Ron Artest story

[RsxPiimp]

"2008 after the Lakers devastating loss in game 6 to the Boston Celtics, Ron Artest came in our locker and walked in the shower with Kobe Bryant. Kobe's there taking a shower - and this is a locker room the coaches have, it's off limits - so, Ron said, 'Coach, I can help your team, I can get that championship for the Lakers.' I said, 'Well, thanks Ron, that's very nice, I appreciate your sympathies. We'll see what happens as you go through this year.' Then, he walked out of that coaches' area, and in to the shower and told Kobe the same thing.

Kobe said that after the Lakers lost game six of the '08 NBA Finals in Boston by 39 points, he was alone in the shower, just fuming. He heard somebody walk in and assumed it was one of his teammates, or maybe a staff member. Instead, he looked up, and it was Ron Artest (to this day, Kobe has no idea how Artest got into the locker room).


"I want to come help you," Artest said. "If I can, I'm going to find a way to come to LA and give you the help you need to win a le."

I dont think a lot of people have picked up on that story yet. Artest not only delivered his promise with so much at stake, he also did it in a dramatic fashion against the team that beat the Lakers in 2008.



This is such a great story and a testament to the respect and bond that goes between Kobe and Artest, much more to Ron's character(IIRC, Artest took less with the Lakers, Lebron and Shaq recruited Artest to come to Cleveland, and despite the minor scuffle between him and Kobe, he still signed with the Lakers) This is such a feel good stroy for Ron Artest. He has been unfairly judged since the Detroit-Indiana brawl, he has been dubbed as one of the worst personality in the league by the media waiting to dissect him for his next wrong move. Ron had his fair share of ups and downs but after Game 5, it seemed like Artest reached another low point of his career. He cant' get over his slump. He was aweful offensively. He can't finish, can't hit an open jumper and missing crucial free throws. Coming into yesterday's game, Im sure everyone is counting on Kobe to have another magnficient game, if not him then at least Gasol except both didnt. So, enter Ron Artest...with huge odds against him, and so much at stake, Ron fulfilled a very unlikely role... the role that normally belongs to Pau Gasol or Kobe Bryant, and that is to be the teams savior. Artest hustled, he earned his points and he hit the biggest shot that sealed the win for the Lakers. He persevered and carried Kobe and the Lakers's legacy at its biggest stage. The best thing? He fullfiled his promise.



Respect. Artest gets it.

[Killakobe81]

"2008 after the Lakers devastating loss in game 6 to the Boston Celtics, Ron Artest came in our locker and walked in the shower with Kobe Bryant. Kobe's there taking a shower - and this is a locker room the coaches have, it's off limits - so, Ron said, 'Coach, I can help your team, I can get that championship for the Lakers.' I said, 'Well, thanks Ron, that's very nice, I appreciate your sympathies. We'll see what happens as you go through this year.' Then, he walked out of that coaches' area, and in to the shower and told Kobe the same thing.

Kobe said that after the Lakers lost game six of the '08 NBA Finals in Boston by 39 points, he was alone in the shower, just fuming. He heard somebody walk in and assumed it was one of his teammates, or maybe a staff member. Instead, he looked up, and it was Ron Artest (to this day, Kobe has no idea how Artest got into the locker room).


"I want to come help you," Artest said. "If I can, I'm going to find a way to come to LA and give you the help you need to win a le."

I dont think a lot of people have picked up on that story yet. Artest not only delivered his promise with so much at stake, he also did it in a dramatic fashion against the team that beat the Lakers in 2008.



This is such a great story and a testament to the respect and bond that goes between Kobe and Artest, much more to Ron's character(IIRC, Artest took less with the Lakers, Lebron and Shaq recruited Artest to come to Cleveland, and despite the minor scuffle between him and Kobe, he still signed with the Lakers) This is such a feel good stroy for Ron Artest. He has been unfairly judged since the Detroit-Indiana brawl, he has been dubbed as one of the worst personality in the league by the media waiting to dissect him for his next wrong move. Ron had his fair share of ups and downs but after Game 5, it seemed like Artest reached another low point of his career. He cant' get over his slump. He was aweful offensively. He can't finish, can't hit an open jumper and missing crucial free throws. Coming into yesterday's game, Im sure everyone is counting on Kobe to have another magnficient game, if not him then at least Gasol except both didnt. So, enter Ron Artest...with huge odds against him, and so much at stake, Ron fulfilled a very unlikely role... the role that normally belongs to Pau Gasol or Kobe Bryant, and that is to be the teams savior. Artest hustled, he earned his points and he hit the biggest shot that sealed the win for the Lakers. He persevered and carried Kobe and the Lakers's legacy at its biggest stage. The best thing? He fullfiled his promise.



