Los Angeles Lakers: Where Enemies Become Friends

July 26th, 2010 by EJ Tabuena Leave a reply »
Back in the Free Agency period of 2009, the Los Angeles Lakers decided to essentially swap Trevor Ariza for the troubled Ron Artest.

A whole gaggle of fans, whether they were haters or members of Laker Nation, questioned the move. They feared that Ron Artest would destroy the chemistry of a team that had just won a championship with his volatile personality. They feared that Artest would clash with Kobe Bryant, just as they did during the 2009 Western Conference Semi-Finals. People were bracing themselves for the worst.

If the "worst" was winning championship number 16, then you really couldn't have had a better season.

Ron Artest used to hate Kobe's guts on the court. He would always take subtle jabs that referees always gave Kobe favorable calls, that Kobe would always elbow him. During games, he and Kobe would go at it, eventually leading to both players jawing and glaring at each other. During those days, no love was lost between the two...

From the 2009 Playoffs, fast-forward by one year, just one year.

In the Western Conference Finals against Phoenix, after Ron Artest had just hit the game-winning shot off of a miss ...

Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
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