Ballin: Artest to the Rescue as Scorer, Peacemaker
NBA October 31st. 2008, 10:30am
Houston 112, Dallas 102: Listen to Reggie Miller and Marv disagree on the Artest-Howard-Yao kerfuffle (Marv’s right). Clearly, Howard (28 points) delivered a hard foul to Yao, who took umbrage. Then Artest (29 points) shoved Howard in a “back-off” move, and attempted to play peacemaker by getting Yao (30) points away from Jason Kidd, who gave a weak push to Artest. Refs called a dumb tech on Artest for nothing. Also, Yao missed an easy dunk.
Cleveland 96, Charlotte 79: Daniel Gibson pumped in 25 points off the bench, LeBron added 22 and Mo Williams had seven assists vs. one turnover as the Cavs slaughtered the jump-shooting Bobcats, who shot just 33 percent from the field.
New Orleans 108, Phoenix 93: The injuries are beginning to mount for the Hornets – Chandler missed the game with a sprained ankle, and Peja (20 points) left early in the fourth with an ankle sprain. CP3, who last season took the torch from Nash as the best PG in the league, went for 20-10-8. The Suns shot 54 percent, but couldn’t overcome 13 triples by the Hornets.
76 Responses to “Ballin: Artest to the Rescue as Scorer, Peacemaker”
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October 31st, 2008 at 10:32 am
They also couldn’t overcome the 24 turnovers they committed. Sloppy basketball.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:33 am
cavs played below average last night offensively and defensively…which means the bobcats are probably the worst team in the league.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:35 am
old men in back to backs. go figure.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:35 am
The Bobcats are bad, but I don’t think the worst.
Fat Sean May needs to get in shape, and they need a point guard (Felton sucks).
October 31st, 2008 at 10:35 am
The young bench looked like shit too. But Steve Nash couldn’t hang on to the ball.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:35 am
Rockets looked solid last night, especially having played the night before. Great win, although we need to play a little defense
October 31st, 2008 at 10:36 am
@Spence
Probably? Who the hell could possibly be worse than them? Maybe the Kevin Durants?
October 31st, 2008 at 10:36 am
Mavs = Frauds
October 31st, 2008 at 10:37 am
great video from Trico Suave
October 31st, 2008 at 10:37 am
Ernie Johnson: “Charles the Bobcats are playing Cleveland and are down 17 at the half.”
Charles: “Well they must be playing their ass off if they’re only down 17.”
October 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am
Mavs=Frauds
October 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am
they have two backup-PG’s in Felton and Augustin and that’s it…that’s not good. hell, larry might actually wish brevin knight was still on the roster.
and yes, sean may is fat. and when did he get out of jail? didn’t he shoot some guns off around the white house or something?
October 31st, 2008 at 10:42 am
That was Lonnie Baxter, former Terp national title winner.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:43 am
ah…my mistake. thanks.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:45 am
They were supposed to draft Brooke Lopez, but at the last moment, Larry Brown talked them into taking Augustin.
He must have realized early that Felton blows. I’m not sure Augustin will ever be good (surely not this year), but he’s probably better than Felton.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:46 am
Should he have made it – probably. But Diop did essentially yank down his entire left side as he went up (a foul was called).
October 31st, 2008 at 10:48 am
yea, i heard that last week…great GM’ing job MJ.
LB: i want a backup-PG, not a backup-PF.
MJ: im on 15, can this wait?
LB: you dumb fuck, it’s draft night
MJ: these hanes are comfy
October 31st, 2008 at 10:52 am
/misses MJ being a badass
October 31st, 2008 at 10:55 am
a 0-1 team is a fraud? wow …
why is antoine wright starting for them?
October 31st, 2008 at 10:59 am
because they’re frauds.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:06 am
Doesn’t someone have to think the Mavs would actually be good this year before they’re declared frauds? I’ve got them in the playoffs but they’re not going to compete for anything.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:08 am
The Mavs looked good last night, Dirk had a hell of a game and Josh Howard was playing out of his mind. They just didn’t have anyone to guard Yao.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:10 am
Won’t be a problem later in the year after Yao has his inevitable foot/leg injury.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:12 am
We’ll see
October 31st, 2008 at 11:13 am
not to harp on LeBron, but whne you see the highlights of him just soaring and generally doing whatever the hell that he wants to … isn’t anyone else amazed?
bodywise, i dont think the nba has seen anyone like him. hell, he’s one of the freakiest athletes in sports history if you ask me. 6-8, 240? with the ability he has? he’s bigger and stronger than Jordan and Kobe. and it’s not like he’s considerably slower, either.
