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Shenanigans in Game 2 could embolden Rockets rest of series

May 7th, 2009
by John

All it takes is two words to describe Game 2 and the rest of the series: “It’s on.”

I was taking all kinds of notes Wednesday night during the game and was preparing for my standard post-game analysis, but after seeing how things went down, I’ve got to put those notes aside for a few minutes. I’ll write about the game itself further down the page.

Right now, it’s obvious what the storyline of Game 2 is. It’s not that the Rockets lost 111-98. It comes down to one thing: thuggery. Which is too bad, because before Game 1, you could at least respect the Lakers for being a good team that won games fair-and-square.

Maybe all that talk about not being ‘tough enough’ when they lost in the Finals to the Celtics last season had gotten into their heads after losing Game 1 against the Rockets. They were out to prove a point against a tough group of Rocket players that they were going to come out aggressive. In fact, too aggressive. Unfortunately for them, I think it’ll backfire.

First, let’s talk about the no-brainer call that the refs got right, to their credit. Derek Fisher throwing an elbow — and body — into Luis Scola was bush league. It was the right call to give him a “flagrant 2″ and eject him. You gotta love Scola for then stepping up to the line with everyone booing him and hitting the two technical FTs.

It’s just too bad that TNT analyst Doug Collins, who had the benefit of the replay in front of him, was actually complimenting and fawning over Fisher for being a “tough guy” in a good way! If there was ever a time an analyst had to be embarrassed for not even coming close to seeing what the refs saw — a premeditated act with intent to excessively harm another player — this was it. I like Collins, but I’ve heard other fans call into radio shows wondering why the guy is so biased for big name players. I now see what they mean.

Of course, the biggest episode was the REFS BLOWING THE CALL BY NOT CATCHING KOBE’S DIRTY ELBOW TO RON ARTEST‘S THROAT, INSTEAD CALLING A FOUL ON ARTEST, AND THEN EJECTING ARTEST AFTER HE CONFRONTED KOBE WHEN THE REFS WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE CHEAP SHOT!

I wish there was a better angle from the other side where you could actually see the full force of Bryant’s elbow hitting Artest’s windpipe.

I really believe this cheap shot deserves a suspension, especially if you take into account the other elbow and knee that he threw on Battier in Game 1…

…and then tried to rope him like a calf to take him to the slaughtering pen. Disturbing…

Don’t buy Bryant’s glossing over this with the B.S. line that this is simply “playoff basketball.” It’s called a cheap shot to gain an unfair advantage. Anyone who buys that line is a fool, and I’ve got some AIG stock to sell them.

If the refs or league execs had done the right thing after Game 1 and suspended Bryant for what would have been classified as assault and battery on a city street, then maybe it would have sent a message to Bryant that crap like that wasn’t going to be tolerated, no matter how big of a star he is. BUT NOOOO, STU JACKSON AND THE LEAGUE EXECS DID NOTHING AND HE DID IT AGAIN!

Now you’ve got the outcome of Game 2 marred because of what happened with Artest reacting, as he’s entitled, after HE is called for the foul instead of Bryant, then doing what Charles Barkley said after the game he thought Artest was entitled to do — go confront Bryant about it.

And it wasn’t the initial confrontation that got Artest ejected. It was poor judgment by a terrible official — Joey Crawford — to give Artest another technical that ejected him when he was a far enough distance away from Bryant, still jawing at him for telling him don’t ever do that again.

I’m sorry, but when you’re about to give a 2nd technical to a player, if he has separated himself from the initial dust-up, and he’s jawing at another player who just hit him in the throat, you don’t give him a second tech unless he’s having to be physically restrained to keep him from hitting or killing someone.

I think if you look at Bryant’s ‘body of work’ in this series, or should I say “ELBOW of work,” Bryant (and Fisher) should be sent a clear message that no matter how big of a star you are, how nice of a guy you may appear to be, or how many playoff games you’ve played, THEY SHOULD BOTH BE SUSPENDED FOR 1 GAME EACH.

