So this is what it’s like. This is what it’s like without Artest. Prior to the season starting, the Lakers were going to go one of two ways with the addition of Ron Artest. Most critics said Artest’s antics both on and off the court will hurt the champions more than it will help them, but their were many believers as well. Most of the believers were really the only one’s whose opinions mattered too. After Trevor Ariza’s agent scoffed at the idea of signing a mid-level contract, the Lakers offered the same deal to Artest, but not before getting their leader’s permission, and Kobe jumped at the idea, and it seems to have paid off. Early in the season though, the critics were at it again.
“Ariza is going to be an All-Star…Ariza is younger…Ariza is less of a distraction… Ariza is blah blah blah” Sure, Ariza is averaging 16.2 points a game as opposed to Artest’s 12.3…but who need anymore offensive weapons then Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom, and lets not forget to mention Artest is shooting nearly five percent better from than field than Ariza while taking a whopping five less shots than Ariza per game as well. Throughout all this, it’s not the offense the Artest was brought in for, and Artest knows that. In his infamous Hennessey interview, something that seemed to catch everyone’s attention is the fact that Artest boldly claimed Kobe was the leader on offense and Kobe has his supporting cast, and he was the leader on defense, and Artest himself finally has his defensive supporting cast, which seemed to surprised everyone, except Kobe. Kobe agreed with Artest’s bold statements that he may be one of the best defenders of all time, and why not.
The way Ariza plays defense gives the impression that he’s a great defender because he plays the passing lane so well. His gambles on defense either result in a steal, but more than not, result in his man beating him to the basket, and having either Gasol or Bynum get a block, or a costly foul. Artest on the other hand, is a lock-down defender, and one of the best. Early in the season in a game against the Atlanta Hawks, Joe Johnson exploded in the first quarter with Kobe guarding him for 18 points and shot at a very high percentage. Kobe then gave the task of guarding Johnson to Artest, and Joe finished with 9 points the rest of the game with Artest harassing the multitalented scorer.
“We picked up our intensity, and it all started with number 37,” Bryant said after the game, giving all the credit to Artest despite exploding for 41 points and 8 rebounds to help the Lakers cruise to that victory.
Even Joe Johnson gave the credit to Artest stating, “I really couldn’t get a good look, and Artest wasn’t helping me because he was faceguarding me.”
That was early in the season without Gasol, now we’ve been able to see how Artest really affects this team defensively. After the Christmas Day embarrassment against the Cavaliers, the previous number one team in the league in defense gave up 110 points per game to their next five opponents with Ron Artest sitting out with a head injury. They even lost one against Phoenix and were pushed to the wire against lottery teams Golden State and the Kings twice, gutting out a victory on Bryant’s last second heroics against Sacramento.
In Artest’s first game back, the Lakers gave up 79 points to a team that averages 99.7 points a game, and that is while giving up 11.5 rebounds and nearly 2 blocks a game with Pau Gasol sidelined with a hamstring injury. Artest’s lockdown defense has him in the running to win his second Defensive Player of the Year award because no one player completely changes the face and attitude of a franchise defensively more then Ron Artest.
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