Somebody to Shove: Rockets' Artest Claws Back at Jazz In Double Overtime Win

Cuz' I want somebody to shove, I need somebody to shove, I want somebody to shove me

The Houston Rockets have taken it in the rear from the Utah Jazz in consecutive postseason bouts. If there were a kinder way to put it, I would avoid the obscenity.

Problem is, the Rockets crunch-time performance against the Jazz in the playoffs and key regular season matches has been just that: obscene. Jerry Sloan's many teams over his 20-plus year tenure in Salt Lake City have boasted various personnel but all of them use the same tactics to win ball games.

They push, shove, grab and outmuscle their way to victory. It's not dirty, and if the referees let them get away with it after so many years of seeing it, why not continue that signature physicality?

I wonder how history will remember the 2008 postseason. The mentally but not physically tough Rockets won 22 games in row, 10 without Yao Ming, then lost in six games to the Jazz, even with home court advantage. The visceral Jazz then lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, exposed as soft and defenseless in the NBA Finals, in six games.

How did the soft Lakers beat the supposedly stronger and tougher Jazz and San Antonio Spurs and then lose to a Celtics team that might not have beaten either of those Western Conference squads?

Some answers in no particular order are: Kobe Bryant, Manu Ginobili's bum ankle, Bryant enjoying a free throw festival against the Jazz, James Posey's clutch play, the hunger of Boston's star trio and Carlos Boozer's allergy to late game defense.

None of those offerings, however, will assuage the numbing caused by another Rockets first round ouster.

Rockets management can only ride the coattails of Hakeem Olajuwon's Hall of Fame greatness for so long. The fans have wanted that same success this decade, and while the team has not shown thus far that it can play with the consistent mental toughness and passion required to win a championship, the franchise's prized offseason acquisition is the kind of player it has lacked the last two years.

Ron Artest may never escape from the shooting doldrums for more than a game at a time, and his sore ankle, which he sprained in a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, is giving him visible trouble. He had decided to skip Saturday's contest to rest, hoping that Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming would have enough in the tank to cover his absence after a brickfest in New Orleans the previous night.

Then, McGrady announced he would not play, and Artest did what only a true gamer would. He fussed at Rick Adelman until the cautious coach let him play for fear of being socked in the face. He demanded that his coach—already worn out from a revolving door, someone important is out tonight roster—play him.

In a word, he was everything Saturday that McGrady has not been in his four-year Houston tenure. The Jazz's frontline has abused the Rockets with forearms and hard drives to the rim. The Rockets' response in many key games has been comatose, flustered and whiny instead of composed.

Carl Landry's gutsy game-clinching block after losing a tooth in game three and the 95-69 game five thumping this year are exceptions. A game seven loss at Toyota Center, in which the Rockets trailed by as many as 16 and failed to corral a key defensive rebound, and a game four loss with a similar ending, are better barometers.

The latest contest did not offer a definitive answer as to how these Artest-fueled Rockets could measure up against their postseason bullies in another rematch. The Jazz played without its three leading scorers, and a frontline, excluding the presence of Andrei Kirilenko.

Rookie Kosta Koufos and sophomore Kyrylo Fesenko filled in admirably for Boozer, Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur, but it never should have been enough.

The Rockets played without McGrady and survived a shootout with Artest on one leg and Battier wincing in considerable pain with his foot troubles. The M.A.S.H theme song would have been apropriate music for this banged-up ocassion.

Both teams also played the previous evening shorthanded, and the key guys who did suit up Friday logged major minutes.

If Yao Ming lost a match-up with unseasoned and adolescent Koufos and Fesenko, then a donation of his salary this year would have been a fit punishment. Yao came up big when he needed to with 26 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

However, it was the stoic Artest who saved the day in double overtime. He drilled 11 straight free throws to seal the 120-115 win. That he earned that many trips to the charity stripe in five minutes says something about how he could help the Rockets against their annual nemesis.

The 1990s edition of this matchup was a heated rivalry. Each team nailed pressure-packed shots to seal series wins and each reached the NBA Finals twice. Who cares if John Stockton pushed off, right? 

The rethawed edition of this rivalry has been anything but. Artest offered the Rockets a glimpse with his courageous 28 point, 8 rebound performance of how he could help make it one.

Can one player's addition turn a one-sided affair into something deserving of the "rivalry" designation? The Rockets will have to answer that in a playoff rematch, and given the team's fight with injuries and McGrady's alarming inconsonance, another late April outing in Salt Lake City doesn't sound like a great idea.

Nothing Artest does will matter if Yao injures himself again or McGrady is hobbled the rest of the season and plays like a whimp. Artest still hoisted too many jumpshots in his newfound reserve role, but he attacked when it mattered. He used Utah's brute strength against it in the way few Rockets have been able to do in two playoff flops.

With the Jazz's overbearing, body-up defense comes a tendency to commit silly fouls. Such physical play often requires defending with hands instead of intelligence, and Artest made them pay the same way Bryant did in April.

Bryant earned 16-18 free throws a game in that series because he attacked the players who were trying to push his young and inexperienced team around.

When they hacked him, and there was no call, instead of settling for a steady diet of jumpshots or letting the chippy play affect his concentration, he went at them again, and as the numbers show, momentum shifted his way.

Saturday's game lacked the spark of a grind-it-out postseason slog, and neither team played much defense. Still, Artest landed the final punches the Rockets needed to avoid losing consecutive contests. When Utah jabbed him, instead of wilting, he found his inner Mike Tyson, and more importantly, used that energy in the right way.

Against the Jazz, the Rockets need more Tyson and less artfulness. The teams that beat Jerry Sloan in the playoffs know how to stop to Utah’s ugliness and beat them at it.

They are not afraid of the boos they will inspire at Energy Solutions Arena when they force key players into foul trouble and earn crunch time free throws. That’s how the Spurs, with a miserable regular season record in Utah in the Duncan era, pulled out a 2007 playoff game in arguably the NBA’s toughest road environment.

Sure, some players exaggerated the level of contact with poignant acting, but they attacked the Utah defense nonetheless and sent a needed message “You wanna’ try this against us? Respond to this.”

This would be what Artest did in the second overtime. With Yao and the rest of the exhausted Rockets out of gas, he found the extra chump change for just enough gallons at the nearest station to run over the Jazz. After a fourth quarter and first overtime of sloppy execution and blowing a big lead, Artest secured what had looked to be a win by halftime.

While I would never advocate intentional harm of a player, would I mind Artest committing a clothesline or a hard foul on Boozer, Okur or Williams? Would I mind him accruing a flagrant foul or one technical if it shook the Jazz’s confidence just a bit?

Artest’s mercurial talent and unpredictable attitude was made for matchups against Jerry Sloan teams. The same qualities that have marred his career and landed him a reputation as a head case make him ultra valuable in a man’s game. When the going gets tough, he gets tougher. The other guys usually pay for it.

The banged-up Jazz suffered the consequences of his rim assault. What Artest could do in May should these two squads meet for a third straight series will be decided then.

Saturday night, with the Rockets eyeing a 20th win and dual possession of first place in the Southwest Division, Artest offered a glimpse. For one night, it was enough.