I think these blows by Bryant will backfire. When he was lighting Houston up with all those jump shots early in the game (25 at the time of the elbow), I was thinking man, this guy is going to torch the Rockets the rest of the series and the Rockets are going to be in serious trouble.

But now, I think he has ignited a fire under the Rockets to send them into orbit. I liked how Kenny and Charles on TNT were saying that Houston has tough guys (or “pit bulls”), naming off Artest, Battier, Landry, Lowry, Hayes and Scola as examples. Hell, when the Rockets are getting Kenny & Charles’ respect, you’ve got to think they’ve reached the next level.

I agree the Rockets are tough. And I think Bryant has angered them, and Houston fans, such that Bryant will not only hear it at Toyota Center in Games 3 & 4, there will also be some old Evergreen, Colorado signs coming out of mothballs from the Red Rowdies to taunt him.

But I think the Rocket players are hopefully going to take it a step further: make sure when they foul him, they will be HARD FOULS that will throw him off his game. His trash-talking a couple of times during Game 2 to Battier saying, “You can’t guard me” will give them even a little more motivation to shut his trap up.

Ironically, the little dust-up between Von Wafer and Rick Adelman where Wafer was sent to the locker room after the 3rd quarter has been completely overshadowed by Fisher and Bryant’s bush league plays. I can bet you that Wafer and Adelman are going to be fine. Adelman will probably say on Thursday that he’s just a young player who is passionate about wanting to help his team win, it was in the heat of the moment, and Adelman did the right thing by telling Wafer to go to the locker room to chill.

There was a game played, too

Sure, Rockets fans were disappointed that Yao didn’t get more touches (3-of-4 FGs for 12 points). He got into foul trouble early, legit calls or not, which affected some of that.


Yao sat on the bench for about 14 minutes more than normal because of foul trouble, but was still active in cheering his teammates on. Click here for more photos from the game.

But the real problem was the Lakers applying a fronting defense like he encountered during the Portland series. Pau Gasol ended up fronting Yao many times, and it worked.

For some reason, Yao didn’t seem to be fighting all that hard to get open all the time in the paint. And where were the 22-foot jump shot opportunities like he had in Game 1 that he drained? It’s not that hard to get open for those.

Not that the defense was all that great, but Yao just doesn’t seem to be able to fight all that hard to get open, either down low in the paint, or even coming out to take 15-20 foot jumpers. And on top of that, he was congesting the lane and not spreading out the defense, such that Aaron Brooks couldn’t drive through open lanes to the bucket, which mitigated the success he had against the Lakers in Game 1.

If anything, if Yao can’t get open, the Rockets need to call plays for Brooks because we’ve seen what he can do when he blows by Fisher. After scoring 19 points on 7-of-14 shots in Game 1, Brooks only scored 15 on 5-of-15 shots, with some of those shots made in the fourth quarter after a victory was out of reach.

On the bright side, Artest had another good game before getting ejected. 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting. And Carl Landry was the Landry of old, scoring 16 points in the 2nd quarter, although he did miss 5 free throws in that quarter, and finishing with 21. But at least he may be back to his old form under the boards and around the basket, something we hadn’t really seen that much from him since the gunshot wound.

There’s so much more to this game I want to write about, but the Fisher-Kobe thing really got me going, it’s getting late, this post is getting long enough, and I’ve got plenty to say about Game 2 for my next post before Game 3. If you want to read some of what Yao had to say after the game, Raymond has transcribed it in the forum here.

Before signing off for now, I do need to end this post with the following thoughts (recommended if you’re a Kobe hater)…

I used to hate Bryant when he came into the league. I thought he tried to talk and be like Jordan too much. The tone of his voice, how he would never look an interviewer in the eye trying to look too cool,, and the way he moved his tongue around his mouth. He was a Jordan wannabe. Hated it.

Then that incident in Evergreen, Colorado happened and the drama around his trial really got him hated. He got off (no pun intended), and you had to think maybe whatever happened in that room was consensual after all. Still not very good to his image as a family man, but better than the ‘R’ word.

