Here are some excerpts of Johnny Ludden's columns, Yahoo Sports expert that show his deep bias against Ron Artest. After a subpar performance in Game 2, Ludden then writes: "Jackson attributed Artest’s bizarre antics at the end of the game to Artest trying to “redeem himself,” perhaps for a forced pass he had thrown away earlier. This speaks to Artest’s hero complex and why he’s prone to follow one mistake with two or three more. He always wants to impress. His success from the preceding three games only stirred his urges. This is also why the Lakers will try to convince Artest his defense on Pierce can be contribution enough." The problem with this analysis is that the author thinks Artest is like Ben Wallace or Dennis Rodman, great defensive players with little to none offensive game. There is no factual basis whatsoever for the inference that the LAKERS WILL TRY TO CONVINCE ARTEST HIS DEFENSE ON PIERCE CAN BE CONTRIBUTION ENOUGH. Likewise, the statement that Artest has a hero complex is pure hyperbole, the author focused on an isolated play when the game clock was running down and he put up a hurried shot under duress. in about three of the four games the lakers won vs. Boston , Artest had a good offensive night , the only night the Lakers won where artest didn't have a good offensive game was game 3 when fisher made his late game heroics. Then after the game 6 blowout, this is what the same author had to say: "Back at home, back among the beautiful people, these were the Los Angeles Lakers everyone had waited to see. Kobe Bryant(notes) knifed into the heart of the Boston Celtics’ defense. Andrew Bynum(notes) threw back a Kevin Garnett(notes) shot. Jordan Farmar(notes) went to the floor to bat the ball into Bryant’s hands. Ron Artest(notes) even made a few shots, and, yes, this was as good as good gets. " A few shots? Ron artest scored crucial points in building up the lead in the first quarter and was instrumental in them retaining the lead. Again the author's insistence on equating Artest with the Ben Wallace and Dennis Rodman type players. If the Lakers were going to beat the Celtics they were going to need both Artest's defense and his offense because the Celtics are that good. As a former rocket, it is nice to see Ron Artest deliver in the clutch much like he did in propelling us through the first round against portland.
the team shot 32.5 percent so he shot well above the team average. And there was the clutch three he delivered within the last two minutes of the game. If you watched the game , they needed every bucket Artest gave them.
