Love that the article painted Kobe as the douchebag he is. Hate that it portrayed Artest as some ticking time bomb, with the imagery of him holding a table leg waiting to stab someone in the heart with it. Artest is a tough guy with a tough background, but he's not some psychotic lunatic.
god now the entire media is against kobe and we all know that can only motivate kobe. goodness. i still remember the season during his rape case and he hit a ton of game winners that season.
I guess Morey will be forced to sign Ron this summer because he is just so valuable in such situations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c2ja6Ntf14&feature=related As yall can see, Kobe Bryant is no fighter...with his fists. With scoring baskets and playing great basketball, he could shut up a lot of people, but he insists on being something he's not...a tough, dirty fighter. The guy can't beat up Chris Childs while throwing chick punches and he got whooped by Reggie Miller. Now lets look at Artest... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2nwdgTqhgM&feature=related The dude would break Kobe's jaw if Kobe were to fight him. It wouldn't be close. When Kobe had Shaq to protect him, teams weren't looking to fight him, but who's gonna protect him now, Fisher? Odom, Gasol?? I think Kobe is barking up the wrong tree here...for his own safety, he should just stick to playing basketball. Even Tmac, who some consider soft, has much more fight in him than Kobe... He took on Kenyon Martin, the one guy who might be as crazy as Artest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg_FMhh7N1Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMxw9rSnfGE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O21Nw3UxbE0&feature=related http://video.yahoo.com/watch/627601/2959644 http://www.dailymotion.com/tag/NBA/video/x71les_tracy-mcgrady-shoves-bill-walker-10_sport?from=rss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh2CdxbLqKI If you ask me...I think even Tmac would whoop Kobe in a fight. Kobe, although a great basketball player, is a cheap shooting, wanna be fighter. Artest simply won't have any of that!
He isn't physically capable of sustaining that level of play anymore. At least, I hope he isn't. I think because the Lakers are winning and the fact he has been in our living rooms constantly for the last 3 years with the NBA regular season, post season and Olympics without a major injury his decline has gone somewhat unnoticed. I've only seen Bill Simmons actually come out and say Kobe can no longer do what Lebron and Wade can. He can no longer carry a team for extended periods of time. He doesn't go to the rim much anymore either because he can't. He's a scorer who is turning into a jump-shooter in front of our eyes and I love it.
Let's just hope Ron doesn't make it "me against Kobe". That could be disastrous for the team's performance tonight. We can't have Ron be a ballstopper tonight.
I agree 110%. Who else saw Charles and Kenny talking about how they would love to play with Ron Ron on their team? He's a hard working defensive player and I hope Kobe tries to do something again, cause this time he'll be taken to Ben Taub with a shattered face
he's ALWAYS been a jumpshooter. that's the misconception people don't get (the same people who praise kobe for his aggressiveness and laugh at tracy when he doesn't go to the rim more). look at his shooting history and about 75% of his shots from his mid-20s till now are JUMPSHOTS. the thing is -> he's THE BEST midrange jumpshooter in the game (and contested shots too). he's not athletic as he once was, but his midrange jumper has gone to ANOTHER LEVEL. there's a reason he's taking all jumpers this playoffs and he's shooting a WHOPPING 48% from the field. wade turned into a jumpshooter this postseason and he shot around 43-44%. so he can still carry a team. he has toned it down b/c his team has become so good. but game 2, he basically carried them the ENTIRE game v. a great defense of ours. so trust me, i wouldn't want to give him anymore motivation to beat us. now the ENTIRE national media is against the lakers and kobe. trust me, kobe loves nothing more than that. the lakers were lackadaisacal before when the media was on their nuts and think of them as gods. now they're the "evil empire" and i'm sure they're relishing that role.
I agree he is still a deadly player but I don't buy that he can beat the Rockets alone shooting 20 foot jumpers. He might do it once or twice in a series but not four times. Here are his free throw attempts per game average over the last 4 years: 05-06: 10.2 06-07: 10.0 07-08: 9.0 08-09: 6.9 Dude is in serious decline and can't get to the rim like he used to. Keep shooting those jumpers, Kobe. If he can keep scoring 40 on 50%+ shooting then his team deserves to win the series.
well great players can do that. but u also have to understand his shot attempts have declined drastically (27 in 05-06 to 20 this year b/c his team is more talented so he doesn't have to attack that much). but the team is looking to challenge kobe: win this if you can. it could work b/c he's obviously not lebron james (though he is better than wade).
Good point on the shot attempts. Let's hope I'm right and you're wrong. I think the guy uses up too much energy to get bad (well, bad for most players) shots. I'm betting he can't keep up the pace he had in game 2 long enough to win this series.
Great article and I am so happy to see that Artests fan base is increasingly dramatically whiles Kobes plummets. HAHA
i do agree the shots he has taken throughout these entire playoffs have been jordanesque as they are ridiculous shot attempts. those are BAD shots for 99% of the players in this league. but remember kobe shooting 5-24 v. utah and he simply said, "i take those shots all the time. i just gotta make them." i do agree our chances of winning are greater if it's simply kobe/gasol and not the rest of the team. when their entire team is involved, they can be scary. so yes, i hope i'm wrong too.
WOW the media is backing us up for ONCE. Maybe david stern will have to think twice about hyping this match up lol <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8_g4OPlPvwU=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8_g4OPlPvwU=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> i mean this commercial came true last year. Gee i wonder how that happen <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qP62iTvjSa4&=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qP62iTvjSa4&=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