But he was tremendously embarrassed and his marriage almost fell apart in front of the whole world to witness. He then realized he had to work very hard to try to gain back some of his reputation, not only with his wife, but with the general public. And after all, endorsement dollars were at stake as some of his sponsors dropped him like a hot potato.

I was skeptical, and it took me awhile, but he eventually seemed to be humbled by all of it. Humiliation will tend to do that to even the toughest guys. He obviously got some personal coaching on how to rehabilitate his image: he stopped the nonsense in trying to act like Jordan, started looking interviewers in the eye, forced a smile on his face more often, and said all the right things (except for getting caught on that camera phone throwing Andrew Bynum under the bus a couple of years ago; and the drama saying he wanted to be traded, then denying it later). And when he scored 81 points, the second highest number of points in league history, he was pretty humble about it.

He did the some of the obligatory nice-guy things you’d expect to see, like befriend that little kid who went through Hurricane Katrina, and becoming that kid’s big buddy, which all looked great on camera at Kenny Smith’s charity game he threw together all within a few days to raise money for the Katrina victims. It looked a little contrived, but at least he was trying. And he carried himself well in Beijing on his way to helping the U.S. win a gold medal.

[I know I'm rambling here, but bear with me.]

So I finally thought, yeah, he may be a little phony, but he seemed to have become a better man in my mind after the Evergreen incident. I decided I was going to cut him a break.

HOWEVER, after seeing what I’ve seen the past 2 games: NO LONGER!

The dude has regressed in my mind as a person by showing when he gets irritated by Shane Battier or Ron Artest, who are playing solid and legal defense, he turns into a cut-throat thug, doing shit that he hopes the cameras won’t catch that could re-tarnish this image he has tried so hard to rebuild.

But the cameras don’t lie, Kobe. You’ve been busted for everyone to see the real you. Some of your apologists who have man-crushes on you like Doug Collins may say it’s you being a competitor. But they’re blinded by your act, or too forgetful, to remember what I described above.

Houston is watching you, and regardless of who wins this series, you’re going to wish you never brought it on. Here come the harder fouls. You’ve given your opponent even more reasons to want to beat you like a drum. Payback can be hell.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 4:39 am and is filed under 2009 NBA playoffs, vs. LA Lakers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Viewing 29 Comments

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    John-

    Great follow-up to the game. After game 2 took place I instantly thought to myself, "wow, it's been a while, but I should check the Yao site because I wonder how John's going to react to this game." Seeing by your "impartial" commentary of the events of the game I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was by your posting. But, come on, "Fisher and Bryant’s bush league plays". Really?!

    I know I'm a huge Laker fan and fundamentally we'll have our differences, but come on. =P I will admit though, that I lost a little respect of kobe after game 2, and somehow gained more respect towards Artest (who wouldn't be impressed by his soundbite about his friend getting stabbed in the back by a leg of a table when he lived in the hood. hahaha).

    At any rate, tonight's game/ "boxing round" should be interesting. I just hope the refs do not ruin the game by calling fouls after fouls and make this into a FT shooting competition. Because even I know if it's a FT competition, NO TEAM can compete with a team so good at the charity line that their 7'13" center is the one shooting their Technical Fouls.

    At any rate, hope all is well. Your long time TM friend
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    Hey Tim, great to hear from you. It was a long night and morning for me in Houston reporting on this one, but now I'm able to get back to you before I get some sleep.

    I think the consensus among all media and even Stu Jackson is that Fisher's play was bush league, thus deserving of a suspension. It was like he was a linebacker out there. For Bryant, it's a little more debatable since there really isn't great video of how hard he hit Artest in the throat and where, but that animated photo I have on YMM of Kobe elbowing Battier is enough to come to the conclusion that if he had the nerve to do that (which was bush league), along with kneeing Battier in the head, then popping a player in the neck with an elbow is reasonable to expect, too.

    I've been impressed with Artest's calmer demeanor in Houston. And he's also a sound bite machine.

