I agree with this. I was just sitting there thinking, "how can this guy be this good?" Wasn't a whole lot Ron could do. But he can talk all the trash he wants. . .frankly the only thing that upset me was the 0-7, but what are you gonna do.
Nah, kobe takes it up a notch, he starts walking differently, as focus as he is when he's just being kobe, he takes it even further when he feels challenged personally or like someone is trying to embarass him. Like when Wafer , i think at the end of the second, dribbled up to him and acted like he was actually going to do something with the ball, Kobe stripped him and then just looked at him as if to say "please, you weren't going to do anything with that ball, especially on me"... Also, the difference is that the game was close. Anytime Kobe does things himself he pretty much always scores, so he takes his teammates out of it. In a blow out you dont and probably cant do it all yourself, so that's when pissing him off probably won't amount to much difference. However, if the game is already close and wining down, pissing him off pushes him to score himself and he usually does, so he can keep the team in the game much more easily because of the close score..
Artest played physical defense against Kobe like he does on everyone. In fact, he should have played a little more physical against him and maybe Kobe would not have had his legs in the 4th to make all those tough jumpers. This might be a silver lining (I'm reaching I know) but I noticed Kobe was trying to use his legs to back Ron up so he could get the ball in the high post. After a few times, Kobe seemed to give up as he was obviously out-muscled and it looked like he was a little fatigued to me. Where Lebron can go muscle to muscle with Ron for a game Kobe cannot. I think several straight games against Ron might wear Kobe down to the point where he is less effective deep in a playoff series...should this team be (un)fortunate enough to meet the Lakers.
Kobe stripped him and then just looked at him as if to say "please, you weren't going to do anything with that ball, especially on me"... I think kobe said plz Wafer sign with lakers next year. artest stop Fing up foo
"It wasn’t much of a battle," Bryant said. "I kicked his (…). We had some battles in the past, but he never talked trash. He never stopped all game until the end." Asked if Artest became caught up in a personal duel with Bryant, Rockets coach Rick Adelman said, "You probably could say that." Artest made 4 of 16 shots, taking half his shots from beyond the arc and missing all of them. He had six turnovers. "That’s how it’s going to be when we play each other," Artest said. "It was a good, competitive game. We weren’t friends out there, not friends out there at all. After the season, it might be something we talk about at a pickup game. "We were talking, definitely not friendly talk. It wasn’t harsh talk. It wasn’t friendly talk."
Pretty disturbing. Ron needs to own up to screwing up tonight. If not to the fans then to his team mates.
I disagree with this because with Lebron, since he isn't a good shooter, when Ron pounds him and keeps him out of the lane, he can slow him down. With Kobe, he wasn't going to be able to overpower Ron anyway. His strength is his shooting and Artest has no chance against him laterally out there. Battier is a much better matchup for Kobe while Artest is better for James.
It's true Kobe aren't ready for Artest. He can't do shyt when Artest is guarding him. Watch the tape and tell me how many pts Kobe scored with Artest guarding him one on one..i am not talking about bullshyt like pick n roll okay? Anybody can get open shot easily with pick n roll. Did you see Artest stripped Kobe as he's about to shoot in a one on one defense?? Kobe got the bragging right because he thinks he scored all those points (31pts) against Artest. Not true! And that one 3 pts he made when Artest is not even guarding him because Artest was diving for the ball trying to steal it.
Kobe is the best player in the league....Artest played him tough but that dude is a machine....I didn't mind Kobe knocking those jumpers down in Artest's face but when he gambled on that steal and Kobe hit that '3'...I was pissed off....He should have not tried that at that juncture of the game
...not really too much you can do. Artest didn't need to piss off Kobe to get him to step up his game. He always does that after he loses one of his players anyway - he takes his game up a notch to compensate. In this case it was Odom to suspension. Remember when he found out they lost Bynum for the season? He scored 61 the next game. Basically the stage was set for Kobe to really try and take it to the Rockets which he did. ...the real problem was Artest screwing up the flow of the Rocket's offense in his personal battle to match Kobe. If he had just played within the team offense and played Kobe really aggressively on the defensive end all night, the Rockets probably would have scored enough to beat the Lakers even with Kobe getting his points.
It appeared to me that Kobe was in fact trying to outmuscle Ron until he realized it was an exercise in futility later in the game. Unfortunately, Kobe is smart enough that in a series he would probably figure out that he has no business trying to do anything other than face Ron up BUT with the size of Bryant's ego I wouldn't be shocked if tried to go toe to toe with Ron physically just because it might make him feel more like Mike. I'm trying real hard here to be optimistic.
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Not like it is very hard to get Artest to do that anyway. But that is where Adelman needs to call a timeout and get in Ron's ass to get him back on track. But maybe the best way is to get to Ron is after the fact and show him the game tape.
Did you watch them play last year when he was with the Kings? Kobe Bryant had 16points in the 4th quarter alone against Ron Ron, totally took over the game and the Kings announcers said "Ron Artest cannot guard Kobe 1on1 he has to get help". Watch some games between the two before you say (bleep).
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kobe is a str8 up killa!! remember that dallas game he went for over 60 points after howard fouled him in the face?! best closer in the game right now.. he does it to every team.. no shame in that.. but damn too many missed shots and turnovers
