Image by jeffbalke via FlickrFor two months, Ron Artest kept his emotions inside. All the ups, all the downs. The good games, the bad games and his missed 3-pointers.He kept the joys, the frustrations and expectations of a rigorous playoff run bottled up tightly, refusing for even one second to think about winning an NBA championship.
But the pressure eventually got to him and less than six hours before taking the court for Game 7 on Thursday, he cried.
"Right after shoot around today, I got teary," Artest said hours after the champagne had dried on his first NBA title. "I started to think about everything that could happen and how much it would mean."
That is, for his fellow Lakers.
Also for himself.
Artest had chased an NBA title for 11 years on many teams but none that had gotten this close. Then last summer, he listened to childhood friend Lamar Odom, who convinced him he could win in Los Angeles if he signed with the Lakers. This was the moment Artest had been aiming at for months, even years.
So with the championship trophy within his grasp, Artest wasn't going to let it get away that easily. So the Lakers' most unpredictable player quashed his emotions and grabbed what he could, leaving his fingerprints all over the Lakers' 83-79 victory against the Celtics.
He scored 12 points in the first half – all in the second quarter – to keep the team within striking distance while the big three (Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum) struggled with their shots and own emotions.
"I had to crash on guys," said Artest, who finished with 20 points. "No matter how hard they were playing, I knew I had to be much more physical out there and start attacking."
Artest said he realized he needed to back down and allow Bryant and Gasol to get into the offense.
"I didn't want to do too much," he said. "I had to stay on cruise control, even though I wanted it so badly I was going to shoot all 3-pointers. But I had to wait and let everybody else catch up."
While his teammates worked themselves into the game, Artest continue to be aggressive on both ends of the court.
He converted a three-point play to tie the game at 61 with 7:28 left to play and essentially put the game away when he buried a 3-pointer to put the Lakers ahead, 79-73, with less than a minute remaining. He also picked up five steals and frustrated Paul Pierce, who finished with 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
When it was over, Artest scampered aimlessly around the court, seemingly unsure how to act at that moment.
"It was unreal," he said. "All I could think was 'Wow, I had an impact on the championship game.' I couldn't believe it, you know what I mean?"
http://www.ocregister.com/sports/-254096--.html
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