Canzano - Lakers won't admit it, but Blazers beat them up

“Physical?” Artest said, “I guess, maybe. I don’t know. I’m a physical player so that just feels normal to me…the playoffs haven’t even started yet.”

Spoken like a player who’s been through the wars in May/June. Portland has improved their toughness-quotient with the Matthews-signing and the Wallace deal (although Dante and Przy were two of their more-physical players who got away, and they’re missed…Chris Johnson is no substitute, and Batum could play more wing and guard fewer big men if they were still around)

As it always been for Portland, it’s not about one game. It’s about sustaining their intensity and physicality through an entire series—and executing well in spite of all the distractions.

The first round bell rings next weekend. Let’s see how Nate and the boys do re: their final exam

please do not copy and paste full columns. this post has been edited.

His opponent would hit Ali with his best shot, and Ali would play it off like he hadn’t even felt it. The tactic would absolutely demoralize opponents. Little did they know that Ali had been stunned by the punch.

Even the steroid/HGH-enhanced Artest noticed that the Blazers were more physical, more difficult to intimidate last night (with the addition of Gerald Wallace). But he was way too smart to admit it.

Yes, I did use “smart” to refer to Artest. He may be half-crazy, but like Ali, he’s no dummy.

His job is the resident tough guy for this laker team. That being said, his own court antics told the true story. Wallace definitely got in his head and it showed with some dumb fouls that hurt laker momentum. Two that come to mind was the foul on wallace that lead to the scuffle. Lakers just got a much needed stop and the foul gave us the ball right back. The other one was the dumb foul that Wallace free throws after the odom 3 pointer. Blazers offense was stalling at that point and lakers were inching back into the game.

I think he plays the game of the mind as much as anyone. Something else I noticed him do in our game, and then again last night against OKC: hard fouls in garbage time. In both games, as the clock ticked to zero and it was clear there was no combination of possessions and three-pointers that would get them back in the game, Artest is still out there dishing out hard fouls while the other team is trying to stay classy by not still trying to run up the score. He should be treated accordingly. I think PJ recognizes the Lakers running out of gas, and has told them to thug it up. Either that or Kobe is telling them to do it.

You walk into ANY locker room after a game and you’ll see guys sore and icing. Clown feeds bs constantly to cater or anger the masses.

Regular season isn’t play-offs and if you want to make a big deal about your guys being tough, then they’re not tough. If you’re tough you don’t have to tell people, they already know it. (that said the blazers are tougher than they have been in the past and boy do I wish we had a healthy joel.)