(just talking athletic, not factoring in his jumper)
October 31st, 2008 at 11:16 am
I agree TBL, if I was playing against LeBron there is no way in hell I would ever want to get in front of him when he is driving to the basket
October 31st, 2008 at 11:17 am
The Rockets don’t have anyone who can guard Dirk (few teams have someone to guard him straight up). I didn’t get to see the game because I don’t have TNT, but did they use anything gimmicky like play Scola on him and have Rafer double Dirk everytime he touched the ball and let J Kidd shoot jumpers?
October 31st, 2008 at 11:19 am
i think hes closer to 260 now.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:20 am
I love how the Mavericks two best players had HUGE games… and yet the Rockets still won by double figures. Beautiful. Artest is going to be a beast this year. A Beast!
Yao, missed dunk or not, is still a badass. 30 and 13 in a “fast paced” game. Suck it, Simmons!
October 31st, 2008 at 11:20 am
Im not going to waste another 1,000 comments defending Kobe on this site. TBL wont even mention his name on this site unless it is negative. It it obvious to a lot of people that comment on this site that TBL hates Kobe. If Lebron was ranked #1 and Kobe ranked #2 in the ESPN/SLam rankings, TBL would have had a post up on that in a minute.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:20 am
he’s probably faster than the both of them…when he gets a full head of steam, he can get from one end to the other as fast as anyone in the NBA.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:20 am
No they did not, Dirk scored 35 through 3 quarters. The only bright spot was that he only finished with 36 because they put Chuck Hayes on him in the 4th and Hayes shut him down. If I’m Adelman I don’t care if Dirk goes off, the Rockets have 3 players who can do the same. Do your best to lock down everyone else and see if Dirk can beat you
October 31st, 2008 at 11:22 am
@ Irish: don’t forget that The Sporting News ranked Kobe has the #1 player in the league and Lebron #2
/only person who still reads Sporting News
October 31st, 2008 at 11:23 am
who cares about those retarded rankings? give it the eyeball test…lebron doesn’t have guys to take attention off of him like kobe does yet is better in every MEASUREABLE way possible.
kobe is relying on some antiquated notion that he’s an amazing clutch player and running on the SAS/bucher/stein blowjob-mobile at ESPN.
kobe is an ass-pack.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:24 am
who cares about those retarded rankings
i do. it comes from experts and not some wind bag like you
October 31st, 2008 at 11:26 am
well experts say the bills are moving to toronto, so you got that going for you.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:27 am
go away. go fill up some college football thread with OSU talk
October 31st, 2008 at 11:27 am
Dwight Howard sucks
/Trying to end the Kobe/Lebron debate
October 31st, 2008 at 11:28 am
na, it’s more fun saying shit here to aggravate you.
it’s been fucking boring as hell today, where is everyone?
October 31st, 2008 at 11:29 am
Looks like Brooks had a nice game when subbing for Rafer. I really think they will need Brooks to step up because Rafer has those games where he can’t hit the ocean out of a boat and turns the ball over a lot. Rafer’s numbers weren’t terrible, but I was glad to see Brooks play well.
And don’t forget, Battier has yet to play.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:29 am
The “experts” really know nothing.
It’s like relying on Steve Phillips in baseball, and we’ve seen how that can work out.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:32 am
TBL is right: LeBron is very athletic. If you are interested in a gold medal, titles and worldwide popularity, go with Kobe. It’s simple, really.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:33 am
LeBron’s athleticism is nothing we’ll probably never see again. Kobe was very athletic when he first came into the league (he’s sitll athletic, but so many guys in the league now are just as athletic).. IMO, Jordan was more athletic than Kobe, he could actually fly through the air and was more powerful around the basket.
I think Kobe actually can score in more ways than Jordan and actually has a bit more savvy around the hoop, controls the baseline unlike anyone I’ve ever seen in the game.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:33 am
Worldwide, a rapist is more popular than an upstanding family man.
What does that say about the world?
/sheds tear
October 31st, 2008 at 11:33 am
Rafer was awful last night, he has too many of those games. As for Battier, the only reason we need him back is to get in the lane and take charges. Josh Howard had it too easy last night
October 31st, 2008 at 11:34 am
it’s almost as if he’s forcing the baseline to do soemthing against its will.
/rape joke
October 31st, 2008 at 11:35 am
/in the butt
October 31st, 2008 at 11:36 am
HAHAHAH RAPE IS SO FUNNY! HAHAAHAH
/Maggs’d
October 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am
dance vagina??
