World Peace, huh? For those of you who weren’t watching the first half of Thunder @ Lakers, Ron Artest wound up and swung a pretty vicious elbow in the direction of James Harden, catching him right upside the head. On first glance I thought Artest had inadvertently struck Harden, but replays clearly show that Ron felt Harden on his side, wound up, and cracked him right below the ear. Here it is…
Mike Breen’s comparisons to Malice at the Palace may have been way off base, but I have to agree with the gist of his assessment. The shot was intentional, uncalled for, and rather malicious. Maybe it wasn’t meant to connect with Harden’s head, but it damn sure wasn’t part of the gorilla celebration.
The good news is that Harden seems to be okay. He’s been held out for the second half of today’s game, but he passed initial concussion tests.
How many games will Artest be missing? Well, based on the violent nature of the swing along with RonRon’s reputation… I’d say we’ve seen the last of him for at least five games. You may recall that Andrew Bynum got five games for his flagrant foul on Jose Barea in last year’s playoffs, and I thought this was worse. Plus, David Stern tends to come down pretty hard in situations like this.
The potential problem here is that the Lakers only have one game left in the regular season. If Artest misses more than a single game (which he will) he’ll be missing playoff action. The Lakers don’t exactly have the league’s finest bench, and Artest had been playing surprisingly well this month.
I never thought I’d say this again, but Ron Artest’s absence could be a devastating blow to the LA Lakers.
Ron Artest aka World Peace, whatever the name, SHOULD BE SUSPENDED, FINE, AND SUED!!, that blow was very uncalled for and UNPROFESSIONAL…
What a “thug” ….World Peace. Give me a break, he should be suspended for the rest of the year, and fined heavily!
THE NBA DOES NOT PUNISH THE THUGS HEAVILY ENOUGH SO IT KEEPS HAPPENING. SO WHAT IF HE IS SUSPENDED A FEW GAMES HE STILL GETS HIS HEFTY PAYCHECK. IMAGINE DOING THAT AT YOUR WORKPLACE. HE ARTEST THE GOON SHOULD BE KICKED OUT OF THE NBA AND PUT IN JAIL.
Ron Artest should be penalized as he had finally turned his wretched career around.
This ridiculous play should have never occurred as there is no reason for that type of reaction .. I do remember Karl Malone elbowing Isiah Thomas and Stern only suspended the “Mailman” for 1 game !!! That inury resulted in Isiah having to have plastic surgery and 40 plus stitches to his face…Harden at worst had a concusssion .
I would think 5 games should be proper punishment for this serious offense by Artest….but knowing how Stern has it ‘in’ (Chris Paul Trade) for Lakers would not be surprised if he has to sit out the entire playoffs !