Respect. Artest gets it.

no doubt about it. Kobe, pau and the fans owe him BIG time great job Mitch

Major props Artest!!!

[Giuseppe]

Yep, yep.

[dickface]

didn't need it to be certain, but this story obviously confirms Artest is gay for Kobe.

[Giuseppe]

And Ron didn't remain the subserviant little brother to Kobe as some had asserted and snickered at. Ron broke away and found his place in the sun, but, he took Kobe with him, and Kobe learned to not only lead when demanded, but, to follow when required.

[spursfan1000]

Artest loves kobe, is this new?

[N4th4n]

And Ron didn't remain the subserviant little brother to Kobe as some had asserted and snickered at. Ron broke away and found his place in the sun, but, he took Kobe with him, and Kobe learned to not only lead when demanded, but, to follow when required.

Kobe didn't learn .

[monosylab1k]

Kobe didn't learn .

Kobe learned that if he's going to the bed in a Game 7, make sure assbags like Smush Parker and Kwame Brown aren't on the court with him.

[Giuseppe]

Kobe didn't learn .

[Giuseppe]

Kobe learned that if he's going to the bed in a Game 7, make sure assbags like Smush Parker and Kwame Brown aren't on the court with him.

[Ghazi]

Crucify em Cubby, eviscerate their asses unto the tree of woe.

[cobbler]

Kobe learned that if he's going to the bed in a Game 7, make sure assbags like Smush Parker and Kwame Brown aren't on the court with him.

Shouldn't you be out working for the 10 grand you owe me?

[Giuseppe]

Crucify em Cubby, eviscerate their asses unto the tree of woe.

I'm all mellowed out, Ghazi. Like I left my best work in the sheets. I'm mentally drained, right down to the nubs.

[monosylab1k]

Shouldn't you be out working for the 10 grand you owe me?

crofl you didn't read my post properly. Give me your address and I'll give you exactly what I said I would.

[Lawrence_Taylor]

Great post OP!


Artest kept LA's le dreams alive with his first half all around performance, then helped seal the deal in the second half.

Big Baby put it best in a interview after game 7.

Q: What impact did Ron Artest have tonight?
Davis: Artest was the difference in the game. He wanted it. He took it from us..

[Chieflion]

LOL Fake Spurs fan.

[Indazone]

Well damn...Dinoboy came through when it counted. I was ready to tear my eyes out last year when Artest was with the Rockets. Watching him jack up 3 ptr after 3 ptr...some nights on and some nights just awful.

[duncan228]

Ron Artest Answers Critics, Finds Redemption After Game 7 Performance
By Sam Amick

There was a man redeemed screaming that he could no longer be questioned.

And it wasn't Kevin Garnett.

It was his turn in 2008, when the Boston forward who had never won a le announced his championship arrival to the world on television with that very question after his Celtics downed the Lakers in the NBA Finals. It was Daniel Artest this time, the brother of the league's former Public Enemy, Ron Artest, speaking for him over and over as he yelled that question to anyone who would listen on the Staples Center floor Thursday night.

"What can they say now?!" Daniel yelled between hugs with his family members and Kobe Bryant's father, Joe. "What can they say now?!"

Ron-Ron saved Kobe Bryant again, saved the Lakers again. He steered clear of the Bill Buckner route in their 93-89 Game 7 win and pulled off one of the most astounding reputation rectifications in league history.

They can always say that he made colossal mistakes -- the most obvious, the 2004 brawl in Auburn Hills that derailed Indiana's les hopes and sent his career careening -- but even he has been saying that for years now. He admitted that much again during a postgame press conference that more than lived up to his zany ways, saying how he feels "like a coward" in the presence of former Pacers players and executives because of what he did.

