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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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♪dramatic synth
drone♪

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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The entire Ron Artest
story is the story of America.

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It is the story of endless
possibility and endless...

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ability to recover from
complete failure.

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And that is the ultimate
test of humanity.

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And Ron Artest, wow, who would
have ever thought?

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This is like a movie.

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[Kobe] The only time I had ever
had to have a conversation

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with Metta World Peace was we
got finished playing the game.

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He wasn't as physical
as he normally is.

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So after the game, I'm out at
dinner and I'm eating,

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and Metta comes walking in.

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And I said -- I said, "Metta!"
He comes over and I said,

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"Wh-- What's...Where's the
physicality?

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Where's the -- the toughness?"
He was like, "Oh, man.

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You know, I'm not trying to,
you know, upset anybody

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or do anything like this, you
know?" I said, "Your name

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is Metta World Peace, right?"

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He said, "Yeah." I said,
"How do you think peace

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is accomplished?" He
goes, "I don't know."

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I said, "Through war.
[laughs]

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Win the war and then you have
peace. Got it? All right."

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[announcer] Final minute of
the season

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for the Indiana Pacers.

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The Celtics have ...
of the Pacers...

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The Celtics advance to the
second round.

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You're not gonna do anything.

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-Come on, my nigga!
-Get the fucking security!

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Get your motherfucking
security right now!

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[man] It was like a tornado
Or a hurricane.

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And that was Ron. He'd be
quiet before the storm,

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and then he'd be quiet after
the storm.

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[man] Ronnie seemed to go from
one to 100 real quick.

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You know, you weren't gonna
get a lot of warning.

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[man] I never questioned Ron's
ability. Never.

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Where he was mentally. Every
single day, I questioned.

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[man] I always remember
somebody telling me,

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"This would be the last guy
you'd wanna fight."

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[commentator] Artest is
in the stands!

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Oh, this is awful. Fans
are getting involved.

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When Ron-Ron ran in the
stands, like, I was just, aww,

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just...

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[commentator] This is a
disgrace.

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Because that is Queensbridge

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♪"Quiet Storm (Remix)" by
Mobb Deep♪

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[thunder rumbling]

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♪It's the real

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♪Hip-hop
hip-hop♪

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[Donnie] Ron's helped a lot
of people revealing his

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demons.

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His disease.

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♪"Life's a Bitch" by Nas

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♪Life's a bitch and then you
die, that's why we puff lye♪

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♪'Cause you never know
when you're gonna go♪

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♪Life's a bitch and then you
die, that's why we get high...♪

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[officer] Police, open up!
We've got a warrant.

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Police, open the door!

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♪Life's a bitch and
then you die♪

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The idea of a criminal
enterprise in New York

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had been basically
limited to the mafia.

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It was contained. Bad
people, you know,

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doing bad things
to other bad people.

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And then crack came.

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[VO] Crack, the most
addictive form of cocaine,

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is now sweeping New York.

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[Mark] And it completely
democratized the idea

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of what an illicit enterprise
was. So instead of having

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to be initiated into some
secret society,

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all of a sudden, all you
needed was baking soda,

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coke, a microwave, and a 9mm.

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You were in business,
you were a gangster.

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[man] Federal drug enforcement
agents have been saying

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for a long time that the crack
situation in New York

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is out-of-control.

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[Fredro] That was the home of
guys like the Supreme Team.

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You know, those were the guys
when I was

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comin' up in Queens.

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When crack hit, it was a way
out for some,

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and then for some people, it
was a way to hell,

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you know what I'm sayin'?
Because you might sell crack

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to your uncle, to your aunt,
to your mother.

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Like, that's how the
epidemic hit.

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A lot of people got killed.

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Crack affected a lot of
people around me,

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a lot of family members.

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[boy cries]

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[crying] Don't take my
mother, please!

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[Mark] It destroyed families,
it destroyed countless lives.

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And it was an incessant level
of violence which you had

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in those days in New York, was
the normalization of violence.

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[Mr. Cheeks] One night back
in the late 80s, you know,

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my man got killed right in
front of me.

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At the corner store, we were
usually around the corner,

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and the dude shot him and...

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That was something that I
wouldn't...

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I mean, I'm thinking about it
everyday.

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Everything was for crack. You
know, everything was about

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hustling. The crime
levels just shot up.

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If you disrespected somebody
and, you know,

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a guy might be a hustler
or whatever

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and you come up short, you
might get shot in the ass.

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[Havoc] Queensbridge was one
of the grimiest places

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that you could grow up in.

