Ron Artest was wondering out loud about what kind of numbers Dwyane Wade wound up with against Artest and the Lakers on Thursday night. So I offered Artest the box score I had in my hand.
He took it and studied it, and even though Wade’s season-high 14 assists stood out, that 9-for-21 shooting and those six turnovers weren’t too pretty. So it was odd that Artest ended up making a gruff, unhappy noise before dumping the box score inside his locker, smiling a little with some embarrassment.
Artest was actually dissatisfied to see that he had failed to get a single rebound in his 44:52 to playing time. That’s what prompted him to grunt in dismay.
LINK
Zero rebounds in 45 minutes.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Does that remind anyone else of a former Celtic center?
If not, let me help refresh:
For a player who started campaigning for more touches as far back as a Nov. 11 loss to San Antonio - the idea was that he wanted to go at Tim Duncan - Wednesday's loss to the Hawks was a low point on par with Blount's lost 2004-05 season.
He had more turnovers (five) and fouls (five) than rebounds (one). One night after scoring 21 points in Cleveland, Blount shot 3-of-7 for six points.
Though Blount envisions himself as a major option on a team that has Paul Pierce and Ricky Davis taking most of the shots, those six points in Atlanta have a lot more in common with Blount's personal history than the 21 in Cleveland.
Roughly two weeks ago, Doc Rivers was willing to write Blount's demands off to "Mark being Mark."
The Celtics coach wasn't as charitable Wednesday night. After all, this is Mark Blount, a 30-year-old journeyman, we're talking about.
"The next time someone asks for touches, tell him to go get a freaking rebound," Rivers said. "This is the time when you'll find out who are the guys with character on our team. The guys who are griping and crying to you guys are the ones who won't play when they don't produce."
11/25/05 BOSTON HERALD
4 comments:
Laker Nation is getting nervous, despite being 46-15.
Let's see what happens the rest of the way . . . for both teams.
I was reading a game thread and some Miami fans were talking about Artest flopping at the end of reg and being rewarded. I didn't see it so I can't say but I saw exactly that happen in the C's game and against the Nuggets. Seems like it's part of his repertoire now (and why not if the refs keep falling for it).
I also noticed last night when I checked the score at halftime that Bynum had 10 points but finished with 12. Not sure if it's by design (going to him early so Kobe's fresh in the second half) but this seems to happen frequently.
Going to Bynum early to try and establish somebody other than kobe as a scoring threat, and in case they need to go to him down the stretch.
There's a reason the raptors didn't trade bosh for bynum.
Yeah that flopping is a joke
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