Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES

Ron Artest figured if people knew he had a bum shoulder, they would see it as an excuse for his poor showing at the start of the season.

So he didn’t say anything. Not to the coaches. Not to the trainers. Not to the public relations staff. Not to the media. Not even to his friends on any of his three Twitter accounts.

What Artest failed to mention for a week in the preseason was that he somehow tweaked his right shoulder — so bad that he couldn’t lift his arm – which hampered his shooting. In the preseason, he made only 39.6 percent of his shots, 25 percent of his three-point attempts and 57.6 percent of his free throws.

It has taken more than a month for his shoulder and shot to recover, although Phil Jackson said the injury still affects Artest’s free throw shooting.

“I didn’t want excuses,” Artest said after a mediocre eight-point, two-rebound, five-asssit performance Sunday against the winless New Jersey Nets. “I didn’t want people thinking I was using that as a excuse for shooting bad. It wasn’t an excuse for me.”

Artest’s percentages have improved. Heading into Sunday’s lopsided victory, Artest was averaging 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

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