http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baske...-changed_x.htm
Posted 5/5/2004 11:07 PM Updated 5/6/2004 3:02 AM
Artest's play heats up, while temper cools off
By Mike Dodd, USA TODAY
INDIANAPOLIS — Ron Artest wants to be known as the poor man's Michael Jordan. To do it, he knows he has to overcome his label as Indiana's equipment-tossing heir to Bob Knight.
Indiana's Ron Artest has turned his attitude around this year and his game has followed suit.
By Adrian Wyld, AP
The Indiana Pacers' forward, who again will draw the toughest defensive assignment tonight in the second-round NBA playoff series against the Miami Heat (9 ET, TNT), is almost there on both counts.
A year after a tempestuous season in which he led the NBA in suspensions (12 games) and flagrant foul points (eight), Artest has turned the spotlight on his game and his new reputation as one of the more versatile players in the league.
He'll be presented the NBA's defensive player of the year award tonight. It follows his first selection to the All-Star Game and a breakout year that was simply a matter of mind over mayhem.
"I told him, 'Look, you should have been an All-Star last year. You should have been defensive player of the year last year. But nobody's going to notice that if every time you step on the court ... they're waiting for you to do something off the court or something crazy,' " All-Star teammate Jermaine O'Neal says. "He really understood that and has just been playing."
O'Neal's message had been repeated in various forms by friends, coaches, his agent, even his family. His daughter Sade, now 7, led the teasing at home. "My daughter was always making jokes when I got ejected," Artest says. "She'd say, 'Daddy, you were suspended. That's why you're home.' "
Artest has been home just twice this year: once for a flagrant foul (he had three flagrant foul points this season) and once for leaving the bench area during O'Neal's confrontation with Brandon Hunter in the first-round playoff series against Boston.
He decided near the end of last season he was hurting himself and his team too much. Not to mention his bank account: He lost nearly $500,000 in fines and suspensions.
"No positives came out of last year," he says. "I wasn't embarrassed about anything. I was more ashamed and ... disappointed in myself because a lot of that stuff had nothing to do with the game."
The 24-year-old fifth-year pro, polite and friendly off the court, is learning to keep the games in perspective as he maintains intensity.
"Whatever Ron's feeling, he expresses," says Mark Bartelstein, Artest's agent. "It's almost like a faucet turning the water on. His emotions get turned on and they come out. ... He had to learn to channel it."
Solving the problem
As he promised coach Rick Carlisle before the season, Artest made this year about basketball and improved at both ends of the court. He worked on his shooting in the offseason and averaged a career-high 18.3 points.
"He put in a lot of hours on his shooting, and they posted him a lot more than they had in the past," says Larry Bird, the Pacers president of basketball operations. "He doesn't have to score 25 points a game. If he keeps it at 17, 18, it's really beneficial to the team."
Defensively, the 6-7 forward has become a force, and he'll draw his typical assignment against the Heat. "Whoever is on fire," Artest says, providing no advance notice if he'll open on Caron Butler, Dwyane Wade or Lamar Odom.
"He's 250 pounds and can guard any one of four positions," Indiana's Reggie Miller says, citing Artest's quick hands, feet and uncanny anticipation. "His dad is a boxer, and he takes that adage to keep pounding and pounding away. Like wearing a fighter down."
Remember, this is the guy who broke two of Jordan's ribs when His Airness was training for his comeback with the Washington Wizards. But to hear Artest, defense is almost an intellectual exercise.
"It's a matter of effort, but you've also got to know how to adjust. I take defense the same way I do math," says Artest, a math major his two years at St. John's University. "I really have to try to think about it. It's like solving a problem."
The Pacers, not satisfied that standard statistics did justice to Artest's defensive contributions, sent staff aides into the video archives to research his play. The study concluded that Artest held opponents to 8.1 points a game on 42.6% shooting. In Pacers wins, Artest's opponents shot just 35% when he was on them.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich called it fuzzy math, arguing the Spurs' Bruce Bowen deserved the award. Artest suggested a one-on-one matchup to settle it. If there's one thing that rivals his on-court intensity, it's his confidence.
"No one can ever be Michael Jordan, but I'm like the poor man's Michael Jordan. That's how I feel," he says. "I can play defense, I can play 'O.' I haven't found anybody that can stop me yet."
Not seeking publicity
He likes the challenge of playing defense against the top offensive players during the summer, and he travels to different gyms across the country for the workouts.
He also spends time in the offseason working with youngsters on the playgrounds of his old Queensbridge neighborhood in New York City. He prefers that to high-profile work with kids that might generate headlines.
Howard Garfinkel told The Indianapolis Star he invited Artest to give a speech at his Five-Star camp and accept admission to its hall of fame. Artest instead stayed for a week to teach, sleeping in the dorms with players and counselors, eating cafeteria food, even running errands.
It's that side that makes friends and family even more upset with the public image, courtesy of Artest's self-destruction highlight film. "He doesn't have a mean bone in his body, but when he plays basketball, his self-esteem is on the line," Bartelstein says.
This year his reputation as a person also was at stake. He says he learned that his family and his faith are more important than winning. "I was sending a message to be out of control, and I don't think that's the Lord's message," he says.
Clamping down
Indiana forward Ron Artest usually is assigned to guard the opponents' top-scoring shooting guard or small forward. A breakdown of his performance against four tough opponents this season:
Player (games) Season avg. Avg. vs. Artest Season FG% FG% vs. Artest
Carmelo Anthony (2) 21.0 8.0 .426 .364
Keith Van Horn (2) 16.1 3.0 .454 .188
Stephen Jackson (4) 18.1 3.5 .425 .333
Latrell Sprewell (2) 16.8 4.0 .409 .400
Posted 5/5/2004 11:07 PM Updated 5/6/2004 3:02 AM
Artest's play heats up, while temper cools off
By Mike Dodd, USA TODAY
INDIANAPOLIS — Ron Artest wants to be known as the poor man's Michael Jordan. To do it, he knows he has to overcome his label as Indiana's equipment-tossing heir to Bob Knight.
