Basketbawful

Thursday, April 06, 2006

The fact that Sacramento beat the Spurs last night was big news in and of itself. But leave it to Ron Artest to add his own special brand of blundering numbskullery to the proceedings. In one of the most spectacular displays of hypocrisy I've ever seen -- well, read, anyway -- Artest had the audacity to complain about how Bruce Bowen plays defense.

"Bruce Bowen was smacking me the whole game. I couldn't believe it. He was just smacking me. I was like, that's not even legal. That's why I'm the Defensive Player of the Year. That's why. Because I play good defense. No gimmicks."

No gimmicks, eh? That's pretty funny coming from the guy who once pulled down Paul Pierce's shorts during a freaking game. And yes, he did to distract Pierce during a critical possession.

Yeah, the picture sucks. Follow the link to watch the de-pantsing on video.
But even if we ignore the shorts-pulling incident, Artest is still guilty of constant bumping, grinding, clutching, grabbing, and general all-around thuggery. Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending Bowen so much as I'm calling Artest a big, fat, poopy-headed liar.

This is all just part of Artest's "Shut Up and Give Me the Defensive Player of the Year Award" campaign. Ah, nothing like going for individual honors at the expense of other people and your own dignity. I particularly enjoyed Artest's contention that "guys are having 40 (point games), and they play against me and don't get nothing." I'll ignore the double negative, but I will point out that, after guaranteeing that Kobe wouldn't get his season average against Artest in a recent Kings/Lakers game, Bryant netted 36, which, at the time, was a point above his average.

So shut the hell up, Ron. By the way: I hate you. And my hatred for you has ~~everything~~ nothing to do with how you destroyed the Pacers' last two seasons. Really.

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