artest-dodgers

Just in case you were abducted and forced to get high, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA finals 83-79. Ron Artest won his first title since going platinum going gold he was drafted in 1999. He had 20 points and 5 steals in Game 7. The post-game interview he did with Doris Burke is TV gold. 24 karats of Ron Ron goodness after the jump.

Kobe Bryant won his second consecutive Finals MVP, and his fifth NBA title. He downplayed the Lakers-Celtics rivalry suck fest throughout the series, but had somethings to say about the flavor of a certain someone’s posterior after the game.

About the rivalry with the Celtics: “I was just lying to you guys. When you’re in the moment you have to suppress that because if you get caught up in the hype of it all, you don’t really play your best basketball. But I mean, you guys know what a student I am of the game. I know every series that the Lakers have played in.”

“I mean, I was just a Laker nut and I know every Celtics series, I know every statistic. It meant the world to me as well, but I couldn’t focus on that. I had to focus on playing.”

What this this title meant for him personally: “I just got one more than Shaq!” Bryant said happily. “You can take that to the bank … You guys know how I am. I don’t forget anything.” –SLAM

Revenge is always an awful tasting dish, and the Celtics had a big heaping of it. Fortunately for them, Big Baby Davis was able to finish all of it by himself. Doc Rivers and his Ph.D. tried to find a chaser to help get the taste of failure out of his mouth. It tastes a lot like hot Barton’s.

“There’s a lot of crying in that locker room,” Rivers said. “A lot of people who care. I don’t think there was a dry eye. A lot of hugs, a lot of people feeling awful. That’s a good thing. Showed a lot of people cared.” –ESPN

The Celtics really missed the play of Kendrick Perkins. The Lakers punished them on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 53-40. 23 of those 53 were offensive rebounds, which helped the Lakers get some offense going despite shooting 30% from the field. Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant were a huge part of the rebounding advantage. Pau had 19 points and 18 boards, Kobe had 23 points and 15 boards.

But it just wouldn’t be LA without a riot. Thank God the internet lets me witness all of the destruction without fearing for my life. All videos are courtesy of YouBeenBlinded.

This one’s in HD. Awesome.