EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – The Lakers will face the Mavericks in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal without Ron Artest. He was suspended by the league for one game Thursday for his flagrant foul on Jose Barea with 24.4 seconds to play in the Lakers’ Game 2 loss Wednesday night. The Lakers weren’t surprised by the penalty. They knew after the game that Artest would face some sort of discipline for the frustration foul that came with the game already decided. It’s yet another blow for the Lakers, who are stuck in a 2-0 hole in this best-of-seven series as it shifts to Dallas for Games 3 (Friday) and 4 (Sunday). “Ron started 82 games for us in the regular season and all the playoff games, so it definitely will affect us,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “We have to be careful what we do on the court and the decisions that we make,” Lamar Odom said. “And [yes], his presence will be missed.” Artest spoke briefly after the Lakers’ practice here Thursday but talked only of “moving forward” — words he repeated as many as eight times during two and half minute question and answer session with the assembled media. “[I have] No reaction [to the suspension],” he said. “Just ready to move forward and play basketball. Just want to move on. Got a big game tomorrow … I don’t know what’s more important than Game 3?” When asked who would replace Artest in the starting lineup Jackson wouldn’t give up the goods. “I’ll kind of hold that. Although we do have to put one into the league. You’ll know that tomorrow,” Jackson said. Artest insisted it does not matter. “It’s not about what we’re gonna miss,” he said. “It’s about what we’re gonna do.” Jackson has options. Odom, the NBA’s Sixth Man Award winner and a friend of Artest’s since childhood, is available, as are Matt Barnes and veteran forward Luke Walton, who has not played a second during these playoffs. “I think about him every day,” Jackson said when asked specifically about Walton. Whatever Jackson chooses to do, the Lakers said they have to handle their business better than they have thus far. Kobe Bryant said the Lakers have to do without Artest “the same thing we had to do with him. Defend and rebound the ball.” The approach, he said, is simple. “Just play the next game,” Bryant said. “It’s not that big of a deal to win two games in a row.” His message as a team leader is equally simple. “Yeah. Stop acting like we’ve never won two games in a row before,” he said. “It’s silly.” As for those commenting on the current state of the Lakers, including Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who was extremely critical of Andrew Bynum for venting his frustrations to the media after Game 2, Bryant didn’t mince his words. “What the hell do I care? It means nothing, whether he said it or not,” he said. “It doesn’t really mean a damn thing. We’ve just got to win a game.” http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/05/05/artest-lakers-ready-to-move-on/?ls=iref:nbahpt1
Let's just say that what Artest did was nothing compared to what Kobe did to Okafor the last series. :grin:
ive become a fan of artest last couple of seasons...(really since he left houston and we quit watching his bricks) but i feel bad for him...wish phil just took him out of the game...poor guy was just pissed! does deserve the suspension for his actions though...you could tell right when he did it he felt stupid, because he put his hand on bareas head like hey you ok?
Lakers will play better with Odom getting more minutes. still don't know if they can pull of a W though.
For being the "zen master", he sure can't keep his guys from lashing out with these kinds of frustration fouls. Kobe, Fisher, Ariza, Bynum, Artest all pull this crap.
phil hasn't decided who will take his spot, he said it will be a game time decision. barnes could be the man, he held dirk to 4-13 or something like that last time he guarded him
Artest seems to have a low tolerance of anger. Really stupid thing to do during the last possession of the game. Deserved suspension imo. For some reason I think if Odom started for him, they'd do better.
Nah, this was orchestrated, just like the Fisher foul against Scola. It was pretty obvious from Phil's comments prior to the ruling that he encouraged the suspension (as normally he brushes off these kinds of "playoff fouls"). Artest is playing like shyte but Phil doesn't have balls to bench him, so this is the best thing. I bet the speech before the hit was like "sweep the leg... you have a problem with that? No sensei".
I read that Kobe will move to SF and Shannon Brown will be at SG. I think Artest is a good person, but sometimes he snaps and does something totally a-hole-ish. He deserved the suspension. It may even help the team to focus better. I hope not.
I just read something that said Odom will start. If that is the case, I wonder if Pau will come off the bench. The demotion might give him a spark. PJ doesn't play Bynum/Pau/Odom together very often. https://twitter.com/#!/SpearsNBAYahoo
Artest displayed the typical Laker arrogance that they had back when we played them in the 2009 playoffs. When the other team has the upper hand they start acting like b****es and busting out with dirty hoe moves. Tru warrior is a tru douche. I don't buy the media BS story about him turning his life around. He donated some chump change to charity, big deal, tax write off for him.
While I won't contest your first paragraph, I think I disagree with your second. Ron has done more than one thing to demonstrate that's he's trying to be a better person. People make mistakes, backslide and repeat bad behaviors, most especially under pressure....he just happened to make a bad one that night. I'd imagine a suspension of a second round playoff game is a fitting penalty for him, one that smarts quite a bit.
Chump change? Oh, I didn't realize that the NBA CHAMPIONSHIP RING auctioned off for charity was chump change. What does that make the $10 in my pocket?