Indiana's Ron Artest has turned his attitude around this year and his game has followed suit.
By Adrian Wyld, AP
The Indiana Pacers' forward, who again will draw the toughest defensive assignment tonight in the second-round NBA playoff series against the Miami Heat (9 ET, TNT), is almost there on both counts.
A year after a tempestuous season in which he led the NBA in suspensions (12 games) and flagrant foul points (eight), Artest has turned the spotlight on his game and his new reputation as one of the more versatile players in the league.
He'll be presented the NBA's defensive player of the year award tonight. It follows his first selection to the All-Star Game and a breakout year that was simply a matter of mind over mayhem.
"I told him, 'Look, you should have been an All-Star last year. You should have been defensive player of the year last year. But nobody's going to notice that if every time you step on the court ... they're waiting for you to do something off the court or something crazy,' " All-Star teammate Jermaine O'Neal says. "He really understood that and has just been playing."
O'Neal's message had been repeated in various forms by friends, coaches, his agent, even his family. His daughter Sade, now 7, led the teasing at home. "My daughter was always making jokes when I got ejected," Artest says. "She'd say, 'Daddy, you were suspended. That's why you're home.' "
Artest has been home just twice this year: once for a flagrant foul (he had three flagrant foul points this season) and once for leaving the bench area during O'Neal's confrontation with Brandon Hunter in the first-round playoff series against Boston.
He decided near the end of last season he was hurting himself and his team too much. Not to mention his bank account: He lost nearly $500,000 in fines and suspensions.
"No positives came out of last year," he says. "I wasn't embarrassed about anything. I was more ashamed and ... disappointed in myself because a lot of that stuff had nothing to do with the game."
The 24-year-old fifth-year pro, polite and friendly off the court, is learning to keep the games in perspective as he maintains intensity.
"Whatever Ron's feeling, he expresses," says Mark Bartelstein, Artest's agent. "It's almost like a faucet turning the water on. His emotions get turned on and they come out. ... He had to learn to channel it."
Solving the problem
As he promised coach Rick Carlisle before the season, Artest made this year about basketball and improved at both ends of the court. He worked on his shooting in the offseason and averaged a career-high 18.3 points.
"He put in a lot of hours on his shooting, and they posted him a lot more than they had in the past," says Larry Bird, the Pacers president of basketball operations. "He doesn't have to score 25 points a game. If he keeps it at 17, 18, it's really beneficial to the team."
Defensively, the 6-7 forward has become a force, and he'll draw his typical assignment against the Heat. "Whoever is on fire," Artest says, providing no advance notice if he'll open on Caron Butler, Dwyane Wade or Lamar Odom.
"He's 250 pounds and can guard any one of four positions," Indiana's Reggie Miller says, citing Artest's quick hands, feet and uncanny anticipation. "His dad is a boxer, and he takes that adage to keep pounding and pounding away. Like wearing a fighter down."
Remember, this is the guy who broke two of Jordan's ribs when His Airness was training for his comeback with the Washington Wizards. But to hear Artest, defense is almost an intellectual exercise.
"It's a matter of effort, but you've also got to know how to adjust. I take defense the same way I do math," says Artest, a math major his two years at St. John's University. "I really have to try to think about it. It's like solving a problem."
The Pacers, not satisfied that standard statistics did justice to Artest's defensive contributions, sent staff aides into the video archives to research his play. The study concluded that Artest held opponents to 8.1 points a game on 42.6% shooting. In Pacers wins, Artest's opponents shot just 35% when he was on them.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich called it fuzzy math, arguing the Spurs' Bruce Bowen deserved the award. Artest suggested a one-on-one matchup to settle it. If there's one thing that rivals his on-court intensity, it's his confidence.
"No one can ever be Michael Jordan, but I'm like the poor man's Michael Jordan. That's how I feel," he says. "I can play defense, I can play 'O.' I haven't found anybody that can stop me yet."
Not seeking publicity
He likes the challenge of playing defense against the top offensive players during the summer, and he travels to different gyms across the country for the workouts.
He also spends time in the offseason working with youngsters on the playgrounds of his old Queensbridge neighborhood in New York City. He prefers that to high-profile work with kids that might generate headlines.
Howard Garfinkel told The Indianapolis Star he invited Artest to give a speech at his Five-Star camp and accept admission to its hall of fame. Artest instead stayed for a week to teach, sleeping in the dorms with players and counselors, eating cafeteria food, even running errands.
It's that side that makes friends and family even more upset with the public image, courtesy of Artest's self-destruction highlight film. "He doesn't have a mean bone in his body, but when he plays basketball, his self-esteem is on the line," Bartelstein says.
This year his reputation as a person also was at stake. He says he learned that his family and his faith are more important than winning. "I was sending a message to be out of control, and I don't think that's the Lord's message," he says.
Clamping down
Indiana forward Ron Artest usually is assigned to guard the opponents' top-scoring shooting guard or small forward. A breakdown of his performance against four tough opponents this season:
Player (games) Season avg. Avg. vs. Artest Season FG% FG% vs. Artest
Carmelo Anthony (2) 21.0 8.0 .426 .364
Keith Van Horn (2) 16.1 3.0 .454 .188
Stephen Jackson (4) 18.1 3.5 .425 .333
Latrell Sprewell (2) 16.8 4.0 .409 .400
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