry's 3-point shooting changed the game Stephen Curry has not only led a Warriors resurgence since entering the league, he has changed the game with his long-distance shooting. “He’s got good instincts,” said Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams, who oversees the team’s defense. “The big thing with him that we’ve talked to him about is playing with good fundamentals and staying away from the fouls. I thought he got a couple of cheap fouls the other night that shouldn’t have been called. I liked his decisiveness in so many plays. I think he can really take that part of his game and improve it.” Cousins won’t ever be a world-class defender in pick-and-rolls, but the Warriors just want to make sure he can’t easily be exploited. As he eases back into the grind of NBA games, Golden State is intent to not overload him, asking him to hang back instead of switching on screens. On the couple of occasions he did switch Friday, Kerr was pleased with the results. “Tonight, he’ll help us,” Kerr said. “Zubac killed us last game, a really skilled big guy in the paint. “We’ll need (Cousins) against a lot of different matchups. Like all players, he’s got strengths and he’s got weaknesses. It’s our job to accentuate the positive and try to mitigate the weaknesses.” Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @Con_Chron