October 31st, 2008 at 11:38 am
Disgusting.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:39 am
i never got a chance to ask you cursed, is that worse that work out pussy?
October 31st, 2008 at 11:39 am
*than
October 31st, 2008 at 11:41 am
You realize this can be easily refuted, right?
Jordan’s TS% is .568 for his career, which includes his decline years, versus Kobe’s .557.
TS% factors in Kobe’s advantage behind the 3 point line, too.
I guess the question is: If Kobe’s such a better scorer, why doesn’t he make more shots?
October 31st, 2008 at 11:42 am
i think he meant that jordan only sweet talked the ladies…kobe can sweet talk AND rape.
/yet another rape joke
October 31st, 2008 at 11:48 am
Doesn’t Bron have a kid? Where’s the ring? Oh….
October 31st, 2008 at 11:48 am
Ron Ron is the man. Fighting should be allowed in the NBA. Therefore it would eliminate trashtalk. Dudes that ran their mouth would get knocked the fuck out by my man Ron Ron. In hockey, if you run your mouth, you get knocked the fuck out.
This is why people hate the NBA, too much trash talk and showboating. If you showboat, knocked out. If you trash talk, knocked out.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:48 am
Word of warning though, on Kobe. If he does lay into ya, it’s best to just let ‘im finish.
/Cousin Eddie’d
October 31st, 2008 at 11:55 am
Nick P, I said “can score in more ways”.. the only way you could refute that is to go through each game in both respective careers, plot out the different ways both would score (dribble moves, spots on the court, different shot varations I.E. floater, turn around, whirling dervish, step back..etc) and then compare who had more variation.
If you call that “easily refutable” then you probably should have got to MIT and not OSU. Buckeyes suck!!
October 31st, 2008 at 11:56 am
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.. Look at the guys guarding Michael during his career. There’s a difference there.
I’ve also never cared for Kobe’s shot selection. MJ had the better b’ball IQ in that regard.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:58 am
Maybe he shoots in more ways, but scoring is a different matter altogether.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:59 am
I’ll agree there. And I guess I’d add that I don’t think Kobe “can score in more ways,” it’s that he “has to score in more ways.” Jordan did what he did because no one could stop it. If he was less talented, he probably would have resorted to more trickeration.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:02 pm
And yet Luther Head makes Rafer look like fucking John Stockton.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:06 pm
what does this matter? who cares how many ways a guy can score?
shit, shaq had ONE way to score, does that make him shittier than patrick ewing? fuck no.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
yeah luther is terrible
October 31st, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Spencer, what does any of this matter? It’s just a more nuanced way to look at things. In baseball, players have different swings, in basketball, players all have a unique set of ways they go about trying to get to the same place.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Of course LeBron looks impressive blowing down the lane. Why stand there and get ran over when the refs won’t call the charge anyway? It’s like the Olympics, blowing down the middle against Angola looked impressive, but those moves became fewer and fewer the further the Games went along.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Hickson looked good last night in limited minutes. I was pretty down on him headed into the season after an awful preseason (been known to be a useful predictor for rookies), but he tried to tear the rim off everytime he shot.
He’s like the anti-Gooden.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
true nuff
October 31st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Spence don’t worry, golf is literally like a month away from starting up.
By the way, will you be at Canterbury for the Senior PGA this year?
October 31st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
hells yea it is.
yea, i’m planning on being there. the course looks amazing, i drive by it on my way to work in the mornings and sometimes drive through it…i haven’t been on the grounds though since i caddied there back i nthe day.
should be fun.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I played there a few times (buddy ran the pool), but my golf game is non-existent at this point. I worked at Berkshire Hills for like 9 years, I gotta be the worst ever golfer to actually golf everday and work at a course.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:01 pm
from what i remember, the course is hard as fuck, but it’s beena while.
ive driven past berkshire hills 1,000 times probably, but never been there. i was supposed to when a wedding i totally forgot came up and bit me in the ass right before we left.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Greens are the slowest in northeast ohio, but some awesome holes, huge old trees, and never a flat lie.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:13 pm
better than queer ass thunder hill where a light breeze will roll your ball off the green.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
How bad was Thunder Hill before they drained the lakes? you needed minimum 15 balls for 18.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
dude, i hit the ball great, didn’t putt too bad, but my short game was in shambles and the greens were out of control.
we were also playing in 25-30 mph winds.
i stopped keeping score after the first 9. when they say “hardest course in ohio” they weren’t lying. it’s gorgeous though and is a great design.