Brown Bag it, Baby
Metta World Peace received a controversial flagrant foul at the end of the first half of Game 5 between the Lakers and Thunder on Monday night. Metta went for the block on Thabo Sefolosha with his right arm, but with his left he shoved the Thunder guard. After hearing that he was called for a flagrant, he exploded on the ref and yelled in his face “That is bull___!” netting him a technical foul for berating a ref.
GIF of Metta cussing is below:
On Wednesday night after the Lakers melted down and lost Game 2 to the Thunder, a humorous screenshot began circulating around the Twitter world. It appeared as though Chicago’s ABC affiliate channel had enough of all the elbowing and talk about Oklahoma City’s women being naturally beautiful, so they decided to refer to Metta World Peace as the “Lakers Idiot.” Busted Coverage pointed out that the screenshot could have been an easy photoshop job if someone felt like creating a buzz, but it turns out the photo was legit.
The screenshot you see above came from a video that Deadspin dug up, which proves that the ABC station did in fact briefly flash a graphic that described World Peace as “Lakers Idiot.” Well played, graphic technicians. Well played indeed.
Metta World Peace indicated his plans to avoid making peace with James Harden prior to the playoff series between the Thunder and Lakers, and it looks like Harden got at least some revenge during Game 2 on Wednesday. Early in the game, Harden was being guarded by Metta and went behind his back with a dribble. His left arm went flailing and his elbow caught World Peace in the face. If you watch it in slow motion, it looks like Harden may have intentionally nailed Metta with a sly elbow, but if you watch it at full speed, it looks much more innocent.
Either way, we do know based on this image that Harden popped World Peace squarely in the nose:
If you tuned into Game 1 between the Lakers and Thunder on Monday night, you may have noticed that the Oklahoma City fans are not fond of the artist formerly known as Ron Artest. As payback for the elbow he dropped on James Harden during the regular season, the fans booed Metta World Peace throughout the entire game. Depsite the boos, Metta has no problem with the fans — particularly the women of Oklahoma City.
“I didn’t realize that Oklahoma has so many, like, fine women,” World Peace said according to The Oklahoman. “I felt really comfortable. I hit my first two shots. It was mainly because of how beautiful the women were. You don’t need makeup to be beautiful. That’s the American way of telling a woman she’s beautiful. She can be beautiful without makeup. And that’s what I’ve seen in Oklahoma City.”
Perhaps the blowout loss offset the great mood the OKC women had him in, because Artest decided to take Harden down again using his elbow late in the game. However, that is one heck of a compliment coming from a guy who is used to playing in Los Angeles. Expect World Peace to be showered with cheers before and during Game 2.
Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE
You didn’t really think this was over, did you? During the introductions before Game 1 of the Thunder-Lakers series on Monday night, the Oklahoma City crowd rained boos down on Metta World Peace. In fact, the boos continued throughout the entire game and were pretty close to constant. Maybe it took its toll on Metta, or maybe he just genuinely doesn’t like James Harden for whatever reason. He did, after all, say he was not going to shake his hand and make amends for the atomic elbow he dropped on Harden during the regular season.
As you can see from the video above that Outside the Boxscore shared with us, World Peace and Harden got tangled up early in the fourth quarter on Monday night as Harden was boxing Metta out. What started out as a normal basketball play quickly turned into World Peace’s elbow once again in the side of Harden’s head and Harden being dragged to the ground. World Peace acted stunned about the call, but he knows exactly what he did. Things can only get uglier from here.
Think there isn’t any bad blood between the Thunder and Lakers? Think again. The dislike Thunder fans have toward Metta World Peace was evident prior to Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Monday when the forward was booed in warmups, intros, and every time he touched the ball during the game.
The dislike toward MWP goes back to the regular season when he concussed Thunder guard James Harden with a vicious elbow after celebrating a dunk. Metta’s seeming lack of remorse didn’t improve his status with the fans.
Of course, this is nothing new for the artist formerly known as Ron Artest. He has been Public Enemy No. 1 in many NBA arenas throughout his career, so the booing shouldn’t alter his play.
Here’s another video, this one of World Peace being booed in warmups:
The Lakers moved on to face the Thunder after beating the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs, but don’t expect too many hugs and kisses to be exchanged between the squads. Monday’s Thunder-Lakers game will mark the first time Metta World Peace faces James Harden since giving him a concussion with an elbow to the head last month. World Peace was asked after Saturday’s Game 7 win if he plans to shake Harden’s hand, and he didn’t exactly offer an olive branch.
Metta on whether he’ll shake James Harden’s hand: “I don’t shake subs hands.” Fair enough.
— chris palmer (@ESPNChrisPalmer) May 13, 2012
Oh yeah, it is on. Even though it’s just a second round series, this will feel like an NBA Finals matchup. I have the Thunder winning it, hopefully in less than seven for their sake.
