Artest at it Again

Ever since being selected by the Bulls in 1999, Ron Artest (a.k.a. MWP) has been considered a "thug" among fans and players in the league. You might recall his 2003-04 season when Artest, playing for the Indiana Pacers, ran into the stands in a game versus the Detroit Pistons after a fan threw a beer at him during a fight on the court. Following that incident, Artest was fined and suspended the remainder of the season (86 games), which stands as the longest on court suspension in league history. He then shuffled through the Western Conference as a member of the Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets and then finally the LA Lakers. Prior to joining the Lakers, Ron Artest had tallied up over 100 games of suspension in his professional career, which is by far the most by any player in the NBA history. Giving Artest some credit, he has attempted to improve his image over the past few years and had not been suspended in six seasons prior to last year's playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks. Toward the end of  game two, the old Artest came out and leveled the helpless 6 foot Jose Juan Barea. Artest was suspended just one game as the Lakers went on to get swept in the series. This past year, Artest officially changed his name to "Metta World Peace." This was again another attempt to repair his image and it appeared to be working. But this past Sunday, Artest was back at it again.

In a fiesty game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Artest had the ball on a breakaway and dunked over two Thunder players. As he pumped his chest on the way back up the court, Thunder's James Harden appeared to make accidental contact with Artest, at which point, Artest reared back his elbow and threw it into the head of Harden.  Harden instantly hit the ground clutching his head. As Thunder players ran at Artest, the Laker crowd was left confused; most of the fans didn't see what happened as the replay was not shown.  The refs instantly ejected Artest but in the post game interview, Artest claimed he inadvertently hit Harden and was extremely sorry. Looking back at the replay, the elbow to the head does not appear accidental.  The league is determining what Artest's suspension will be. Harden was evaluated and doctors confirmed he has a concussion and will be out for the next few games. With the playoffs just next week, hopefully Harden can have a speedy recovery because he is a key asset to his team. Overall, the "old" Artest came out for the public to see again and this boneheaded play has fans questioning "will he ever learn from his mistakes?"