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And you could ask anybody
from anywhere else,

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from any other borough that
ever came out there

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and they'll let you know,
like, "Yeah.

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Queensbridge is crazy."

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It reflected in everything
that we did, whether it was

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you know, the music
that we was writing

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to the ball that we was
playing on the block

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or, you know, how we
acted in school.

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You know, we -- we took
Queensbridge with us.

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We wore it with pride.

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Just the whole atmosphere
just -- It really --

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It just brought out
the beast in us.

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It was the first time
in New York...

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that...

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Queens took the front
pages for crime.

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Queens was where cops were
being assassinated.

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[man] Four young men accused
of executing

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rookie cop Edward Burn. He was
gunned down while guarding

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a witness in a drug case. It
happened in Jamaica, Queens.

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The same neighborhood
where three

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of the four suspects...

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[Mark] Queens was where
the most notorious

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kingpin crack dealers
held court.

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They controlled everything.

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Basketball and the violent
life of New York

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became enmeshed.

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Your mother would tell you,
"When the lights get down,

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you know, I don't care who's
playing. Bring your ass home,"

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'cause nine times out of ten,
they was gonna start shooting.

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[man] Six blocks and
96 buildings.

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The Queensbridge Houses is the
largest housing development

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in North America, and for
years, its reputation sullied

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by gang violence and shootings.

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Queensbridge, if you can
imagine the, um...

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[inhales deeply] ...the
poverty because of people

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living, um, in low-income
circumstances,

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like, living on top
of each other.

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[N.O.R.E.] You could live in
Queensbridge

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and go to a certain part
of Astoria that is beautiful.

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But you can also turn the
wrong corner and you will die.

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This is the part that people
don't understand.

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Queensbridge is divided by
North side and South side.

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And each side is composed of
three blocks.

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You got 12th Street, 10th
Street, and Vernon

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to make up the North side.
Then on the South side,

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you've got 12th Street, 10th
Street, and Vernon,

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and it's separated like that.

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Ron grew up on 10th Street.
grew up directly

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across from me.

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[Ron] That was my original
apartment.

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And that's the apartment I --
I had the most memories of

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as a child.

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And, um... [chuckles]

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That kind of welcomed me to
Queensbridge.

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Fun times, you know, bad times.

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Father and mother fought a lot
in that house.

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Obviously, a man should never
hit a woman, right?

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But they would fight.
They hit each other.

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It was times where, you know,
police would come

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and my parents, they tell each
side of the story,

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and they're back in bed with
each other.

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As a child, when you see the
first argument,

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it's very shocking.

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You're just like,
"What happened?"

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And then as it continuously
happens,

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and then all you want
is the best for both parents.

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I really never took sides
when my parents would

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argue or fight.

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I was just like, "Can this
be over already?"

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He was, like, eight years old
the the summer of 1988

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and me and his mother
were separated

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at that time.

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I remember my dad
coming to 41-08

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telling me he's never
coming back. [chuckles]

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And I was like, "Are
you ever gonna come

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back to see us?"

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[Ron Sr.] I did stay close by.

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Close by. I saw him
everyday, uh,

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as long as we
were separated.

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It helped -- it helped
him set

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on the right track.

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[Ron] A lot of that stuff
really scarred me.

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And then I alw-- I always
walked around

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with this chip, you know, on --

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on my shoulder.

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I just couldn't get over
the fact that

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my parents and mom
were separated.

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At school, he was having
difficulty with anxiety problems

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the way he was feeling
after the separation.

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And he would get in
trouble a lot.

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[Ron] I was suspended
every year for fighting.

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Kindergarten, first grade,
second grade, every grade.

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All fighting.

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It was probably the dumbest
reasons, quite honestly

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It was, um...

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Somebody'd say something,
somebody'd brush you,

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skip in front of the
lunch line. [laughs]

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All that type of stuff.

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I had to get after him
a few times.

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You know, the old-school
discipline way.

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I never felt nothing
wrong with that.

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00:10:50,542 --> 00:10:52,457
So, uh, I kind of kept him
in line a little bit.

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My mom sent me to a service
that they had counseling

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inside one of the apartments.

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A free service.

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A lot of the kids from the
neighborhood was there.

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00:11:05,457 --> 00:11:08,375
Um, some kids had autism,

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00:11:08,457 --> 00:11:11,417
some kids had --
was bipolar.

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Some was on medication.

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It was like two of us in
there that had, like,

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anger problems like me,
but the counselor was in there

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trying to figure things out.

