Are you kidding? Watching Artest in the finals was hilarious. He handle is so poor and every time he went on a fast break, his man always beat him to the rim. Maxwell would destroy Artest.
I forgot to mention that Vernon had defensive tenacity as good or better as what Artest has done in the 09-10 year.
If you want to compare clutchness, tinman.... 1995 Playoffs Rockets w/ Vernon Maxwell: won 0% of its games. And featured a quitter, which I'll refrain from speaking of. Rockets w/o Vernon Maxwell: won 71% of its games. And became the lowest seed to ever win a championship by running a gauntlet of 4 50-win teams. Agreed. Although I thought there would be more level-headed Rockets fans. Guess not.
On the surface, most people will say Artest is the better defender (because he's more well-known player with defensive accolades). Maxwell's biggest milestones on defense came against MJ, sometimes holding him below his season averages. Though, it should not be the only thing that stands out, because he has had some great performances against some other all-star caliber guards. He did have alot of matchups against Isiah Rider, Mitch Richmond, Clyde Drexler, and the forgotten Jeff Malone. I think Artest would have his hands full against MJ (in his prime) and even against the likes of Clyde Drexler, Penny Hardaway. Mitch Richmond, and Dominique Wilkins. Possibly, even lesser players, like Isiah Rider. He's not as svelte and quick or as athletic as Pippen. And doesn't have the same kind of patience and decision making (and general scouting) as Battier and Bowen. Alot of those guys could blow right past him, not look back. This is how old and almost broken down MJ did against a much younger, quicker and near peaking Artest: http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=jordami01&p2=artesro01 If old man MJ could do that against him, no wonder what a 2nd repeat or even mid 80s version of MJ would do that Artest. When it came to shooting, it was all Maxwell. Have you seen how many clutch shots that guy had? He even had 51 point break out. http://wapedia.mobi/en/Vernon_Maxwell
Maxwell is a criminal and a sad excuse for a human being but when it came to balling he was twice the player Ron ever was or will be.
there is hatred in your heart or i question you witnessed clutch city at all Guess who started Clutch City when down 0-2 in Phoenix? that would be Vernon. 94, the first Championship, never forget, never. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playo...nist=adande_ja&page=game7lakersceltics-100617 It was the secondary players who emerged with the high-efficiency games. The combustible Vernon Maxwell made 6-of-11 shots to get 21 points for the Rockets and Manu Ginobili went 8-of-13 and scored 23 for the Spurs.
not really, depends on what defense you want. Ron artest could play low post defense and play d on 2s,3s and 4s. Maxwell could guard 1s and 2s, he was truly a shooting guard. Maxwell d-ed up many stars in the league, reggie miller, drexler and michael jordan etc. http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1549/rudy_t_reflects_on_rockets/ On the Rockets vs. Bulls debate I finally got a chance to talk to Michael Jordan years [later] over at Barkley's house and he thought that the best matchup they would have had during that era was against us because of the way Max used to play him and how our big guys used to dominate their inside.
you neglect to mention that they added a hall-of-famer and one of the top 50 all-time. i think that probably has something to do with that 71% you referenced.
Vernon maxwell was a good player, but he wasn't what you would call an efficient or even a good scorer. He got hot once in a while.
It did in fact have something to do with it - but it also sort of detracts from Maxwell's value to the team. Looking back at the stats (note tinster cleverly using heart not head here...heh) it's kind of hard to figure out what Mad Max's contribution was aside from the occasional big scoring game, which were few and far between, especialy as the years went by. So then you have to argue he brought defense (he did, he was good at that) and intangibles and fire and heart and such.....but then the Rockets were able to subtract it in the playoffs while down a few games and vastly improve.
