KingKong
Starter
Having Saved Kings, Artest Calls out Spurs
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Apr 21, 2006, 16:22
Ron Artest is on trial in this series. Not that there are any real consequences for him. The trial is going on in the minds of each of us. Whatever the final verdict reads, thanks to Artest the Sacramento Kings can compete with, and beat, the Spurs in this opening round NBA Playoff series. No knock on the defending champs – its just that they could be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
At issue: does Ron truly back his own bluster or will he forget his words under duress? Artest was very accommodating and engaging with me just before the season at Kenny Smith’s Katrina Benefit game in Houston. He affirmed to me flat out, when the subject of the NBA Finals came up, that the Pacers were going to win it all. Yet in only a couple of months, he wanted out from Rick Carlisle’s offense.
So if San Antonio can come up with a couple of persuading wins, will the former Defensive Player of the Year (2004) retreat from his confident position that Sacramento is winning at least one series this Spring? Or instead will the Spurs lose some focus as the Kings reprise a Bad Boys style? Brad Miller and Artest resemble Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman closely enough to inspire one of NBA Entertainments’ “second-coming” vignettes.
The Pistons of Laimbeer and Rodman knew exactly how to get under the skin of an opponent and its crowd. They knew how to bend the rules and take advantage of it, winning 10 series in a row from 1989 to 1991, including over Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, KC Jones, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson. In still other series, the Bad Boys at least pushed the famous teams of these guys to exasperation, forcing the established powers to reaffirm their greatness in long and scary series, and goading the Bulls to championship level.
So Spurs fans can’t sit back and say their mighty and veteran defending champions are proven, and therefore immune to feisty and sometimes underhanded tactics of such a challenger, a deep challenger with skilled scorers like Mike Bibby, Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. It was Abdur-Rahim in mid-December who calmly reassured HOOPSWORLD.com readers in this space that Sacramento would turn around its 10-13 record.
The Kings rode his 25 points nearly to a win that night, before Michael Finley stroked in a 17-footer with 2 seconds to play. But this was before Artest arrived to add more life to Shareef’s conviction, which Bibby – his buddy who cut his teeth on the league together with him in Vancouver – nodded in agreement with. They had a confidence, but (if this makes sense) a flat-lined confidence. Then came Ron, 38 days later, via the big Stojakovic trade. The trade Donnie Walsh said at the time could shake up the West.
When the Kings start making noise in this series, and its going to happen, if the Spurs get nicked up a bit the city of San Antonio will get turned on its head. Few on the street here give the Kings any hope, but some in the know realize this isn’t a normal 8-seed Rick Adelman brings to town. There are so many seasoned veterans on the team, players who won’t go away when the Spurs get it going. And no stranger to coaching playoffs (132 games), Adelman himself was passed over by Gregg Popovich for Bob Hill in the summer of 1994, when San Antonio’s coaching spot was open.
Abdur-Rahim told us in December that the Kings were just looking for a winning streak, that that was all the team needed. Indeed a good veteran team uses a winning streak like an eagle uses a summer updraft, soaring near the clouds and vectoring off the currents with efficiency for a long time. Only the streak never came. When Artest arrived at mid-season, Sacramento had fallen 7 games under .500. The Kings ended up 44-38. (They even earned home-court against Denver, in the unlikely event of a WCFs meeting.)
Artest now seems to want to win more than he wants to begrudge Carlisle’s lessons – which Ron knows to be true. Artest is using Carlisle’s precepts. He knows that the ball has to move east-west and that too much dribble or massaging the ball adds up to too many losses. And there was no time to lose in the West’s playoff scramble.
Artest, a street-baller during Harlem’s summers, helped set the example, moving the rock after one or two sharp dribble moves, especially as the Kings rose higher through the standings. It's contageous. Since he arrived, 7 different Kings have led Sacramento in scoring. And of course, they defend much better, because Ron can hold down scorers. He tenaciously kept Manu Ginobili to 8 points and 1 assist two weeks ago. The Kings’ updraft owes itself to Artest.
And to Miller. To a lower exponent, he’s similar to Tim Duncan, whom he’s 13 days older than. All about winning. Fundamentally sound. Good hands. Runs the court. Mixes it up. Doesn’t care if he scores much. Would just as soon screen or assist. Wants to play 5-on-5 chess, not 1-on-1 checkers. Unlike Tim, Brad gets chippy and has a temper.