But no one, perhaps not even Artest, saw his path leading from coward to champion. Not in Sacramento, where he was jettisoned in the post-brawl fallout. Not in Houston, where he and the Rockets challenged the Lakers in last season's playoffs but few, if any, saw them ever enjoying a scene like this.

His kids did snow angels on the Staples Center floor, with purple and gold confetti subs uted for the white stuff after his family group of nine had to sneak past security to join the most ebullient Laker. They stayed with him in the locker room, where he stood with his arm around his wife, Kimsha, drenched in champagne.

"I wish I could scream louder," he yelled with a voice that was nearly gone.

He had made plenty of noise already.

Above all else, it was his 20 points, five steals and one dominating defensive performance against Paul Pierce that kept. The Celtics' small forward had obliterated Artest and the Lakers' defense for a potent 27 points in Sunday's Game 5 in Boston. Bryant was out of rhythm almost all night, tallying 23 points on 6-of-24 shooting with four turnovers.

But Artest kept the Black Mamba's legacy from being snake-bit. His furious final stretch started near the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter, when Pierce drove past him in the lane and Artest palmed his seemingly open floater from behind and forced a turnover.

Pau Gasol muscled his double-clutch layup through three Celtics for a 76-70 Lakers lead, only to see it cut to three with 1:23 left when Bryant's closeout on Rasheed Wallace beyond the arc didn't come quickly enough.

Then came Artest's sweet irony, a pass from the double-teamed Bryant up top to Artest on the right wing, a chance at the sort of three-pointer Lakers coach Phil Jackson had always begged him not to take. He quickly, confidently, jab-stepped right, putting Pierce on his heels for just a blink, then rose up and buried the shot that pushed the lead to six and made up for his 1-for-6 three-point shooting to that point.

He would discuss the significance of that play afterward, (video below) after the Wheaties moment and the inclusion of nine family members and announcement that he couldn't wait to get to the club. He remembered how Bryant was questioned for his one-man show approach in Game 5, then chronicled how that threat to this le run was so quickly fixed.

Yet, as is so often the case with Artest, the hidden gems he occasionally shares were lost in the hilarity of his persona (which included his repeated thanks to his sports psychologist for helping him stay focused in the most crucial of moments).

"What you saw in Boston (was that) Kobe wanted to win," Artest said. "People were saying, 'Kobe's not passing' -- blah, blah. But Kobe wanted to win and he didn't know if he could win, probably, with us playing at that time.

"(In Game 7) you saw a determined Kobe Bryant, Black Mamba, two-four, who wanted to win, but it wasn't with the team."

At least, Artest explained, not until the end.

"Late in the second half he started to move the ball and attack and pass and still was Kobe Bryant," he continued. "He trusted us and he made us feel so good. He made us feel so good, and he passed me the ball. He never passes me the ball."

Having cajoled the stoic media members on hand to liven up a bit at the start of his dynamic diatribe, Artest at that point sparked widespread laughter.

"Kobe passed me the ball and I shot a three, and Phil didn't want me to shoot the three," Artest said in exasperation. "I could hear him. And he's the Zen Master so speak to you and you don't need a microphone. You can hear him in your head, 'Don't shoot. Don't shoot.' I said, 'Whatever, pow, three, woo!"

The offense was always an added bonus with Artest and this Lakers group. Yet with every unsure three or bout with over-dribbling, he had made fans and some media wonder how he should be judged if defense was his specialty again.

But Artest -- whose putback of Bryant's airball at the buzzer in Game 5 against Phoenix in the Western Conference finals changed the course of that series -- quieted anyone who thought the Lakers were better off with Trevor Ariza in his place.
That was the crux of Daniel's point, as he spent much of the season engaging Twitter battles in which he vehemently argued why his brother was a better fit for the Lakers.

What can they say now?

"Honestly, he won the game for us tonight," said the one and only Flea, resident spokesman for the Laker Nation and the bassist for the band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, who watched Artest's press conference from eight rows back with lead singer Anthony Kiedis. "I'm so happy for him. Hollywood, Schmollywood. He's a dynamic, exciting dude and I love him."

[j.dizzle]

Couldnt be happier for any other player on the team, this dude was straight up high on life last night & will probably be all summer hahaha..He might of taken a pay cut but he'll make that money back and some with the opportunities he'll get now. He stole the show, most of the reporters were around Ron in the locker room & he was lighting up the room with his one liners.