Lakers’ Ron Artest is still staying in tune
Turn up the Perry Como. Listen to a little Glenn Miller.
Oddly enough, or not at all when considering the protagonist, Lakers forward and occasional rapper Ron Artest was fired up by 1940s swing music going into Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Something certainly worked for Artest, who continued his recent hot hand by scoring 15 points and making three of five three-point attempts in the Lakers’ 102-89 victory Thursday over the Boston Celtics.
Maybe it was the more mellow music. Or the karma that came with spending $18,000 on two courtside tickets and giving them away to a fan in a Thursday morning radio promotion.
Or even an after-hours visit to the Lakers’ training complex. He rolled into the El Segundo facility at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday and left after 2 a.m., happy with the way his shot was falling.
“You need rest, but right now there’s really no sense in me holding anything back,” he said.
He didn’t outscore his assignment, Paul Pierce, who had 24 points on six-for-13 shooting, but Artest became the face of the Lakers’ defense in the fourth quarter, blocking Glen Davis’ layup attempt on a play that turned into an easy dunk for Pau Gasol at the other end.
The Celtics called timeout. Kobe Bryant rushed out to meet Artest and hugged him.
Artest and Pierce have a history of on-court animosity, so it wasn’t surprising that they waited all of 27 seconds before their first scrap.
Artest was boxing out Pierce under the basket when the two tumbled to the court. Pierce briefly grabbed Artest, who then jumped up and moved forcefully toward Pierce before being restrained. Both players picked up technical fouls.
“That’s not the tone we want to set,” Artest said. “I was a little emotional and I had a little bit of anxiety at that point, and I was fired up. I would still rather set the tone with basketball.”
Naughty, naughty
NBA officials asked the Lakers’ coaching staff to stop offering players $50 incentives to take charges because it circumvented the salary cap.
“It’s against our rules,” NBA Commissioner David Stern said Thursday.
In reality, the incentives were a reallocation of a season-long “fine pool” that Lakers coaches collected from players for being late to practices or games, among other misdeeds.
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said he would come up with a different way to reward players.
“I told them I’d give them a gold star or a red star,” he said dryly.
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