Tag: Ron Artest (Page 3 of 12)

      Your quick & dirty NBA Finals preview

      June 2, 2010 /

      WORKING IN THE LAKERS’ FAVOR

      The “Big 3” are two years older. (So is Kobe, but he doesn’t look it.)
      Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are 34, and Paul Pierce is 32. They’re not over the hill, but they aren’t spring chickens, either. The way that the schedule is set up, Game 2 is on Sunday and then both teams will have to fly to Boston on Monday for Game 3 on Tuesday. There is also just one day of rest between Game 5 and Game 6. These are going to be tough turnarounds for the 30+ crowd. In terms of play, KG is playing as good as he has in the last two seasons, but he’s still not in ’08 form. After a substandard regular season, Ray Allen has played well in the playoffs. Only Paul Pierce is playing at nearly the same level as in 2008.

      The Lakers have home court advantage.
      Last time around, the first two games were in Boston. This time, the series starts in L.A., where the Lakers were 34-7 on the season and 8-0 in the playoffs.

      They’re starting Ron Artest at SF instead of Vladimir Radmanovic and Luke Walton.
      Artest may be a little crazy, but he definitely makes this Laker lineup tougher. Radmanovic, Walton and Sasha Vujacic got major minutes in ’08, but are now either gone or relegated to spot duty. We can debate Ron Artest vs. Trevor Ariza all we want, but there’s no doubt that Artest is an upgrade over the Radmanovic/Walton combo that faced the Celtics two years ago. He’ll also make Paul Pierce work for his points, which will allow Kobe to worry about Ray Allen.

      They want revenge.
      The Lakers were embarrassed after losing Game 6 by 39 points. Their win over the Magic last year was nice, but if they had any heart, they wanted to face the Celtics again. A win over Boston would squash any talk about how the C’s would have had a dynasty had Kevin Garnett stayed healthy.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Let’s remember the 2008 Finals…

      June 2, 2010 /

      …when the Celtics and Lakers last met in the Finals. Celtics Hub refreshes our collective memory:

      The presence of Artest as LA’s starting small forward is, on its own, a large enough change to make the 2008 Finals a near-irrelevant precedent. In other words: If both rosters were entirely the same, and everyone’s skill level had remained the same, making the single change of replacing Vladimir Radmanovic with Artest as LA’s starting small forward is big enough to blow up any ‘08/’10 comparisons.

      The Lakers started Vlad Radmanovic at small forward in 2008! And he wasn’t a token starter! He played 21.5 minutes per game in the Finals, shooting 39 percent from the floor and playing mediocre defense against Boston’s best offensive player.

      Luke Walton played 11 minutes per game in the Finals and shot 31 percent. Trevor Ariza, who supplanted both Rad Man and Walton in ‘09, was a total non-factor, logging just 7 minutes per game in the ‘08 Finals.

      Those three players, combined, logged about 40 minutes per game in the 2008 Finals. I realize those minutes sometimes overlapped, but still: Forty minutes per game.

      Artest makes this Laker team a very different unit, for the better. We can argue about whether or not he was an upgrade over the less combustible Trevor Ariza, but no one is advocating for a return to the Radmanovic/Walton days.

      Here is what Artest has done with Paul Pierce in their last eight meetings:

      18.8 PPG, 43 percent shooting (46-of-107), 36 percent from three (14-of-39), 52 free throw attempts.

      Plus, he brings a certain amount of toughness that was definitely lacking on the ’08 Lakers. It will be fascinating to watch Artest’s impact on this series.

      To get you ready, here’s a link to an inside look at Game 1 of the ’08 Finals.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals

      Lakers have to pay players to take charges

      June 2, 2010 /

      Here’s another reason to hate the Lakers…

      The Los Angeles Lakers have never been known as a team that takes offensive charges. They are trying to change that. Last series, Phil Jackson called his big men “thin-chested” as a way of goading them into standing strong and taking a hit, and the team has been offering financial incentive — $50 per charge.

      The charge-taking competition, however, has yet to involve Ron Artest, who said he learned from growing up on the New York playgrounds, that when you take a charge, fall and then call an offensive foul, well, bad things — like serious bodily harm — can happen.

      “I don’t even know how to take a charge,” he said. “To get the charge you have to fall. I’d rather not fall. You call an offensive foul, possibly be a fight. That’s just how we grew up playing basketball.”

      Queensbridge!


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, Humor, NBA, News

      How a simple box out can win a game

      May 28, 2010 /

      By now, you’ve probably heard about Ron Artest’s game-winner last night in pivotal Game 5 against the Suns, but what you might not know is exactly how it happened.

      In the video below, you’ll see Kobe catch the ball on the sideline and chuck up a horrible shot. But what you need to pay attention to is Ron Artest and Jason Richardson on the other side of the court. Watch as Richardson turns, stands and watches Kobe’s shot. He’s supposed to be boxing out Artest, but instead, he’s about as useless as you or I am sitting at home.

      Did this play look familiar? Watch Pau Gasol’s easy route to the bucket to score his game-winner against the Thunder in the first round.

      This happens time and time again. It even happened to Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1983 NCAA title game when Lorenzo Charles snuck in behind “The Dream” and dunked home the game-winner…

      Once a last-second shot goes up, the tendency is for players to stop and watch, especially when they think the game is over. But with 3.5 seconds to play, there is plenty of time for a shot to go up and for a tip in on the miss. That’s what Jason Richardson, Jeff Green and Hakeem Olajuwon failed to realize in these clips.

      It does no good to stop and watch. After Kobe’s desperation shot attempt, the only way the game doesn’t go to overtime is if Richardson or one of his teammates fails to box out his man. In that situation, he should be seeing both Artest and Kobe (in his peripheral vision), and when the shot goes up, he needs to make contact with Artest and do whatever it takes to keep him away from the rim. If he had even slowed Artest by a half second, the game would have gone into overtime.

      And that’s how a simple box out can win a game.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Video

      WCF Game 5: Ron Artest goes from goat to hero

      May 27, 2010 /

      After Ron Artest almost blew the game with an ill-advised shot, he ended up winning it for the Lakers. With 1:01 remaining and the Lakers up three, Ron Artest bricked a 20-foot jumper. Pau Gasol cleared the offensive rebound and passed it out to Artest, who (ponderously) took a three with 0:56 remaining. Phil Jackson gave him an earful during the timeout, and after Jason Richardson banked home the game-tying three with 0:03 to play, it looked like the game was heading to overtime, barring a Kobe Bryant miracle shot, of course.

      Bryant got his shot, but it was a terrible look, and there was enough time left on the clock for Artest to collect the rebound and put it back in. It sure seems like there is so much attention paid to Kobe that everyone’s watching him shoot instead of getting into position for the defensive rebound. It was Richardson who failed to box out Artest.

      Has Artest finally validated the Lakers’ decision to sign him instead of re-signing Trevor Ariza?


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