Tag: Ron Artest (Page 4 of 12)

      Lakers survive, win Game 3

      May 8, 2010 /

      Despite a Goran Dragic-type effort from Kyle Korver (9-of-10 from the field, 5-for-5 from 3PT, 23 points), the Lakers were able to edge the Jazz, 110-109, and take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.

      The Lakers got 35-4-7 from Kobe, but it was Ron Artest (20 points, including a surprising 4-of-7 from 3PT) and Derek Fisher (20 points) that kept the Lakers in the game for much of the second half.

      This game featured a great stretch of shooting late in the fourth quarter. Check out this series of shots:

      2:25 Lamar Odom makes 24-foot three point jumper (Lakers lead, 101-100)
      2:10 Paul Millsap makes layup (Jazz lead, 102-101)
      1:43 Kobe Bryant makes 18-foot two point shot (Lakers lead, 103-102)
      1:23 Kyle Korver makes 24-foot three point jumper (Jazz lead, 105-103)
      0:54 Kobe Bryant makes 24-foot three point jumper (tied at 106)
      0:42 Deron Williams makes 18-foot jumper (Jazz lead, 108-106)
      0:28 Derek Fisher makes 24-foot three point jumper (Lakers lead, 109-108)

      If you’re counting, that’s six made jumpshots from 18+ feet to tie or take the lead in less than two minutes. That is some seriously good shooting.

      Unfortunately for the Jazz, that’s where it ended as both Wesley Matthews and Deron Williams missed jumpers that would have given Utah the lead with less than 0:10 to play.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Ron Artest vs. Phil Jackson

      May 8, 2010 /

      Per ESPN…

      Late Thursday night, Artest’s account posted a string of tweets expressing frustration with Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

      The first unedited tweet, posted around 9 p.m. PT, read: “Finally Phil Jackson didn’t mention me in media before talking me Now I can build on game 2. Hopefully he talks to me before the media.”

      The next unedited tweet, posted approximately an hour later, read: “Ever since phil mention things about me in media before coming to me first I was weird . So every pray he can somehow close his yapper.”

      Artest’s brother claimed that the account was hacked, but when a reporter paraphrased the tweets and asked Artest about it, he said:

      “No, no, you have to read it exactly. That’s exactly what I said? If you can’t get it exact, then I can’t answer it.”

      “I’m here to talk about basketball, basketball, all basketball,” Artest said. “Twitter is for my fans, not for [media].”

      For his part, Jackson says that he spoke directly to Artest about the issue at hand — his terrible three-point shooting.

      “So, you know, we expect him to break out of it at some point, but he’s got to be discriminative in what’s a good shot and what isn’t.”

      Jackson, who described Artest as a “naïve, innocent lamb” during the first-round series against Oklahoma City said, “I guess he might be a little sensitive,” on Friday.

      “I usually tell the truth,” Jackson said of his thought process behind commenting about his players to the media. “I usually don’t pull punches, so, I mean, a person has to withstand that. If they’re hearing it on TV in front of a massive audience, they must understand that their coach saying it to them will be probably a little bit more harmful, a little more hurtful perhaps. They have to be tough enough to take that and move on.”

      Jackson tweaks, he doesn’t tweet. He relishes needling everyone — players, coaches, officials — through the media, though I doubt he’s ever run into someone like Ron Artest. The Zen Master should tread carefully.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Lakers hold off Jazz to win Game 1, 104-99

      May 2, 2010 /

      The Lakers led by eight heading into the fourth quarter, but with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer out of the game, the Utah reserves took advantage of the Lakers’ bench, going on an 8-1 run to start the period. After Kobe and Gasol returned, the Jazz managed to build a four-point lead with four minutes to play, but the Lakers went on a 15-6 run (featuring 11 of Kobe’s 31 points) to put the game away.

      These two teams actually remind me of the Bucks/Hawks first round matchup. Like the Hawks, the Lakers are more talented, yet they tend to lose focus during (sometimes long) stretches of the game. The Jazz are a more talented version of the Bucks — a team that is going to play its heart out from start to finish. What this means is that the Jazz are probably going to have a chance to steal a game or two in L.A. They almost stole Game 1, but five straight missed shots with under four minutes to play did the Jazz in.

      Like Jeff Van Gundy said, when it gets into crunch time, the Jazz need to double off of Ron Artest and force Kobe to give the ball up. If Utah can put the ball in Artest’s hands, they’ll have a better chance to win. This may go against Jerry Sloan’s straight man-to-man philosophy, but I’d rather see an uncomfortable Artest launching long jumpers than let Kobe go one-on-one with Wes Matthews.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Lakers: “Not so fast.”

      April 28, 2010 /

      Much was made, and justifiably so, of the Thunder’s blowout of the Lakers in Game 4. This is a young, talented team that has a chance to become a Western Conference power for years to come. But the Lakers clearly took the loss to heart and turned around and blew out the Thunder, 111-87, in Game 5.

      Did Kobe go for 35-40 points? Nope. He posted 13-3-7 on nine shot attempts, but more importantly, he checked Russell Westbrook for much of the game. Westbrook’s quickness gave Derek Fisher fits in the first four games of the series, so the defensive change makes a lot of sense.

      Pau Gasol (25-11-5) and Andrew Bynum (21-11) dominated down low, combining to hit 18-of-26 shots (69%) from the field. Even Ron Artest had a nice offensive game with 14 points and five dimes.

      The Lakers lead 3-2 and head back to OKC for Game 6 on Friday. Is this series over? Not even close. The Lakers have not played well on the road in this series and if the Thunder can defend their home court yet again, they’ll have a puncher’s chance to win Game 7. It’s going to take a monumental effort to beat the Lakers in L.A. in that scenario, or the Lakers will have to lay an egg. Either way, it would be interesting to see the young Thunder play in their first Game 7.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Has Kevin Durant figured out Ron Artest?

      April 25, 2010 /

      Through the first eleven quarters of this Lakers/Thunder series, Ron Artest held Kevin Durant to 23-of-67 shooting (34%). Over the past five quarters — the 4th quarter of Game 3 and all of Game 4 — Durant has shot 10-of-19 (53%) from the field.

      But it wasn’t Durant that was the difference in OKC’s 110-89 blowout win over the Lakers in Game 4. There were four other Thunder players in double digits: Russell Westbrook (18), Jeff Green (15), James Harden (15) and Eric Maynor (13). Harden has played especially well in Game 3 and Game 4, scoring 33 points in the two games after going 0-for-5 for nary a point in Game 1 and Game 2.

      But can this young team take this fine play on the road and steal a game in L.A.? Only six teams in the league had more road wins than the Thunder, so the answer is yes they can. The real question is whether or not they will.

      As for Artest, while he played pretty good defense for the first 11 quarters, he has been an absolute disaster on the other end of the court. He is averaging 7-3-2 and is shooting 30% from the field and just 13% from long range. This wouldn’t be so bad if he were taking just a few shots per game, but he has averaged 10 attempts from the field and almost six threes per game in the series. Even with a decent season percentage (35%), he has no business taking that many threes when he’s in this kind of a rut.

      Most pundits thought that OKC wasn’t ready to push the Lakers to six or seven games, but since that question has already been answered, now it’s time to find out if they’re ready to pull the upset. They are younger, faster and more athletic than the Lakers, but L.A. has the experience. Which will win out?

      Game 5 in L.A. is on Tuesday.


      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 ↑