For all the ish you all give Ron, he sure played his heart out while he was here. His shot selection wasn't the best, but what do you expect when Tracy went out and Yao was in foul trouble? AB wasn't the player he is now.... I don't want to rehash it all, but c'mon, Ron did a nice job as a Rocket. There's a whipping boy for some of you every season.
So if his shot selection was because you didnt have any to pass to ball in the rockets, why he keeps shooting like that, now with the lakers when he was kobe, odom, gasol. . Ron did a nice job with the rockets in the defensive side and played with hustle, but why he keeps shooting from the 3pt line if he misses a lot.
i come down to go to 1 game a year and last year that game was the utah one in late dec. she-mac decided he was not going to play that night b/c his vagina hurt too much and artest, who was not going to play due to a sprained ankle, suited up w/ the team. we were on our way to a loss until ron-ron single-handedly took it upon himself to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in double ot. he was an absolute beast under the basket. it was an awesome display of manliness against our most hated rival and i shall never forget! thank you ron-ron! http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=281227010 With Artest on the attack, Rockets beat depleted Jazz HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets acquired Ron Artest to win games like this. Artest scored 10 of his 28 points in the second overtime and the Rockets recovered from blowing a 16-point lead in the second half to beat the Utah Jazz 120-115 on Saturday night. Yao Ming had 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who led 59-43 early in the third quarter, then went 3-for-18 from the field in the fourth to fuel Utah's comeback. Artest went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the second overtime to help the Rockets beat Utah in their first meeting since the Jazz eliminated Houston in the first round of last year's playoffs. "I should have been attacking all night instead of waiting for double overtime," Artest said. "Better late than never." Ronnie Brewer scored 23 and Deron Williams had 14 points and 11 assists for the Jazz, who played without their top three scorers and rebounders -- Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Paul Millsap -- for the second straight game. Utah finished with a season-high 35 assists and nearly pulled off the rally because of its defense in the fourth quarter. "We came back in the second half, but couldn't finish the game," said Andrei Kirilenko, who scored 20. "Our defense was good and forced Houston to shoot more jump shots in the second half." Artest has been playing through a sprained right ankle and been listed as "day to day" for weeks. The ankle was throbbing again on Saturday, and Artest even told his wife that he was sitting out the game. But the Rockets were missing Tracy McGrady, sidelined again with a sore left knee, and Artest decided to play. "I thought it would be smart if I took this game off, but Mac didn't play," Artest said. "You think about the team, you think about winning and how you can help. That's what leads to, 'I'm playing.' " Good thing for Houston he did. The game was tied at 96 at the end of the regulation, and at 101 after the first overtime. Artest went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the first minute of the second extra period to give the Rockets a 105-101 lead. On Houston's next trip, Luis Scola cut inside for a layup, was fouled by Kyrylo Fesenko and finished the three-point play to put Houston up 108-102. Kyle Korver sank a 3-pointer before Artest scored in the lane to put the Rockets up 110-105. The Jazz got no closer than five after that, and the crowd started chanting Artest's name before he made two free throws with 1:14 left to stretch the Rockets' lead to 114-107. "That's what we brought him to this team to do," said point guard Rafer Alston, "to help close out games and to really be himself. Tonight, he was Ron." The Jazz are dealing with their own injury issues -- Boozer has been out since Nov. 21 with a strained left quad, Okur has missed three straight games with back spasms and Millsap sat out the second straight game with a sprained left knee. With Utah's top three big men sidelined, Yao and the Rockets dominated inside. They hit 12 of 19 shots and outrebounded the Jazz 13-6 in the first quarter to lead 34-24. Houston led 52-39 when Williams drove down the lane, collided with Yao and lost the ball. No foul was called, but Williams landed awkwardly and limped to the other end, apparently favoring his left knee. Sloan called a timeout, but Williams stayed in the game. Houston outrebounded Utah 26-12 in the first half and led 56-43 at the break. The Jazz did have one amazing statistic in the first half -- 17 assists on all 17 field goals. Kirilenko scored on a tip-in a minute into the second half to end the streak of assists. The Rockets led 80-70 after three quarters and Brewer scored two baskets in the first 50 seconds of the fourth to trim the deficit to six. Brent Barry and Artest sank 3-pointers over the next minute to put the Rockets up 86-74. Houston then missed its next 10 shots over the next seven minutes and Utah cut the lead to 89-86 on Brewer's fast-break layup with 3:39 remaining. "Some mental lapses and we had a couple of bad possessions [in the fourth quarter]," Alston said. "We allowed them to get into a rhythm and get some offensive rebounds and second-chance points." Williams tied the game at 96-all on a drive with 12.8 seconds left and Artest missed a 3-point try off the front rim to force overtime. Game notes Yao has 17 double-doubles this season. ... The Rockets' first-quarter point total was a season high. ... Utah had won four of its last five games at the Toyota Center, including last year's playoffs. ... The Rockets have won seven straight home games.
finally, they've reached the Artest bricking point! Mwuahahahaha... now we see who came out better in the Ariza/Artest swap!!!!! :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:
Last time I saw something like that from a Rocket was from Barkley when Hakeem and Drexler were out. He played hobbled and did everything he possibly could. Still lost though. Good memory. I appreciated Ron that night like never before.