    Anyway, good to hear from you. I can give the Lakers props for taking out Utah, the most hated team among Rocket fans, bar none.
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    Just like The lakers changed their lineup, the rockets should change theirs 2. Landry or hayes should start at the 4 position, depending what adelman would want, offense or defense, juss as i hoped, hayes is playing phenomenal out there and played great on gasol and bynum, even odom. But Scola isn't athletic or big enough to score inside, he blew an easy layup cause he thought gasol was going to block it, landry scored an amzing 15 or 16 pts in the 2nd quarter, i think adelman should start landry, would u agree?
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    I think both have strengths, it doesn't really matter who starts. Just
    go with who is playing best game-by-game.
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    exactly, thats why adelman should of yanked scola to start the 2nd half and played landry
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    I'm gonna admit it here, John. After Yao, my second most favorite player in the league has always been Kobe. I like basketball players only for their on-court performance, not their off-court and personal lives. I always knew Kobe was an asshole, but his performance on-court has been nothing short of spectacular.
    And the fact that he carried himself and represented his country very well last summer in Beijing (notice how he was always nice to the opponents, patting their backs after a good play), it really made me like him more.

    When the game started, Kobe showed why he's one of the top two players in the league by scoring at will. I could only hope he cools down because Shane was getting abused while doing everything he could to defend.

    Everything changed when I saw the elbow. It really disappointed me more than anything. Now I'm going to say, the elbow didn't look like it was going to the throat of Artest, but it was definitely a shot to the upper-chest. I hear reports on ESPN today that the league had a special angle from one the cameras from ESPN 360 to review the play from the baseline perspective, and it was definitely a shot to the chest, not the throat. I guess I'll take their words for it.

    Like you said, it's not about the elbow, it's about the intent. And there is no way that Kobe didn't mean anything malignant (as he said in the post game) on that play. I'm disappointed because Kobe with his skills and talent alone, is by far one of the greatest players this league has ever seen, but he had to resort to dirty play because of the physical defense. Sure Ron was pushing him down but he wasn't dirty. As a matter of fact, when was the last time you see Ron throwing an elbow? I'm glad the fans in China and all over the US are on the Ron's side on this one. And I do hope the Rockets start giving hard-fouls, just use other people to do it. You know why? Because the league will finally think everything started because Joey Crawford failed to contain the atmosphere of the game by issuing a T to Lamar Odom when he was jawing to Scola early in the game. One thing led to another, Odom and Walton finally got T'ed up, then Fisher delivers the blow that sent the game to another level and led to the wrongful ejection of Ron Artest. So when the series finally gets more physical and more suspensions are handed out, the league will finally realize that Joey Crawford sucks and fire him.

    Anyway, enough about that nonsense.

    Phil Jackson did a smart line-up change and put Gasol on Yao. That match-up had been effective all season for the Lakers, and Yao's foul trouble didn't help at all. That is a serious problem. Yao cannot guard Gasol at all. And the Lakers have two athletic forward-centers in Odom and Gasol. I'm really worried about seeing the same thing happening again.

    The positives was that Ron Artest continued his great game playing and Carl Landry stepping up huge. And also even with Yao only taking 4 shots, we still stayed there right with them. Only if Luis and Shane can step up in their offense, I believe we're okay.

    I watched Yao's postgame on NBA TV, one of the Chinese reporters asked him if this loss had dampened the team's spirit or gave them more motivation. Yao said, of course it gave us more motivation. He said the positives are that even though they were down huge, they did not back down and fought hard. He now has confidence in winning at home.

    I'm glad to hear Yao speaks with such confidence. I really hope he converts that confidence onto the court.

    Thanks again for the recap, John. Btw, you really need to figure out how to see people's replies to your tweets :).
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    Very well put.

    Regarding Tweet replies, I've learned how to see them. I was thinking
    before it was possible for your replies to show up on my stream. I've
    since learned that isn't supported. Instead, I have to click on '@
    Replies' to see them in my own view.
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    In the east coast and just saw the DVR of this game. What a game up until half time. Wish Rockets could keep the turnovers down! Once I saw the cheapshot Fisher hit on Scola I was pissed. That should have been at least a 2 game suspension. Fisher was looking back and then tried to take his head off. If Scola was a little shorter or didn't put his arms up, it could have really did some serious damage. And Crawford...it's always Crawford!!! If Artest was still in the game, anything could have happenned in terms of winning the game. I really want Rockets to beat the Lakers in this series soooo bad now. Yao needs to step up and get over the fronting already!
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    Hi John, thank you as always for great work. My concern is not the Rox won't fight back in this physical/dirty series - I know they will and I know Artest will come back with more control.

