[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I’m excited about the Knicks game. I always wanted to be a Knick growing up. Stephon Marbury got the chance and I was kind of jealous. I know that had to be a dream of his to play for the New York Knicks coming from Coney Island and seeing Patrick Ewing. Maybe one day, you never know, after I get my championship in Sacramento, I’ll team up with Stephon.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]It’s always fun playing in Madison Square Garden. One time Jay-Z was there when I played. Another time Fat Joe was there and Spike Lee was there. I get a chance to see all the guys from the Summer League. Jay-Z is always cool and Fat Joe is always cool. The regular fans know I’m from New York City and they always tell me to come back and play for the Knicks. It’s a great feeling to still have that presence in New York.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]My back is feeling better and I’m getting better. The Blazer game was a tough loss but we’re coming along. We’re getting our team back but we’ll be fine with that. I know we’re going to get into the playoffs and once our team gets healthy, we’ll be fine.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Lakers game was a good game. It’s always good to be a part of a game like that. We got a chance to entertain the fans and next time we’ll win. That was a good game though.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I’m glad the League is going back to the new basketball. I was averaging 25 a night with the old ball. I got suspended the season I was averaging 25 so I couldn’t prove I could do that for a whole season. I came back the next year and I was a little rusty. I was averaging 22 a game but then I had to fall back and play defense because nobody else was playing D. I said I wasn’t even going to shoot the ball no more. I was just going to be an example on defense, and once everybody got focused, I could go back to playing my game. My average dropped to about 18 or 19. Then I wanted to be traded and I got out of shape because I thought I wasn’t going to play for the whole season.[/FONT]
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Then Rick Adelman called me up and told me to put the team on my back. He said the team would go as far as I would take them. I said, “Coach, I’m out of shape. I need two weeks.” He said, “No. I want you to do this now.” As I’m playing, I’m getting back in shape. We had a nice almost-Cinderella ending. We made the playoffs and we went right at the San Antonio Spurs and my average at the end of the year was 17. That’s good for an average player, but I’m an above-average player. I’m playing pretty well this year. I hurt my back and the Sacramento papers are saying, “Ron Artest isn’t that good of a scorer.” People are looking past the fact that I was hurt. When I get back in shape, people will see. The last three games I’ve been averaging 25 a game. People are looking past the fact that I got a hurt back and hurt knees. I feel much better. I’m attacking the hole now. My knees are making me feel uncomfortable but I’m slowly coming back and my dominance on defense and offense are coming back. God willing, if I stay injury-free, people are going to see one of the most dominant players in the league.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The new ball was hard to get used to. I’m feeling like this old ball that we went back to is going to take my game to a whole ‘nother level.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Cavs are coming in tonight. It’s always good to play against a great player like Lebron James. He’s one of the best players in the league. It’s always good to have that competition. You can’t ask for anything more.[/FONT]
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I thank everybody for being interested in the life of Ron Artest. Stay tuned and God bless. I got a lot of stuff off my chest in the last journal and I wanted to set a few people straight. Look out for Foul Monday, Braska and Ruc. Look out for the whole QB movement to have its turn in the rap game very, very soon. People are scared to give QB their shine but people like Lake and Littles are grinding. Watch out for the new CNN album. Watch out for Challice. Look out for the Tru Warier movement. We’re still out there in the public and you are always going to hear whispers from the QB cats coming through and I want everyone to pay attention to that because that’s real hip-hop.[/FONT]