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She used to advise him
to take up a sport

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and he chose basketball

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and that helped him
out tremendously

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'cause while he was
on the court, he'd

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channel all his energies
to basketball,

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00:11:30,667 --> 00:11:32,582
and that kind of helped
him out a lot.

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♪tense music

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[Capone] Me and Ron's dad
always had a close,

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close relationship.

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00:11:45,834 --> 00:11:47,582
You'd see him coming,
and he'd be like,

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00:11:47,667 --> 00:11:48,582
"What's up?"

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00:11:48,667 --> 00:11:49,417
And he'd scare you
with his "What's up?"

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00:11:49,500 --> 00:11:51,040
You know what I'm sayin'?

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00:11:51,125 --> 00:11:51,792
Ron's dad was tough.

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When Ron started playing ball

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I seen a different side of him.

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00:11:56,709 --> 00:11:59,290
I seen, like, his toughness
wasn't like

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00:11:59,375 --> 00:12:01,917
an abusive father toughness,
but it was

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00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,542
"You gonna make something
out yourself" toughness.

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00:12:04,625 --> 00:12:07,417
[N.O.R.E.] One of my earliest
memories of Queensbridge,

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00:12:07,500 --> 00:12:08,250
it's snowing.

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00:12:08,332 --> 00:12:11,291
And I remember
Ron-Ron out there

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00:12:11,375 --> 00:12:14,958
with his father, and him
just running drills on him.

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00:12:15,041 --> 00:12:17,582
I remember seeing
that on 12th Street.

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00:12:17,667 --> 00:12:19,542
On motherfuckin'
12th Street.

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00:12:19,625 --> 00:12:20,958
That's one of my greatest
memories is just

244
00:12:21,041 --> 00:12:24,041
going out there with seeing
Havoc, you know,

245
00:12:24,125 --> 00:12:26,457
drinking E&J and
falling out.

246
00:12:26,542 --> 00:12:27,500
And Ron-Ron, you know,

247
00:12:27,582 --> 00:12:31,625
playing defense on his pops.

248
00:12:31,708 --> 00:12:33,792
[Havoc] It could be 10
degrees outside,

249
00:12:33,875 --> 00:12:37,000
and they would be the
only two outside

250
00:12:37,082 --> 00:12:39,207
on the basketball
court playing.

251
00:12:39,290 --> 00:12:41,125
And, you know, his father
didn't treat him

252
00:12:41,207 --> 00:12:41,917
like a little kid.

253
00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:43,250
His father used
to be like...

254
00:12:43,332 --> 00:12:44,125
You know what
I'm sayin'?

255
00:12:44,207 --> 00:12:46,290
Elbowing him, pushing him.

256
00:12:46,375 --> 00:12:49,625
I probably had some
hate towards him,

257
00:12:49,709 --> 00:12:50,959
because I would
go at him.

258
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:56,207
And he would push me
down, not let me score,

259
00:12:56,290 --> 00:12:59,667
be playing one-on-one
full-court,

260
00:12:59,750 --> 00:13:02,750
and me and my
dad all night.

261
00:13:02,833 --> 00:13:04,582
I think that's why I build
my endurance up.

262
00:13:04,667 --> 00:13:07,500
It wasn't scientific,
it wasn't planned.

263
00:13:07,582 --> 00:13:09,500
He might feel like that.

264
00:13:09,582 --> 00:13:11,000
Just me out there
playing with him

265
00:13:11,082 --> 00:13:12,417
and being a little
rough with him.

266
00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:13,207
Not dirty, nothing
to hurt him,

267
00:13:13,291 --> 00:13:14,792
but just being a
little rough

268
00:13:14,875 --> 00:13:17,082
or doing things that
they all call a foul

269
00:13:17,166 --> 00:13:18,082
if you did in a game.

270
00:13:18,166 --> 00:13:20,542
At the end of the day,
it was nothing that

271
00:13:20,625 --> 00:13:23,500
that was stopping
their process.

272
00:13:23,582 --> 00:13:26,041
It was nothing that was
stopping Big Ron's focus

273
00:13:26,125 --> 00:13:29,625
on making Ron-Ron the best
ball player he could be,

274
00:13:29,708 --> 00:13:31,667
the strongest he can be.

275
00:13:31,750 --> 00:13:34,207
And if shots rang
off, cool,

276
00:13:34,290 --> 00:13:34,959
they know they ain't
getting shot at.

277
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:37,250
They catch a
stray bullet?

278
00:13:37,332 --> 00:13:39,667
Go to the hospital,
get taped up,

279
00:13:39,750 --> 00:13:40,332
and come right back
out to the court.

