You want to be tough? You can't be tough with your body and weak with your head. Ref doesn't see you get elbowed? And you go get in the face of the guy who did it, knowing that's a free throw in a tight game? Weak. Ref pushes you away, and you lose your cool and make a big angry gesture in his face and get thrown out? Weak in the head. A guy on the other team has just been ejected for confrontation, and you stage another confrontation when the refs are under pressure from the fans to even the score? Weak in the head. On the road trying to pull out game 2 against the best team in the league, and you mouth off at your coach and get sent to the locker room? Weak in the head. Hordes of Rockets fans spending this whole game and every other game in here b****ing about the referees stealing the game from us? When the mistakes that cost us the game are our own damned fault? When the referees are in fact treating our guys with more fairness and respect than we had any right to expect on the Lakers' home court? Weak. You know what's hard? What's really hard? To take that nasty elbow from Fisher and not attack him. To take that arm to the face from Vujacich and bleed all over but never lose your cool. Don't you see the Lakers -- Odom, Vujacich, Walton, Fisher, and especially Kobe -- grinning and smirking, getting in our guys' faces, jawing and taunting? Don't you see what they want? They want us to lose it. They want us to be Artests when we need to be Battiers. Up and down the court, for 40 minutes and up, Battier endures Bryant's taunts and smirks. Bryant wants to goad him, break him, make him lash out. But Battier never gives him the pleasure, or the T, or the ejection. That moment where Artest gets in Kobe's face, and Kobe raises his hands and smiles and looks at the ref for intervention -- don't ever forget that. That's a strong man defeating a weak one. A smart man defeating a dumb one. A man with no conscience defeating a man with no self-control. Stop complaining. Stop fulminating. Stop retaliating. Just play the game. And if you don't even have to play the game -- if you're just a fan watching it like the rest of us -- stop expecting the referees to bail us out, when the game is ours to win.
Lakers definitely got in our heads tonight, especially after halftime. I know its a horrible cliche, but its more true tonight than ever. We beat ourselves tonight and Lakers now have the upper hand again. We're about to see what coach Adelman is made out of. He's gotta right the ship.
as always, Will, hell of a post.. and you're right on At the same time, there is a point where you need to let them know you won't take their crap anymore. Otherwise, we're the same "weak" team that we were in the past when we complained that (without Sura) we had no enforcer, no one to stand up for the team, no one to show that intensity. In that sense, I don't have a problem with Artest letting Kobe know that he wasn't gonna take it anymore--even given the free throw. But it should have settled there...and it didn't.
I have to respectfully disagree with you Will. I think Artest got the Tech because of his past. He tried to explain what had happened to the refs, who seemingly did not want to listen, and tee'd him up in the meanwhile. You should be able to explain yourself the way Ron was trying to in any game, I don't care if it was tonight's. He should not have approached Kobe. I agree with you there. That's what got him thrown out, and you can argue whether or not it should have gotten him thrown out. Personally, I think he should not have been Tech'd at first, which in turn, I think would not have caused him to approached Kobe. I appreciate Ron bringing Kobe's dirty play to the spotlight. It's a shame it will probably be all for naught and brushed under the rug.
Like I said in the other thread, I don't agree with Wafer, Artest, what they did, but players have emotions and everybody is different. If those emotions are channeled in the right way, they are positive, unfortunately, they were let out tonight in a wrong manner. Everybody is different.
Agreed. We arent going to win this series if we dont keep our cool. We have to stay focussed and execute the game plan or else we are done. Also, and I wanted to make a thread about this but it probably doesnt deserve its own, us fans need to stay classy. No matter what happens, we cant keep blaming it on the refs/bad mouthing other players and coaches. Don't stoop down to the level of the other fans. Be a Battier, so to speak.
Yes, but you enforce the way Bryant enforced. You hurt the other guy in the course of the game, in a scrum where it doesn't look bad. Then, when the other guy charges you and gets in your face, you raise your hands helplessly and look to the ref. Kobe is an evil man. But he's smart, and he played Ron. We should not be encouraging Ron to get played again.
That's a good point, but some peoples personalities are different. There is only so much you can take. Ron Artest knows he should have been Battier but he's not Battier, he's Ron Artest. He is who he is and I think he needed to send a message to Kobe no matter what the consequences.
I agree with the mentally weak part. Thank god T-Mac didn't play then because he's one of the most mentally weak player in the game today. We need to stop getting physical and chippy with these guys. The Adelman-Jackson rivalary continues.
Dude, you didn't really need a thread just to call Artest "weak", but... ok... You could have said this in 9 other threads already talking about how DIRTY Fisher and Kobe are. But, eh, I agree with you. Be strong. Play the game. FANS at game 3 and 5... every time they touch the ball: Boo Vujacic. Boo Fisher. Boo Kobe.
I agree 100% with this. Ron let their taunting and physicality affect him. I really admired Scola and Battier for not saying anything on numerous occasions on those taunting, that takes guts.
Agreed 100%. The Rockets can't obsess over Lakers antics and confrontation and refs... they didn't cause the team to lose the game. Excessive turnovers and other mistakes did (and Kobe having a good shooting night didn't help-- but the team could have won despite it if we controlled the turnovers and easy buckets). Ron losing his cool also contributed. He was the hottest hand on the court at that time... it was a bad decision to go after Kobe.
Wrong. Artest stood up for himself and his team. He isn't going to sit around and take that crap. It's about respect.
I've got Ron Artest's back on this. Kobe Bryant is a punk. It took something as dramatic as this to draw the league's attention to it. Ron has used his bully pulpit in post-game interviews to point out other instances of Kobe's dirty play this series. The fans know and now the referees can't ignore it. But more than that, it's a matter of respect. Ron had to let Kobe know that his fake toughness was not going to be tolerated any more. It sets the tone for the rest of the series. Now it's time for the Rockets to show the Fakers they're men and won't be pushed around by these prima donnas.
when the rockets use to not do anything and let people manhandle them....we called them soft now we have some bulldogs as chuck and kenny stated and we say they are weak minded.... that was a terrible call.....and a elbow to the throat.......not called mind you......micheal jordan, magic johnson, larry bird, zeke thomas, you name it....none of them would have stood there and took that..... so i respectfully beg to differ
Ron got played in a sense, but in another sense, Kobe got played by Ron. Kobe got Ron kicked out of the game, but Ron got Kobe put under a microscope for the rest of the series. If Kobe is not suspended for the next game ( I honestly don't think the NBA will suspend him), then you can bet the NBA will be watching Kobe closely, looking for something dirty. I think when you weight those out, Ron becomes the winner.
Wrong. Basketball is a mans game. If you don't stand up for yourself Kobe will eat you alive. your Thread is WEAK
Maybe I'm wrong, but my impression is that Ron got the T for getting in Kobe's face, and then he got the ejection when Crawford was trying to steer him away and Ron made that violent gesture across himself. Either way, the really important thing was that Fish had been thrown out, and the refs had obviously tightened all the foul-calling to regain control of the game, and the LAST thing Ron should have done at that point was invite the refs to even the score by throwing out a Rocket. That's just being stupid about the situation.
