Did anyone else see as George was dribbling out the clock at the very end of the game -- Artest came right over to him and swiped "at the ball" and then kinda half-threw an elbow at him?
After Hill and Kobe got in their little tiff I noticed both the Odom bump on Hill and the Artest encounter at the end of the game. I wonder if LA will try to make Hill a "marked man" and go at/harass him more if the teams see each other? Maybe it was just those two guys trying to show Kobe they have his back? It'll sure be interesting to see what transpires between these two teams, especially involving Hill, as the year progresses.
Artest being Artest. they just being butthurt cause they got their asses handed.
Don't think anything will come out of it unless Spurs start spanking that ass in LA, then Fakers will act even more butthurt and dirty.
Problem is, the Lakers cannot bully teams. They are not a tough team. Yeah Artest is tough but got the brains of a young chihuahua. Everyone else is soft as tissue. They can try but they will look ridiculous.
Honestly, I see that the more frustrated they were making Hill, the better D he was playing. It was a I'm pissed off and it's making me focus with Hill, more of an I'm pissed off because nothing is working frustration from LA. I like it.
I caught that
But Artest apologized immediatly
Hill is taking on Manu's at ude. Knock him down and you now have his undivided attention. I actually laugh when someone tries to intimidate Manu or Hill. It just gets them going.
lol at Hill pwning Shannon Brown with those back 2 back strips.
I know some of you aren't going to like hearing it, but Artest isn't a dirty player. Never has been. He's damned strong, and when he runs into you... well, you know you've been run into. There are times when you don't want a guy to get to the rim, and you have to foul him - but you want to make sure not to give up an and-1. When Artest does it, it can look like a train wreck. But I don't ever remember seeing him take an intentional cheap shot. And there are a lot of times where he makes a real effort to wrap the other guy up and make sure he doesn't go to the floor hard. He's a crazy bas , but he's a baller.
In Hill's rookie season, he got in Marcus Camby's head on a couple of plays in a row. Camby got frustrated, gave him a shove, and tried to intimidate him. Hill didn't back down an inch. And it was clear Hill wasn't just acting - he didn't give a damn that it was Camby or anybody else. He wasn't going to be the one getting intimidated.
The funny part was that Tim was standing just behind Hill, with his head tilted downward and glaring at Camby with a kind of Exorcist stare. It's one of my favorite memories from all the basketball I've watched. Timmy had the rookie's back. He didn't know Hill well enough then to know that he didn't need any backup. Camby looked like he had kicked a hornet's nest.
"But I don't ever remember seeing him take an intentional cheap shot."
In 2003? a Detroit player was running the baseline, and Artest, defending somebody else, raised to elbow to cheap-short the Det player in the adam's apple.
Going into the stands to beat a fan isn't a cheap shot?
At Indiana, his craziness was about at its peak.
Artest apologized about that, just as he apologized to Blair and helped him up after a semi-hard foul on the break.
One thing I like about this Spurs team going forward is how tough a few of the key players are.
George Hill is fearless and has obviously shown that he won't lay off just because he's guarding a superstar. A lot of defenders are afraid of making Kobe Bryant upset with them. Hill doesn't give a fck.
Richard Jefferson doesn't back down from anyone. When Fisher had his seniors moment after that layup and went up to RJ, Jefferson went right back at him. Usually when Fisher pulls his tough guy act, other players shy away from a confrontation and look to the refs.
DeJuan Blair is Biggie Smalls and he'll bowl over you without even noticing. He's not intimidated of any physical presence.
Manu will take it to opponents but somehow never crosses the line of coming back at them if they do something to him. I don't know how he plays with so much intensity and never gets drawn into a confrontation but he doesn't.
In recent years, the only other player I remember being a true hardass on the Spurs is Bruce Bowen. Bowen was dirty as and pulled out all the stops although I don't think he tried his BS jump under the jump shooters ankles with Kobe.
I think the new integration of toughness really helps this team. Duncan's laissez faire, let's just be friends, ways bother me sometimes. Robinson was the same way. It's good to have a handful of combative players who are just as fierce as opponents.
I saw that they dapsed each other right after but it seemed like a "this isn't going to escalate for now" daps rather than that they were actually OK with each other or that what Artest did was an accident. If you watch the very end, once the clock is running out he makes a beeline for Hill and deliberately gives him a little shot.
Maybe part of it was to keep George from taking a late shot there at a long three to run up the score but I think it was more of a message to Hill of "We'll remember you when we play again."
I said he's a crazy bas . I don't know about the elbow. But running into the stands? There was a guy in our neighborhood growing up. Strong as an ox, and dumb as a ing post. And he would do anything for one of his buddies. Anything. He wound up helping some guys try to rob a convenience store. No way in he would have done anything like that on his own.
Artest was just following his teammates' lead, and showing them he had their back. Stupid? Yeah. Crazy? yeah. But I don't think he's a dirty player.
You watch how often he grabs an opposing player to make sure he doesn't take a hard fall. He's not trying to hurt people. I don't particularly like him, but he's got game, and he's much stronger than a lot of people know.
I'd like to see LA spend time focusing on GH3 and take their eyes off Tony, Manu, or RJ lol.
THIS. PAU being the twinky of the crew.
They haven't shown it yet this year, but LA does have the potential to be a very tough team. I didn't think they were until I saw Game 7 of last year's finals, but as someone I read described that game, it was a complete and utter rock fight and LA stood up to the challenge and won that game (albeit without Perkins on the floor) because they got tough rebounds. They CAN be tough. They haven't played that way yet.
The whole game was chippy. At the end, someone (Splitter?) set a screen on Blake and he banged his ear. He reeled for a second and looked pissed. A second screen came a minute later and Blake tried to bull through him. The whole season is going to be like that, I think.
Those 25 free throws in the last 20 minutes of the game had NOTHING to do with the lakers winning....it was their toughness....ummm...ok.
I'm with you on this one. I think he just plays that old-school D where he actually looks for some contact and bodies up his man. He does get pretty physical though and occasionally gives some pretty tough fouls. But, I wouldn't complain if he were playing for us.
I agree with you, but I dont think Bowen is dirty. But, to each his own.
He grew up in the hood and he was dealing with his demons back then. He seems like hes worked at trying to get his temper under wraps. He just takes the game that serious. If you were his teammate, youd want him to have your back.
How about Derek Fisher pointing at Tony at the beginning of the game? Looked like a clear challenge. Talk about a fail.
I would have loved to have the Artest of 2003/2004, without the daemons, but he really hasn't been that defensive/offensive level since going into the stands.
He's probably heavily drugged now, which is all drug-trafficking shrinks do these days.
No way! Can you give me an approx time frame?
Fraud Jr. (Kome being Ms. Fraud) hasn't had a legit moment in his NBA career.
Did you see lil Bitty charge into Parker and flop and expect the defensive foul on Parker? Fisher is nothing without rigged reffing.
Bynum was punking your asses in his limited minutes. Consider yourselves lucky he's only 70% at this point.
2-8 from the free throw line is not even close to "punking." However, 6'6'' or so DeJuan Blair sure punked Bynum, Gasol, and Odom's asses to 17 points and 15 rebounds.
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