He turned hack-a-Shaq into hit-a-Shaq, until O’Neal took a round-house punch that missed in 2002. The Spurs are familiar with Miller, who used do infighting with Malik Rose, to the frustration of both. Brad was tossed from a big playoff game in 2004 at Minnesota. His precision elbow is the one that split Tony Parker’s scalp earlier this month. Miller is replacing Tim on the National Team this summer.
For all their attributes, the Kings haven’t solved their rebounding deficit. Even during their latest surge, they’re being out-boarded by 3 per game. It’s a longstanding bad Sacramento category that probably cost them a championship earlier in the decade. The Spurs are taller than the Kings and need to assert themselves inside, and they will. Can the Kings minimize the problem and do enough to counter it in other areas? Like holding Ginobili down. Like getting a couple of their own scorers hot in some games. Like drawing the Spurs’ size away from the goal.
If this turns into as great a series as it should, it’s nice for the Spurs to have Duncan. Offensively, Tim seems to have decided recently to go stronger to his strong right hand – either jumping off both legs, or just his “good” left leg – even though it’s the one that has the wrap on the knee, the joint that was operated on in 2000 and the one that had the knee-cap tracking issue in 2004.
Since severely spraining his right ankle exactly 13 moths ago, Tim has had to change his game. Before that, he had opened up a package of lefty shots on the NBA that had him in MVP territory all the time. Then the plantar fasciitis got into the right heel early this season. Now Tim shoots right handed a very large percentage of the time, even if going left, getting shots blocked at least a dozen times in the NBA Finals last June. But lately (just noticed this month), Duncan is going right more, quick and strong, sometimes getting his hook shots aloft quicker in mechanics not unlike Tony’s famous floater.
Tim could be about to blow up on the Kings. The Spurs could use that in this tough series. Finley, Robert Horry and Nick Van Exel need to make some shots off the bench. The Spurs’ centers need to combine for 15 points or more. Ginobili needs to assure himself of a contribution by doing the Kings some damage on the defensive end. Ninety-plus points should be enough to win most of these games. At least one will be won in the 80s. If both teams stay healthy, class wins out in the end. Spurs in 7.
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Apr 21, 2006, 16:22
Ron Artest is on trial in this series. Not that there are any real consequences for him. The trial is going on in the minds of each of us. Whatever the final verdict reads, thanks to Artest the Sacramento Kings can compete with, and beat, the Spurs in this opening round NBA Playoff series. No knock on the defending champs – its just that they could be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
At issue: does Ron truly back his own bluster or will he forget his words under duress? Artest was very accommodating and engaging with me just before the season at Kenny Smith’s Katrina Benefit game in Houston. He affirmed to me flat out, when the subject of the NBA Finals came up, that the Pacers were going to win it all. Yet in only a couple of months, he wanted out from Rick Carlisle’s offense.
So if San Antonio can come up with a couple of persuading wins, will the former Defensive Player of the Year (2004) retreat from his confident position that Sacramento is winning at least one series this Spring? Or instead will the Spurs lose some focus as the Kings reprise a Bad Boys style? Brad Miller and Artest resemble Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman closely enough to inspire one of NBA Entertainments’ “second-coming” vignettes.
The Pistons of Laimbeer and Rodman knew exactly how to get under the skin of an opponent and its crowd. They knew how to bend the rules and take advantage of it, winning 10 series in a row from 1989 to 1991, including over Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, KC Jones, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson. In still other series, the Bad Boys at least pushed the famous teams of these guys to exasperation, forcing the established powers to reaffirm their greatness in long and scary series, and goading the Bulls to championship level.
So Spurs fans can’t sit back and say their mighty and veteran defending champions are proven, and therefore immune to feisty and sometimes underhanded tactics of such a challenger, a deep challenger with skilled scorers like Mike Bibby, Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. It was Abdur-Rahim in mid-December who calmly reassured HOOPSWORLD.com readers in this space that Sacramento would turn around its 10-13 record.
The Kings rode his 25 points nearly to a win that night, before Michael Finley stroked in a 17-footer with 2 seconds to play. But this was before Artest arrived to add more life to Shareef’s conviction, which Bibby – his buddy who cut his teeth on the league together with him in Vancouver – nodded in agreement with. They had a confidence, but (if this makes sense) a flat-lined confidence. Then came Ron, 38 days later, via the big Stojakovic trade. The trade Donnie Walsh said at the time could shake up the West.
