Lakers forward Ron Artest is shaky on offense
Ron Artest had the ball on one side of the basketball court, a look of confusion on his face, his teammates looking at him, all of them looking frozen.
Artest deliberately began to dribble the basketball, his 6-7, 260-pound body pounding the ball from one side of the court all the way to the other side, almost 10 seconds passing with Artest still dribbling, the play resembling no part of the triangle offense.
It was, as Lakers Coach Phil Jackson described it, “one of the more unusual sequences,” a play that defined the kind of uneven performance the Lakers received from Artest in Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics on Sunday at Staples Center.
His defense against Paul Pierce again was stupendous, but it was Artest’s offense and decision-making that was so sporadic in the Lakers’ 103-94 loss to the Celtics that evened the series at 1-1.
The mind-boggling play ended with Artest jacking up a wild 21-foot jumper from the corner near the Celtics bench with two players closing in on him, the Lakers down, 98-90, with 56.9 seconds left.
When Artest was asked to explain what happened on that play, he was his typical evasive self.
“I don’t necessarily know what happened,” Artest said. “We probably were trying to get into something. Something probably wasn’t there and then trying to find something else. Something else probably wasn’t there and you keep the ball alive and see what you can do.”
Artest missed nine of his 10 shots, five of six three-pointers. He missed five of his eight free throws.
He finished with just six points.
“You just go out there and play basketball, but sometimes it just don’t go your way,” Artest said.
Artest had three turnovers, one coming at a key moment in the game.
Pau Gasol had posted up on the left block. Artest had the ball on the wing. Instead of getting the ball inside, Artest threw a bad pass, the ball going out of bounds with 2:59 left and the Lakers trailing, 91-90.
During the timeout, Jackson ripped into Artest.
“Ron played one of those flip-flop games tonight, a little bit different,” Jackson said. “Defensively, Paul Pierce is two for 11 [10 points] and Ron is one for 10. It wasn’t the best battle out there. But obviously Paul’s team won, and that’s the difference.”
Artest fouled out with 47.1 seconds left after trying to chase down Rajon Rondo.
“I think I could have played better,” Artest said. “So, I’ll definitely play better the next game, as far as just helping the team more. That’s why I always like to move on to the next game.”
The next game is Game 3 Tuesday night in Boston, as is Game 4 (Thursday night) and Game 5 (Sunday night).
“That’s all that matters is Game 3,” Artest said. “We ain’t thinking about Game 4 or Game 5. That’s too far ahead. Those games will be there. We’ve got a challenge. We didn’t win the challenge today, so we have to make sure we win the next challenge.”
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