Lakers beat Rockets but Ariza vs. Artest was no contest

November 5, 11:05 AMSports ExaminerPaula Duffy

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Trevor Ariza in a Rockets uni on court Wednesday (AP)

Trevor Ariza looked like he was trying too hard to out perform Ron Artest during the Lakers visit to Houston last night.

Ariza was stunned this summer when he claims his agent wasn't told the Lakers' offer to keep him was take-it-or-leave-it.

Within hours he got the message when the Lakers announced an agreement with Ron Artest for the money Ariza turned down.

Rather than shopping himself around to see what the market would bring he agreed to the same deal with Artest's former team on the same day.  As the TV broadcasters said last night, it was a case of trading places.

His shooting percentage was less than stellar (5 for 21) ending up with 15 points, down from his early season average of 23. But he sank the tying three-pointer on a patented stop and shoot move to get his team to overtime.

In OT, Derek Fisher pulled an Ariza move by poking the ball away from the Houston forward as the clock ran out for a Lakers victory by the score of 103-102.

Ron Artest didn't have to exact revenge on his former team. He's so happy he landed in the lap of Los Angeles that he got all dolled up for the occasion. He has yet a new hair cut that features Korean characters spelling out "Lakers". He scored 15 points just like Ariza on 6 of 14 shooting.

But he couldn't help making his own kind of statement as he rolled out a move that punctuated his clutch three-pointer that came just prior to Ariza's tying shot. As Rockets coach Rick Adelman called a time out to get his team focused, Artest struck a pose at mid-court using the time out signal as he faced the Houston fans.

After the overtime victory he told KCAL 9's John Ireland that since he's a big football fan he decided to bring a touchdown celebration to the NBA. Except it wasn't a touchdown and his three-pointer was matched by the Ariza shot only seconds later.

And then we got a taste of what will come out of this excitable man's mouth. Artest coined a new phrase, telling Ireland that when he hit a key three-pointer on a pass from Kobe he was "semi-wide open.". We have 77 games to go in the regular season and I'm sure he's got plenty more where that came from. He has set the bar high after game 5.

For more info:  Lakers Examiner Colin Ward-Henninger covers the team, here

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