When the Kings start making noise in this series, and its going to happen, if the Spurs get nicked up a bit the city of San Antonio will get turned on its head. Few on the street here give the Kings any hope, but some in the know realize this isn’t a normal 8-seed Rick Adelman brings to town. There are so many seasoned veterans on the team, players who won’t go away when the Spurs get it going. And no stranger to coaching playoffs (132 games), Adelman himself was passed over by Gregg Popovich for Bob Hill in the summer of 1994, when San Antonio’s coaching spot was open.
Abdur-Rahim told us in December that the Kings were just looking for a winning streak, that that was all the team needed. Indeed a good veteran team uses a winning streak like an eagle uses a summer updraft, soaring near the clouds and vectoring off the currents with efficiency for a long time. Only the streak never came. When Artest arrived at mid-season, Sacramento had fallen 7 games under .500. The Kings ended up 44-38. (They even earned home-court against Denver, in the unlikely event of a WCFs meeting.)
Artest now seems to want to win more than he wants to begrudge Carlisle’s lessons – which Ron knows to be true. Artest is using Carlisle’s precepts. He knows that the ball has to move east-west and that too much dribble or massaging the ball adds up to too many losses. And there was no time to lose in the West’s playoff scramble.
Artest, a street-baller during Harlem’s summers, helped set the example, moving the rock after one or two sharp dribble moves, especially as the Kings rose higher through the standings. It's contageous. Since he arrived, 7 different Kings have led Sacramento in scoring. And of course, they defend much better, because Ron can hold down scorers. He tenaciously kept Manu Ginobili to 8 points and 1 assist two weeks ago. The Kings’ updraft owes itself to Artest.
And to Miller. To a lower exponent, he’s similar to Tim Duncan, whom he’s 13 days older than. All about winning. Fundamentally sound. Good hands. Runs the court. Mixes it up. Doesn’t care if he scores much. Would just as soon screen or assist. Wants to play 5-on-5 chess, not 1-on-1 checkers. Unlike Tim, Brad gets chippy and has a temper.
He turned hack-a-Shaq into hit-a-Shaq, until O’Neal took a round-house punch that missed in 2002. The Spurs are familiar with Miller, who used do infighting with Malik Rose, to the frustration of both. Brad was tossed from a big playoff game in 2004 at Minnesota. His precision elbow is the one that split Tony Parker’s scalp earlier this month. Miller is replacing Tim on the National Team this summer.
For all their attributes, the Kings haven’t solved their rebounding deficit. Even during their latest surge, they’re being out-boarded by 3 per game. It’s a longstanding bad Sacramento category that probably cost them a championship earlier in the decade. The Spurs are taller than the Kings and need to assert themselves inside, and they will. Can the Kings minimize the problem and do enough to counter it in other areas? Like holding Ginobili down. Like getting a couple of their own scorers hot in some games. Like drawing the Spurs’ size away from the goal.
If this turns into as great a series as it should, it’s nice for the Spurs to have Duncan. Offensively, Tim seems to have decided recently to go stronger to his strong right hand – either jumping off both legs, or just his “good” left leg – even though it’s the one that has the wrap on the knee, the joint that was operated on in 2000 and the one that had the knee-cap tracking issue in 2004.
Since severely spraining his right ankle exactly 13 moths ago, Tim has had to change his game. Before that, he had opened up a package of lefty shots on the NBA that had him in MVP territory all the time. Then the plantar fasciitis got into the right heel early this season. Now Tim shoots right handed a very large percentage of the time, even if going left, getting shots blocked at least a dozen times in the NBA Finals last June. But lately (just noticed this month), Duncan is going right more, quick and strong, sometimes getting his hook shots aloft quicker in mechanics not unlike Tony’s famous floater.
Tim could be about to blow up on the Kings. The Spurs could use that in this tough series. Finley, Robert Horry and Nick Van Exel need to make some shots off the bench. The Spurs’ centers need to combine for 15 points or more. Ginobili needs to assure himself of a contribution by doing the Kings some damage on the defensive end. Ninety-plus points should be enough to win most of these games. At least one will be won in the 80s. If both teams stay healthy, class wins out in the end. Spurs in 7.