Yeah Ron!

We find that the Pro Basketball Writers Association
has chosen Ron Artest as one of the finalists for the
J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship award. Congrats. Ron!
They stated that his tireless advocacy for mental health
issues this season was a main consideration for doing so.
Artest had earlier thanked his psychiatrist after the Lakers
victory over Boston in game 7 of the NBA Finals last June
and was praised for raffling off his championship ring to
help raise funds for mental health awareness.
Theo Ratliff was on the active roster for the first time since
undergoing left knee surgery on November 17th. He said he
would give it a try to play with the Laker team in Thursday's
game but not in a significant role. Ratliff is 38 years old this month.
The Lakers sort of lumbered along for months in third place,
but seem to have caught and passed the Dallas Mavericks.
That win gives the Lakers some more breathing room and
the victory is sweet indeed, even with the ejection of two
of our players during the game. Steve Blake and Matt
Barnes were escorted off the court. A ruckus broke out
at the end of the floor with Steve Blake being pushed down
on to the floor by Dallas participant and then Matt Barnes
came into the fray so it became very noticeable that it had to
get broken up and the Refs decided this was the best decision.
Kobe Bryant said, "In this instance, we're just minimizing
mistakes. We're just executing well. We're not on fire or
hot or anything like that. We're doing our jobs the right way."
Even without a confrontation tempers seemed to flare but
unlike the Clippers who played well over Dallas most of their game
with them, our Lakers kept at it on the floor and (although
one fan even got heated up and ejected too!) most players
kept their cool and won the game for us with score of:
110-82. Now, tonight we play Utah in Utah but back home
again on Sunday to play against Denver at noon. Playoffs
are around the corner and our boys seem very able to
meet their opponents and win. Keep it up please!
Babs Wells