NBA subjects

[Guest alfdogg]

Subject 1: Ron Artest (subtitle: Stu Jackson chugs the nut butter)

 

Now being from Indiana and a Pacer fan, this will be a little biased, but I don't care. I want to talk about the three incidents with Artest this season.

 

Incident one: Fined $10,000 for shoving Raja Bell of Dallas

 

If you watch the replay, you can CLEARLY see Bell elbow Artest in the throat when Ron was on his way to the ground. Both men were ejected, but Bell received no fine, despite being THE INSTIGATOR.

 

Incodent two: Suspended three games for smashing a TV camera

 

The fucking shitface cameraman deserved it. As Artest returned from the court, the Knick cameraman remarked to him, "tough loss I guess, huh?" in a real smart-ass tone. Ron went easy on him, if I was in his position, I may have taken the cameraman with me. There should have been a fine, but a suspension was unwarrented, IMO.

 

Incident three: Suspended four games for a bunch of shit in Miami

 

Caron Butler bumps Artest, no T called. I'll get that out of the way first. Artest knocked Butler to the floor late in the game, and was called for a flagrant foul, and rightly so. But then I watch NBA fastbreak the next night, and the assholes are on there saying Artest was intentionally trying to hurt Butler. What about Vladmir Stepania grabbing Al Harrington's surgically-repaired leg and tripping him ON THE VERY NEXT PLAY? No flagrant there, nope. As far as the incident with the bench goes, the game was in no position for Artest to taunt the bench, but then again, Keith Askins is a COACH, and should be mature enough to ignore Artest and not start shit. No T called on Askins. The brush on Riley was ACCIDENTAL, and Riley shoves him with...wait for it...no T called. Jerry Sloan did the same thing to a referee and got 7 games for fuck's sake! Artest should have got, IMO, a game and a fine, for flipping the bird to the fans. Four is fucking ridiculous.

 

My conclusion:

Rasheed Wallace is watching himself better, so the NBA is obviously trying to create a new whipping boy for the upper office, and they've picked Artest. It's the only way those morons can justify not putting Artest on the All-Stars, instead adding Ilgauskas as a third center. And it pisses me off...we have the best record in the Eastern Conference, the best Home record in the league, and could be makin a 180 turn playoff wise...8th seed to 1st seed...yet the only time we can get any fucking recognition is when something like this happens. We would have beat Washington (we still should have but didnt due to shoddy officiating down the stretch of the second OT), and we would have beat San Antonio, had we had Artest. No way in hell Stephen Jackson is going for whatever he had on Artest. They've already cost us two games this year...the league clearly does not want the Pacers in the finals, because our market isn't as big as, say, the 76ers or the Celtics or the Pistons. You can go back to the royal shaftjob against the Knicks in 99 and Larry Johnson's phantom 4-point playas proof of that theory. Taking away our best defensive player, and perhaps the leauge's best defensive player, for an absurd amount of games will help their wants. 2000 didn't matter, because everyone knew what was going down then. Rik Smits wasn't stopping Shaq, especially with the shape his feet were in. Same with Lakers/Kings last year, and the absolutely horrendous game 6 officiating. LA has the big market, and that's what they want in the finals.

 

OK, now that that rant's over:

 

Subject two: All-Star Jerseys (subtitle: OMG Thr0wb4ck5~~!111!!1!!1!11!

 

If any of you were watching the Mavs and T-wolves last night, you saw the All-star jerseys for this year...throwbacks to the 1988 All-Star game (where Jordan went for 40 and was named MVP). They had the Home white for McGrady, and the away red for Tim Duncan. I like this, they should have their own uniforms, I think it's better than wearing their team's jerseys.

 

Discuss.

[Guest Redhawk]

Like you I'm a Pacers fan, so maybe I'm biased, but I also think Artest is getting picked on. I agree that Riley should have been fined/suspended, and I DEFINITELY think Ron got dicked on the All-Star game.

 

However, guys like Artest and Rasheed Wallace get picked on because they get themselves in those situations. Just like Dennis Rodman. Look at it like this: If you are a repeat criminal, the cops in your town start keeping an eye on you more than if you have no record. And when you even LOOK like you're doing something fishy, they're going to eyeball you even harder. My cousin used to sell drugs and get in a lot of trouble in his neighborhood, to the point where when he moved away, the police told him, "Whenever we see you in Tacoma again we're going to stop you just on GP (general principle)." And whenever he goes back there, they pull him over. That's just how it is. If you were a teacher, you always keep an eye on the kid who establishes himself as the "bad kid."

 

Also, I think the seperate All-Star jerseys are cooler than everyone wearing their own jerseys. My favorites were the blue and white ones from the 1992 game (the one where Magic came back and got MVP). However, those baby blue/teal ones they had in San Antonio one time were ugly.

[Guest alfdogg]

Oh I understand your logic Redhawk, I was just pointing out that in all three incidents, Artest was not the instigator, and thus maybe his penalites should not have been as severe as they were.

 

And I almost forgot about this one:

 

Subject 3: Tr4d3 rum0rz~1!!11!

 

A trade rumor has been dropped a couple times in my local papers that would bring GP~! to my Pacers in exchange for Jamaal Tinsley and Austin Croshere.

 

Alf's thoughts: Jamaal Tinsley is improving, but makes careless passes way too often. He has said he won't change his game for nobody, which is respectable, but at the same time costly, as his making playground-like passes in the closing seconds have cost us a couple games already this year. He will be great in the future, and should improve his assist to TO ratio. I think the Payton trade would have little difference stat-wise, because Payton wouldn't have to do nearly as much for the Pacers as he usually does for the Sonics. it could also disrupt the team chemistry a bit, which would not be good. Could you imagine Payton and Artest on the same team?

 

As for Austin Croshere, I'm all for trading him. He is making a ludicrous amount of money for as little as Isiah plays him, especially considering that both Millers AND Jermaine O'Neal are in the last year of their contract.

 

So I'm kind of tore.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Ever think that they might be picking on Artest because he's black?...

[Guest bravesfan]

EDIT: Bah. Rose would've been selected before Artest as an Eastern Conference backup, in my opinion.

[Guest ant_7000]

As a fan of Artest (Bulls fan), I mean he doesn't really take his anger out on nobody most of the time, its mostly he takes it out on himself.

[Gert T 0]

Well, I am by no means a Riley fan, but I do not think he did anything wrong in that situation, Artest did go over to Riley's bench. My only question is that NBA's 4 game suspension can only be for the two incidences with Riley and the gesture, because if you get mandatory suspensions for X number for flagrants, actions against Butler should not be included. I would say Artest deserved 2 games, 4 seems a little excessive.