280
00:13:40,417 --> 00:13:41,500
That's how it was.

281
00:13:41,582 --> 00:13:43,875
It was like nothing's easy,

282
00:13:43,959 --> 00:13:45,457
and that's how we play it.

283
00:13:45,542 --> 00:13:48,290
I started beating my
dad when I was 15.

284
00:13:48,375 --> 00:13:50,165
That's when he couldn't
beat me no more.

285
00:13:50,250 --> 00:13:51,625
And then when I was
able to beat him, I'm like,

286
00:13:51,709 --> 00:13:54,875
"This is how I gotta play
[chuckles] to win."

287
00:13:55,750 --> 00:13:57,125
[man] That's it. So the
bottom line is the win,

288
00:13:57,207 --> 00:13:59,750
- so I'm winning...
- Leave the refs alone.

289
00:13:59,834 --> 00:14:01,000
[ man] The bottom
line is a win,

290
00:14:01,082 --> 00:14:01,958
and that's what we're tryin'
to do on three, win.

291
00:14:02,041 --> 00:14:06,332
[Havoc] The pickup games
in Queensbridge,

292
00:14:06,417 --> 00:14:09,875
they was equally as brutal
as me watching

293
00:14:09,958 --> 00:14:11,375
Ron and his dad
on the court,

294
00:14:11,457 --> 00:14:13,207
if not worse.

295
00:14:13,291 --> 00:14:15,125
When you playin' against
dudes, you know,

296
00:14:15,207 --> 00:14:18,082
on a court that's not
your family, you know,

297
00:14:18,166 --> 00:14:21,000
you could get an elbow,
you could lose a tooth.

298
00:14:21,500 --> 00:14:23,917
[Ron] On my block, it was
no layups. [laughs]

299
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,792
My block was very
intense, you know?

300
00:14:25,875 --> 00:14:26,958
We had a guy
named Yammy

301
00:14:27,041 --> 00:14:28,708
and when he would lose,
he would bring out his gun.

302
00:14:28,792 --> 00:14:32,250
[chuckles]
Really simple.

303
00:14:32,332 --> 00:14:35,417
I remember Lloyd
Newton being killed.

304
00:14:35,500 --> 00:14:36,165
He was a idol of ours,

305
00:14:36,250 --> 00:14:37,625
really smart point guard,

306
00:14:37,709 --> 00:14:39,792
tall point guard.

307
00:14:39,875 --> 00:14:41,917
Somebody just pulled a
chair leg from a table

308
00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,375
and threw it and it went
through his heart.

309
00:14:43,457 --> 00:14:46,582
I wasn't there, but when
that happened,

310
00:14:46,667 --> 00:14:49,750
it changed the whole
complexity of

311
00:14:49,834 --> 00:14:51,542
of neighborhood basketball.

312
00:14:52,375 --> 00:14:56,792
The street culture had
come in with the game,

313
00:14:56,875 --> 00:14:58,375
and it had perverted
the game,

314
00:14:58,457 --> 00:15:00,582
and -- and it -- it had
infected the game

315
00:15:00,667 --> 00:15:02,375
with its violence.

316
00:15:03,250 --> 00:15:05,792
As Ron got older, it was
either drugs or sports

317
00:15:05,875 --> 00:15:07,000
then, you know
what I'm sayin'?

318
00:15:07,082 --> 00:15:10,375
You was either slinging
crack or you was playin' ball.

319
00:15:11,207 --> 00:15:14,125
Hustling was something
that was very intriguing.

320
00:15:14,207 --> 00:15:17,417
I learned how to cook crack,
learned how to cut up

321
00:15:17,500 --> 00:15:18,792
the cookies and stuff.

322
00:15:18,875 --> 00:15:21,375
It's like, "A'ight,
cool, here we go."

323
00:15:21,457 --> 00:15:23,082
I remember making
my first sale.

324
00:15:23,166 --> 00:15:27,457
It was a crackhead

325
00:15:28,792 --> 00:15:32,917
who would always come
and buy it from my family.

326
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,165
I remember giving the
crackhead the money

327
00:15:35,250 --> 00:15:38,000
and just running
back in the house.

328
00:15:38,082 --> 00:15:39,082
I didn't even take
the money

329
00:15:39,165 --> 00:15:40,500
and my cousin was like,
"Yo, where the money at?"

330
00:15:40,582 --> 00:15:43,332
I'm like, "Yo...

331
00:15:43,417 --> 00:15:46,290
I--I--I didn't have time
to take the money."

