From Queensbridge with Love: How Artest's Past Foreshadowed a Laker Win

Ron Artest is just a simple boy from the Queensbridge projects in Queens, N.Y. with a dream of redemption. 

Growing up, Artest's family didn't have two pennies to rub together. Therefore, he didn't dress in the finest clothes, rock the freshest J's, or play the newest video games—things American youth (myself included) take for granted.

Growing up, Artest had just two constants in his life: a basketball and a street basketball court in his Queensbridge neighborhood.

Artest learned most everything that he knows about the game on that court. And he learned it the hard way—the Queensbridge way.

Playing against men two, three, and sometimes four times his age, Artest learned the "no blood, no foul" rule on multiple occasions. He learned that basketball, despite the grace and beauty depicted in the NBA, was a contact sport—a sport played by men who will get up no matter how hard they're fouled, shake the fouler's hand, and check-up the basketball.

However, not all basketball played during Artest's adolescent years was tough-friendly competition—Artest once witnessed a murder during a YMCA-league basketball game.

In other words, Artest lived through what could be the exact script of a horrible Disney movie in which a team's beloved player is slain on the court and the team (shockingly) rallies to win the tournament title in honor of their friend.

In case you didn't know, Artest's character would be the "wrong side of the tracks" bad boy who leaves the team after a heated argument with the coach—probably Gene Hackman—only to ask to be put back on the team after his friend's death. Of course, Artest's character would be allowed to rejoin the team, but only after a "team vote" divided by color lines with one rogue white player being Ron's deciding vote.

Sadly, Artest wasn't playing a character in a horrible Disney movie.

Artest's upbringing and attitude made him impossible to embrace for national powerhouse programs like Duke or North Carolina, but Artest would have rather played for his hometown St. John's team, anyway.

After leading the Red Storm to the Elite Eight in 1999, it seemed like Artest was finally putting it all together, combining his talent and will to win to become the unquestioned leader of that St. John's team.

Unfortunately, the new-found maturity didn't last long.

Artest was a constant problem from the moment the Chicago Bulls drafted him 16th overall in the 1999 NBA Draft. 

Ron Ron became so problematic in his time in Chicago that he was dumped to Indiana along with center Brad Miller for Jalen Rose and a big heaping pile of crap. 

The trade instantly became one of the worst in NBA history as Miller and Artest became pillars to the Pacers' post-Reggie Miller nucleus.

Artest had also seemingly learned to quell some of the Queensbridge tactics which had gotten him in trouble in Chicago.

Queensbridge life had hardened Artest.  It had made him an angry, impossible-to-coach, misguided young man who, at heart, was his own toughest critic.

But it also made Artest into the greatest perimeter defender the NBA has seen since Scottie Pippen.

And, in the 2003-04 season, Artest finally realized his potential—winning the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award and leading the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The following season, most NBA analysts penciled the Pacers into the NBA Finals and many considered them the favorites to win the 2005 NBA championship.

Well, they did until the events of November 19, 2004—better known as its catchy moniker, "The Malice at the Palace."

In case you have been living under a rock for the past five-and-a-half years, go here and watch it —video explains it better than words ever could.

In the aftermath of the brawl, commentators rightfully jumped atop their soapbox and deplored Artest for his actions.

Artest's brawl was by far the NBA's worst on-court incident since Kermit Washington punched Rudy Tomjanovich.

Something had to be done.  It had to be a swift and severe punishment. But the question soon became how severe?

Some national columnists and analysts across America called for a lifetime ban, while others asked for leniency. 

In the end, David Stern suspended Artest for the balance of the 2004-05 NBA season and the Pacers potential dynasty crumbled.

From that moment on, Artest's road to redemption began and ended with one goal:  Taking the potential championship his stupidity had cost the Pacers and replacing it with an actual NBA title.

The journey since November 19, 2004 has been anything but easy. Ron's petulant childish acts have worn out his welcome in two stops before finally landing with the Lakers before this season. 

Artest hasn't exactly been an angel this season, either: He appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in nothing but underwear, insulted Lakers coach Phil Jackson via Twitter, and dyed his hair an atrocious combination of purple and blonde.

However, if we have learned anything over Artest's NBA career, it's you have to take the good with the bad. He is the type of player who can look angelic on the court one second and then the devil on his shoulder forces him to take a horrible 25-footer the very next second. 

Thursday night was no different—Artest almost single-handedly shot the Lakers into a 3-2 series deficit. Instead, with the game on the line, Artest grabbed Kobe Bryant's air-ball and put himself one win away from the NBA Finals appearance he squandered five- and-a-half years earlier.

His first thought after making the shot?  "Say Queensbridge."

Sounds about right.

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