For his latest trick, Artest makes Joe Johnson disappear

November 1st, 2009, 9:33 pm · 4 Comments · posted by Earl Bloom, staff writer

That’s what you were waiting for, and it really did not take long.

(Associated Press)

The Ron Artest factor was in full effect in Sunday night’s third quarter against Atlanta.

Artest made Joe Johnson disappear. All the newest Laker lacked was a top hat and tuxedo.

Johnson had scored 18 first-quarter points, hit 7 of his first 8 shots and had 20 points at halftime.

Artest, just three games into his L.A. tenure, denied Johnson the ball in the third quarter, when the Lakers broke open the game with an 18-0 run with a series of Hawks turnovers.

Johnson did not score in the second half until he hit two free throws late in the third quarter, after Artest had gone to the bench for a rest.

UPDATE: A very nice, bounce-back victory for the Lakers led by Kobe Bryant with 41 points.

It would be nice, however, for the bench to allow Bryant and the tother starters to sit back and enjoy a 20-plus-point lead at home in November for a change, without having to be summoned back in the game.

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Bynum doesn't stink says:

November 1, 2009 at 10:17 pm

See that didn’t hurt too bad did it Earl the not so Pearl Bloom?

Brizzle says:

November 2, 2009 at 12:36 am

Finally a good post.

Indeed it would be nice for the bench to show some semblance of it’s old “Bench Mob” form, but with Lamar starting, Sasha forcing shots, and Josh Powell thinking he’s not a bench player, that doesn’t seem likely any time soon.

Pinky says:

November 2, 2009 at 1:48 am

I wouldn’t attribute it all to Artest’s good defense, just as I wouldn’t attribute Johnson’s first quarter explosion to bad defense. Sometimes good players just get hot.

Regardless, I do think Artest plays good defense. I wouldn’t base that off just this one game, though.

thechampishere says:

November 2, 2009 at 7:27 am

Until Gasol comes back and moves Lamar back to the bench there’s no telling how well the bench will perform.

What IS apparent is that Farmar is obviously not talented enough to be the de facto leader for the “bench mob” let alone capable of running any team’s starting unit, but especially not LAL’s.

Hate to sound so critical but I don’t see much improvement from the bench core from year to year. Ariza came to LA a benchwarmer and turned into a starter within 1 1/2 years. Farmar, Sasha, Luke have been Lakers at least 4 years and lead the bench but their progression is very slow. It’s getting to the point where I just except the fact that they can’t hold leads and that’s terrible.

Glad the Lakers won anyway. That’s the most important thing…

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