A lot can be said about Ron Artest and his issues on and off the court, but no one could ever criticize his defense. He somehow finds a way to channel his severe mental issues and be an absolute lockdown defender. Everyone knows he's fucking weird and crazy, but he's able to be weird and crazy on the basketball without killing people (minus the Malice at the Palace in 2004). In his last 5 games his opponents, who are usually the other team's best scorer, are averaging just 14 points. Ron is averaging 3 steals in that stretch, but that doesn't even do his defense justice. You have to watch a Laker game really close to see exactly what he does. Averaging 3 steals a game is impressive, but I bet he causes at least 7 turnovers per game. He his constantly poking and prodding and annoying the shit out of his man with crafty techniques like face guarding and stepping on feet. He's the most active defender in the game and in his last 5 games he has averaged only 1.4 fouls. Last night Danny Granger, one of the highest volume shooters in the league, only got 9 shots off and made 2 of them. He also turned it over 4 times which is a whole lot for shooters like him. We can laugh all we want at Ron's quotes, pictures, arrests, rap albums, pre and mid game drinking, and just the way he lives his life in general, but you know he keeps guys up at night when they're about to play the Lakers. I mean I wouldn't want to get within 500 yards of the guy, and they have to be shadowed by him for 48 minutes. I'm tempted to file for a restraining order, and he's across the country, and I've never met him. You can never be too careful.
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