Special edition Ariza Watch (For Sarah)

At the beginning of the Laker/Houston game, the Lakers had a ceremony to present Ariza with his championship ring.  The jumbotron said “Thank you Trevor” and there were a few highlights of the key plays made during the playoffs.  Of course, not missing the chance to bust my balls, my lovely wife convinced me I was tearing up.  Well, not exactly…ok maybe a little.  Funny thing was I was wondering what they did in the case where a championship is won and a player is traded.  Well, that’s that.  I thought it was a nice gesture on the Lakers part to put the effort in to make it special.  On a side note, two rings were presented as Trevor’s son, Tajh, was also given a replica ring.  Nice, very nice.  Apparently, that must have tweaking Artest the way as it provoked him to do a little shoe throwing. 

No seriously, shoe throwing.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu1zMV5j0fo&feature=player_embedded

Ok, onto Ariza watch.  Interesting week.  Ariza had good games against crappy teams as to be expected and struggled against the Lakers and Mavs.  I would expect to struggle against your former being that they know your game.  Three point shooting has fallen off quite a bit from last year but turnovers have gone down as well.  Scoringwise, he’s all over the map, 9, 17, 28, 9.  But looking closer at the numbers, he’s averaging about a point per shot attempt.  Not great but there are other numbers that stand out.  6 ½ rebounds, 5 assists, over four steals a game and about one block a game.  That’s filling up the box score.  There was a great sequence during the Laker last night.  Kobe goes to the low block, posts Ariza up and pivot spins and tries to get a shot off only to have Ariza block the ball back at his face.  Kobe regains control and circles out to reset and Ariza steals the ball and leads the break for an easy score.  Nice.  Another bitter sweet loss last night as the Rockets take one in LA. 

Ariza v. Artest II- I hate to say it but Artest takes this one.  More points on more efficient shooting, rebounded, dished the ball and fewer turnovers with the same amount of minutes.  The difference, Ariza had a +9 and Artest -9.  Is Artest the man?  No.  He’s cherry picking and gets choice looks on Kobe double teams.  Am I making excuses….yeah I guess so.  I still think Ariza’s the better player and when T-Mac comes back and hopefully gets traded for a better player, Ariza will shine much brighter as the number two guy where he belongs. 

Houston plays Phoenix, Minnesota, Atlanta, and Sacramento.  Two cupcake games and two gamers.  I’d expect about the same lines for next week.  I’ll catch the Friday’s game against Atlanta as the Josh Smith match-up will be fun to watch.  That could very well be the match-up that wins the game for Houston.