Artest sets the tone

Basketball Betting Lines

06/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If you use the 20/20 vision that hindsight provides, it's pretty clear why the Los Angeles Lakers lost the 2008 NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics -- they got punched in the mouth.

The defensive-minded Celtics were simply far more physical than the Lakers back then and Doc Rivers went into that series with a simple game plan: beat up LA and make someone other than Kobe Bryant win the thing.

The '08 Lakers' frontline, minus the oft-injured Andrew Bynum, was manhandled by Kevin Garnett and Company, and Bryant was double- and triple-teamed every time he touched the ball with the intent of getting it out of his hands.

When Kobe eventually lost confidence in his teammates and put his head down to drive to the basket, he was met by two or three big bodies that weren't shy about handing out a lick or two. The result was Bryant taking contested shot after contested shot and finishing that set shooting just over 40 percent.

Ron Artest was watching.

The eccentric, often outspoken Artest was safely tucked away in Sacramento at the time and his signature grit and toughness wasn't a problem for the Celtics.

A quick trip to south Texas ensued for Artest, where he helped the Houston Rockets advance past the first round of the postseason for the first time in 11 seasons last year. He also happened to get ejected from both Games 2 and 3 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Lakers for tangling with Bryant and Pau Gasol.

LA went on to win a hard-fought seven-game series against the Rockets and eventually earned their 15th NBA championship. Artest clearly garnered the respect of the organization, however, and the Lakers signed him to a five- year deal worth $33 million with the assumption he would bring the same defensive mindset and intensity to Hollywood.

Whether warranted or not, Western Conference teams are considered more skilled but not as tough as their Eastern Counterparts. You can debate that but the Celtics certainly came into the 2010 NBA Finals with a certain cockiness, thinking they were the harder bunch.

That all changed 27 seconds into the Lakers 102-89 Game 1 win when Artest tangled arms with Boston's top offensive threat, Paul Pierce. Both players hit the hardwood simultaneously and were whistled for a double technical.

"That's not a tone that we want to set," Artest said. "We want to set a tone of basketball. At that point, 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."

A very mature and measured response from a player not known for holding back.

In reality, this time it was the Celtics getting smacked in the mouth and Artest was front and center throwing the punch, His physical play most definitely set the tone as the defending- champion Lakers matched Boston's highly-publicized defensive intensity from the first minute to the last.

"My role is to play aggressively and to play good team basketball and to play hard," Artest said. "You play hard, you are tough already."

Your move Boston.

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