    I am only concerned that Yao will not be able to rid himself of quick bigs fronting/doubling him - that he will be taken out just like Portland did to him. When he goes to the bench the picture looks a lot more bleak. I wish I know how he could escape the defense but I don't - it seems mostly that he is a bit too winded to fight through the constant wrstling matches to get good position nowdays. Thx.
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    After witnessing all these elbowings and kneeings on Shane Battier and Ron Artest, and pumping knees with Yao sending him reeling on the floor with excruciating pains, wonder what the Chinese fans of Kobe would do in China. I have one suggestion, boycott his jersey and stop buying anything Lakers. This should send a clear message to Stern what 200 millions Chinese BB fans can do if and when you play dirty!
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    Well after his dirty plays in Game 1 and Game 2, Kobe Bryant surely lost a lot of respects and fans in China. In a public poll on sina.com yesterday after he elbowed Ron Artest and caused Ron to be ejected, more than 60% of the 90,000 voters that participated in the poll thought that Kobe is sinister, malign and cheap to play dirty, aimed to injure his opponents.

    He said it is playoff basketball, and it has to be physical. But personally think, he just confused physical with dirty. To play physical and to play dirty are 2 different concepts. Ron Ron plays physical. Kobe plays dirty.
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    That is a great idea!
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    Kobe Bryant is the child who did not win mvp. He is the little wannabe thug that after all his underhand tactics, puts on the fake smile and knows just what to say:

    “It was a good physical game. You know, it’s playoff basketball. Intensity is elevated a little bit because there is a lot at stake. I think it was just a good, physical game.”

    What a little bitch.


    Instead throwing his little pissy fit, trying to be cooler than he is, taunting Shane with "you can't guard me" after every lucky shot, gaining every little advantage through cheap shots in front of biased refs.

    The lakers are just afraid of getting embarrassed in front of their home crowd. What was disappointing was instead of playing basketball, they resorted to cheap shots and games. They even have Jack Nicholson off the side talking trash for them to Artest.

    When the lakers went on that run in the first period, there was a chain of ridiculously biased calls on Yao and everyone else.
    I know the NBA is a business and it is its self benefit to extend this series to a game 7 to maximize ticket sales and TV broadcast, but by giving questionable call after questionable call on Yao, they are pissing off a billion future consumers.
    A business is a business, so don't piss off your consumers.

    From Kobe stepping and elbowing Shane after Battier forced his turnover, to fisher's elbow takedown on Scola, Artest getting two T's and a personal foul for getting elbowed in his throat, this game two showed NBA fans and the League what kind of players the Lakers are.

