Lakers at GS Warriors, 2009 

He is still one of the most regrettable Laker losses of my career as a fan. I also missed AP in 96, tho at least we got Shaq out of that. Artest really manned up that year, and I hate that term, but it's exactly what he did. He got help for his mental issues and kudos for that -- that was when it was less accepted than it is now. He also made giant plays in the playoffs that put him in the same stratosphere as Ron Harp, D Fish, Kobe, Big Shot Bob, (and even Trev w/ his timely steals in 09). I just hated to see Ariza go because we were the ones who honed him into a shooter, which we rarely do. We also lost desperately needed youth and athleticism in the full court. He was the only cat who could play that area of the floor as a gazelle type. Not Ron's kind of game, obviously. I think the FO was scared of Paul Pierce, but by the time we played the Smelts, we coulda beaten them w/ Ariza instead of Artest anyway, I'm convinced. Finally, Ariza's window was longer than Ron/Metta's.

@@nonplayerzealot4 hey, looks like we got that Ariza signing after all! 12 years late, but still. Anyway, I’m with you on this one - loved the Ron/MWP experience for diff reasons - obviously his great defense on Durant + clutch shots during the 2010 run, plus weird other stuff like his randomly short shorts haha. But yea, keeping Ariza prob was the right move - LAL’s athleticism evaporated in like 2 seasons it felt like

@@seanb199zero It's a good thing simply because it happened even if it's nothing more than in a technical sense. I've been miffed about the Ariza thing for years. I'm not expecting the 2008-9 forms tho, trust.

I miss NBA basketball like this.