Ron Artest has been suspended for Game 3 against the Dallas Mavericks.
Ron Artest took out his frustration on Dallas’ J.J. Barea in the final minute of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 2 loss to the Mavericks on Wednesday night. Lamar Odom went over to defend Barea as the Mavericks reserve guard dribbled the ball up the court. That is when Artest rushed over and inexplicably clotheslined Barea and was immediately ejected. Charles Barkley said during the TNT postgame show that Artest will get suspended for
the hit. Scroll down to watch the video. In news that didn’t require Nostradmus’ services to predict, Ron Artest has officially been suspended for Friday’s Game 3 in Dallas. The offending sequence, which took place with 24.4 secon
ds remaining in the game, featured Artest swinging his arm to basically clothesline Jose Barea. The unprompted, absolutely intentional act was so WWE, Ron might as well have borrowed Jack Nicholson’s courtside chair for the purposes of bashing the diminutive guard. So inevitable was this outcome, Phil Jackson didn’t even attempt to spin the possibility of Artest going unpunished in his postgame presser.
The Lakers were losing to the Mavericks at the end of Game 2 when Ron Artest decided to go Ron Artest. In a move only someone as numbskulled as him could have conceived, Artest ran into Mavs guard J.J. Barea
clothesline style. Check out the video courtesy of Ben Golliver: Artest received a technical foul and ejection for his actions. I know some people will defend him and say he shouldn’t be suspended, but there’s little doubt in my mind that he should be. The game was no longer in question, there was 30 seconds left, and Artest’s intent to harm Barea was clear. That’s a lot different from a physical play or doing something in the heat of the moment. This was clearly planned out by Artest and he should have to pay the price. Sadly, with the way he’s been playing, it might not be the worst thing for the Lakers if he missed Game 3.