    Like John said, this will bring out the fire of Houston for the rest of the series and the Lakers will get their asses beat.
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    Very good comments. Thanks, Jeff.
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    I couldn't believe I was watching basketball, I thought it was WWE I was watching. Because it felt like the game was rigged by officials, and the Lakers were better at throwing elbows, knees and acting than they do playing basketball. Tons of BS call happned that stopped Rocket's momentum ie. artest's 3 pointer downgraded to 2 and his ejection, Landry's should've gotten many and 1 calls beneath the basket, Lowry's charging call that took 3 points away from Rockets, not to mention all the non call on gasol and vujacic and bryant. I just read on espn that league office is looking into the game replays. Ron did the right thing by confronting Kobe, had he not done so, Kobe probably would just get away with the thug play, like how he got away with it in game 1 killing battier.
    Seeing how Rockets kept fighting despite the BS calls, despite the dirty plays, despite the fact Lakers shot lights out. I think the Rockets will steamroll the lakers at home before heading to LA 3-1. Lakers exposed alot of their weakness in the two games against the Rockets, they're very slow at adjusting on the court (both players and coaches), half time saved Lakers' ass last night, Rockets had everything going. Lakers is also bad at playing against adversity, they'll punch you in the face, but not defending at the same time, if you can take it and punch back, they wouldn't know what to do, when big leads dissapear or when they're playing from behind, all the triangle, fluid offense bullshit dissapear. one more thing, I can understand how big atheletic guys with D like Oden, Aldridge, Pryz can front Yao, but Gasol??? Yao needs to take that as an insult and kill him. wow I'm pumped
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    Shawn, pumped is an understatement! Not just Artest, but Yao needs to take it personal Friday night. How can he be able to dominate Oden and not Gasol is a mystery to me. Oden is far more aggressive then Gasol on the defensive end. You know what it just shows how the league wants to control outcomes and the destiny of teams and players. I am sick to my stomach when I see that. David Stern got credit for grooming the league when he first got to the NBA with players like Jordan, Ewing, Olajuwon shouldering the load. But it is so obvious that he is not only the commissioner of the NBA, but he's the mafia kingpin of the league. He chooses who he wants as the NBA's next biggest stars, he chooses who he wants to be crowned as the champion year in a year out. Don't be a fool and be fooled that these fouls, and suspensions throughout these years are handled by Stu Jackson. Jackson is just the muppet who was handed down the orders from Stern. Instructions that would create more cashflow and fame to the league, and consequently to Stern himself. And that means, give the stars he wants to groom and the contending teams he wants to be at the winners circle the benefit of the doubt. Look what happened to Van Gundy when he was the Rockets coach, when he not only criticized the refs and the league, but almost uncovered the real reeling and dealings of this organized crime runned league. And what did Van Gundy get for that? An unprecidented fine and threatened to be banished from the league. This guy Stern should be investigated and be asked to be trialed by Congress because this type of business he is running is no better then point shaving, and game fixing like organized crime but he is the crime and he runs a Mafia. The fearest league by far is probably MLB where the pitchers pitch, and batters bat. It is no coincidence that you see teams like the Tampa Rays, the Detroit Tigers of the world reach the world series. I'd say we start a petition and have the referees, not just in the NBA, but in all of sports to be governed and runned by the government. John can you please spread the word!! i know this is hot stuff but someones gotta say it!
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    rockets all the way. got to say i agree with everything your guys said here. wish Yao was a little more tough be more aggressiveness!!!. rockets all the way!!! btw love your posting john, thanks for yours perspective...
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    I didn't watch the second half cause it was getting way too late in the east coast. But If what I saw in the highlights and what you say are true, then yea I just hate it when the refs have to bail out the supposed contenders time after time again. Besides Kobe, there is no one in that time that can beat us. But now that our sufficating defense is frustrating Kobe & Company, the sneaky get sneakier. Regardless of the outcome of this series, I'm still proud of these Rockets already. Our group puts it out full force, 100% effort every night. We have a clan of fighters. Finally, we get the respect of Barkley. I knew Kenny Smith always admired his former Rockets, but he's finally out of the closet on that full force now too. I truly think that if we beat the Lakers, we can beat Denver and we can take on Lebron and Company. But no no, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. I'm gonna savor this moment, where we're gonna slowly roast and tough, and grind out these Lakers. We need James White out there for a couple of minutes Friday night to send Kobe a message. Knock him to the floor hard and White would be suspended, but well worth it. Gasol is overrated. Once you bring the toughness to him like Garnett did last year and Chuck Hayes is doing now, he'll fade away. I can't wait for game 3!!
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    Kobe has a history for throwing ellbows etc. and making it look un-intentional. He got suspended once for it several years ago, remember?

    My respect for Kobe has gone. Before the playoff seedings were clear, I even hoped that Kobe will get a ring ahead of LeBron. But now, I just hope the Rockets will kick their butts.

    If you follow some boards, you will see that almost all non-Laker fans are with the Rockets. As John said, we are the beloved underdog of the nation.

    Go Rockets.
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    Yao really needs to fight harder for positions. I think mentally he just gives up a bit when he sees a fronting defense. He just stands there and gets an arm out, he needs to move without the ball and keeps the defender guessing.

