Nikos

I remember him struggling in that series, and in looking at the box scores it seems he really struggled on offense big time. Why is that? Also it seems Rip was the only good offensive player that series, how much did Artest actually guard him.

I watched parts of this series, but didn't see entire thing in great detail, plus I forgot a bit.

Can someone tell my why Artest struggled so badly? Was it his thumb injury? Was Jermaine hurt, and thus he had no other offensive help or what?

Any detailed responses would be great.

Thanks

PacersguyUSA

Well one of his best offensive weapons is driving into the lane and drawing fouls. The refs were fairly leanient that series, so it made his game less effective.

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Nikos

Did Prince just guard him well? Did Artest guard Rip most of the time?

PacersguyUSA

It was mainly the Wallaces inside preventing him from getting to the rim, blocking his stuff, or just fouling him.

There was a ridiculous amount of blocked shots in that series.

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clownskull

i'd say a number of things. yeh, jermaine was hurt- he nearly blew out his knee in that seires and was playing on one leg from there on. tinsley was hurt again (surprise) with a bad hamstring. so when you take those 2 important guys out of the mix- ron wasn't too far from being on his own out there. i know that oneal and tins were still playing in the series but, they were not nearly as effective as they normaly would be. reggie was ok but, he was still playing like passive reggie and not being as aggressive as he was this past season when so many guys were unavailable.

hirschmanz

ron artest is a very smart and versatile offensive player. His style is to exploit defensive weaknesses. In that series, detroit had no defensive weaknesses for artest to exploit.

If JO had been 95%, that wouldhave opened up a lot more room for artest to do his thing.

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StephenJackson

Yeah, Artest did spend a lot of time on Rip, but Artest actually had a hard time guarding him. Artest has a more difficult time guarding the smaller and quicker guards, and lord knows that Rip is very quick and very conditioned. Artest does much better playing D against the bigger, stronger guards. And yes, I believe Artest's thumb was injured, which was throwing off his shot. He also had a bit of a mental breakdown toward the end of that series.

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Grangerx33

I think he had a migrain at some point during the series, playing through that was a miricle in itself I couldnt imagine Garnett playin well with migrain, that would only be 2-3 days tho.

Pacers Fan

I hope you're referring to the mental breakdown as his 35 foot 3-pointer when we could've easily had a better shot (Reggie) instead of Rip Hamilton running into his elbow.

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XXSASSXX31

I would say because of our injuries, but also Ron was not the type of offensive force he had improved to last year before the brawl. Ron Artest has turned into an MVP Type player and I expect nothing less than him being an MVP Candidate next year. If we win the Finals, RON=NBA Finals MVP. He dominates the game on both sides of the court.

son shine

I've got to believe that Corliss had a lot to do with Artest's problems in that series. His thumb was also a factor, but anyone who believes that migraines (wink, wink) contributed probably believes in the Easter Bunny? (Sorry...)