Ron Artest wanted to make a point. It's not exactly clear what that point was, probably something about him being mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
Artest had decided that Kobe Bryant had gone way too far over the line too often. It was one thing for Bryant to cheap shot Shane Battier in Game 1 but this was too much for Artest to accept.
So after Artest took a Bryant elbow to the chest, he took off in a sprint at Bryant.
The crowd rose.
"I went over there with the intention of telling Kobe, 'You're hitting the wrong person. Don't you know you're hitting Ron Artest?" Artest said.
"I understand it's the playoffs. I'm accustomed to playing basketball really rough. When I came into the league, I was used to fighting on the court. That's how I grew up playing basketball.”
"Now, I play fair and square and I lose fair and square. I put my arm on Kobe. I push and play physical. I see man and ball. Just basic defense. He hits my arm down. I'm telling the ref, he hits my arm. You can't do that.' Then he did it again. I tell the refs, 'You got to control this.' Then he throws an elbow right in my chest. I told Kobe, you can do whatever you want to do. I'm not reacting. I'm going to let the refs control it.'
"Kobe is great enough to take over games and lead his team. He could have done it without that. For me, the game was great. It was fun. You have to have guts to hit a guy like me in the throat.”
"I knew I was going to get a technical foul. The point was to let the refs know I'm angry, I'm tired of this guy elbowing me. I went over there, no punches, no shoves to the face. Just confrontation. Then I backed off.”
Kobe knew who he was hitting and he didn't seem to mind. He wasn't going to let the bully come in his house and win another game.
Bryant plays with an attitude of entitlement. He plays as if he is above the game. It is part of his greatness, in some ways. He raises the bar on his own expectations beyond any that anyone could place on him.
He and Artest both described their confrontation and the physical game as "fun."
So just like that, we have a pretty intense series going. Usually games like this happen after four or five games, when the teams are really sick of each other. If this is how they feel after two games imagine how they will be by Game 5.
"It did set a tone for what will happen in the series," Phil Jackson said. "If they're going to be physical, we have to meet that."
Mark Madsen had this to say about Artest, "I've never played on the same team as Ron Artest, but I've played against him dating all the way back to college. Of all the guys I've played with or against, he was always one guy who stood out as an aggressive defender who guys around the league don't want to mess with. Ron Artest is a guy who you absolutely want to go to battle with. Everybody also knows not to cross the line with him."