    And you are so right about the outside jumpshots. It's UNFORGIVABLE that he took only 4 shots, no matter how many fouls he had.

    Btw, your AIG line was somewhat funny if not for the fact that that stock has shot up almost ten folds for this year. It's up to the 2 dollars range now and I'm kicking myself for not buying them when they were in the pennies...
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    The entire Faker team showed they had no class whatsoever last night. Their entire team embarrassed themselves when things got desperate and they could not put the Rockets away at the half. All the Faker players showed their true selves last night trying to claw their way to a win PLUS having Joey Crawford (the Anti-Rocket) protect the Golden Boy of the NBA, by allowing him to take cheap shots without ramifications. Throughout all this, the Rockets remained calmed and kept their dignity and composure, and were not sucked in to the dirty tactics the Fakers had to employ to to try so desperately to get a win, preventing them a 0-2 disaster at Staples. I applaud Ron for what he did, he expected a Technical for standing up to Kobe, but due to his history they ejected him immediately to try and "balance" out Fisher's ejection.
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    Great job, John.

    It's proved what I said earlier, Kobe is one of those "little" people. Cheap & dirty. He does not have the gut to act like a man. Now add the Fisher to the list. I can't believe it took only two games to change my perspective of those two completely. "A thug is always a thug, and the son of a thug is always a thug." When pressure is on, you see what a real person is. You can treat a thug like a gentleman. I think Phil Jackson knows better, remember what he said about him years ago? "the kid is not coachable." Who bother, just do him. No more hand in his face, there will fingers, prefer middle, in his eyes. No more whacking on the ball, there will be hummer on his wrist. Do what Charles Oakley used to do on defense.

    BTW, agree with you, Smith & Barkley finally think before opening their mouth. That's a good thing. I like Collins in general, but disappointed for what he said last night about Kobe. He's on TV & talking about a "Super-Thug". what can you say?

    Back to the game, Guards, especially Yao need to do better & smarter. We have nothing to lose. Win or lose, Rockets are already on top in this series.

    Sometimes, I wonder, why not create two leagues for professional baseball? One is a clean, the other is whatever you want to use league? Build a one-way street from the clean to the other. More jobs will be created, Everyone will be happy. Your favorite player will always play. If you think chicken shit can give you an extra home run, take it, but play at the next door. I'll be very disappointed if NBA does not do anything about this. Well, I've been disappointed before.

    Rockets, play hard and smart. Unleash the dog.
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    Good job.
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    First let me say that I'm a big Yao fan, a big Rockets fan, and a big fan of your site. I haven't had this much fun watching basketball in a long, looooong time.

    That said, I don't think the Kobe elbow was as clear-cut as you say it was. Fisher's hit on Scola was a cheap shot - I don't think even Lakers fans can deny that - but I don't think Kobe's elbow was malicious. From what I could tell from the replays, Ron was indeed shoving him pretty hard, fighting for position, and Kobe fought back, trying to get his arm hooked above Ron's for leverage. Yeah, he did it with too much aggression, and yeah, he "threw" the elbow (and thus should've been at least called for the foul), but when you've got Ron Artest smothering you like that you'd be frustrated too. What I'm trying to say is that it was in the heat of the play, and I really don't think Kobe wanted to hurt Ron. I could be wrong - and I hate Kobe too - but I at least give him the benefit of the doubt.

    Anyway, let's take care of home court. It's the only way we're gonna win this...
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    I think an elbow of any kind above the shoulders is very serious and deserves suspension (as even Fisher would say later) because the smallest bump can cause lots of damage. Natasha Richardson died with just an innocent bump of the head.
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    I personally didn't think the Elbow itself was such a big deal, but to eject Artest for talking in such an important and close game??? That was outrageous.
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    kobe bryant should be suspended, period. Joey crawford should never officiate an NBA game ever again.
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    joey crawford think he is can do whatever he wanted... when he ejected artest.. he keep waving his hand.. telling artest to go go go.. he think he is god...

    fuck joey crawford....
 
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