332
00:15:46,959 --> 00:15:48,165
[thunder crashing]

333
00:15:48,250 --> 00:15:51,375
I was scared. I was
scared to selling --

334
00:15:51,457 --> 00:15:53,834
to be selling drugs,
quite honestly, you know.

335
00:15:53,917 --> 00:15:57,207
I didn't like it, I didn't
like feeling, you know?

336
00:15:57,290 --> 00:15:59,125
Um, it just was not for me.

337
00:15:59,207 --> 00:16:01,792
It was that simple. I knew
right then and there

338
00:16:01,875 --> 00:16:03,917
I was not gonna be
a drug dealer.

339
00:16:10,792 --> 00:16:14,250
[thunder rolls]

340
00:16:21,250 --> 00:16:23,750
[N.O.R.E.] KRS made this song
called "The Bridge is Over."

341
00:16:23,833 --> 00:16:26,207
♪The Bridge is over
the Bridge is over...♪

342
00:16:26,291 --> 00:16:27,875
And you wanted to hate
every word he said

343
00:16:27,958 --> 00:16:31,667
when he said "The
Bridge is over."

344
00:16:31,750 --> 00:16:34,917
But the record was
so fuckin' hot!

345
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,500
♪Manhattan keeps on makin' it
Brooklyn keeps on takin' it♪

346
00:16:37,582 --> 00:16:39,332
♪Bronx keeps creatin' it and
Queens keeps on fakin' it♪

347
00:16:39,417 --> 00:16:41,207
♪Yeah

348
00:16:41,290 --> 00:16:43,667
[Fredro] That was a hit
record KRS-ONE had,

349
00:16:43,750 --> 00:16:44,582
and every time
they played it,

350
00:16:44,667 --> 00:16:46,082
"Queens keeps on fakin' it,"

351
00:16:46,165 --> 00:16:48,207
that was just like a blow
to the whole Queens.

352
00:16:48,290 --> 00:16:49,792
Wherever you was from in
Queens... [record scratch]

353
00:16:49,875 --> 00:16:51,417
that -- that was a dis.

354
00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:53,959
Damn...

355
00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:58,417
But it also pumped
something in every

356
00:16:58,500 --> 00:17:00,958
Queens kid's heart.

357
00:17:01,041 --> 00:17:04,541
And it said, "Nobody
will ever say

358
00:17:04,625 --> 00:17:08,666
'Queens is
fakin' it' again."

359
00:17:09,165 --> 00:17:11,500
♪"Made You Look"
by Nas♪

360
00:17:13,125 --> 00:17:15,583
♪Now, let's get it
all in perspective♪

361
00:17:15,666 --> 00:17:18,834
♪For all y'all enjoyment
a song y'all can step with♪

362
00:17:18,916 --> 00:17:20,625
♪Y'all appointed me
to bring rap justice♪

363
00:17:20,709 --> 00:17:23,791
♪But I ain't five-oh
y'all know it's Nas, yo♪

364
00:17:23,875 --> 00:17:27,333
From that moment,
KRS-ONE birthed

365
00:17:27,416 --> 00:17:31,959
every greatest Queens
athlete ever.

366
00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,416
He's also birthed every
greatest Queens MC ever,

367
00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:39,541
because we will
never, ever, ever

368
00:17:39,625 --> 00:17:44,541
let that statement
become true again in life.

369
00:17:44,625 --> 00:17:46,875
And that's why you got
people like N.O.R.E.

370
00:17:46,959 --> 00:17:48,165
You got people
from, like, Nas,

371
00:17:48,250 --> 00:17:52,541
you have people like
Mobb Deep, LL Cool J

372
00:17:52,625 --> 00:17:54,125
and Run DMC.

373
00:17:54,208 --> 00:17:55,750
Because we had to let
y'all know that

374
00:17:55,834 --> 00:17:57,541
that statement was
just a battle rap.

375
00:17:57,625 --> 00:17:59,791
[laughs]

376
00:17:59,875 --> 00:18:02,750
And that's clearly it.
We here.

377
00:18:02,834 --> 00:18:03,791
♪I made you look

378
00:18:03,875 --> 00:18:06,583
♪You a slave to a page
in my rhyme book♪

379
00:18:06,666 --> 00:18:09,500
The music, you know,
during that time in --

380
00:18:09,583 --> 00:18:13,040
in that era, the content that
was coming out was, like,

381
00:18:13,125 --> 00:18:14,916
really gritty, hard,

382
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,040
it told stories of what
we was goin' through,

383
00:18:19,125 --> 00:18:20,500
what we wanted to be.

384
00:18:20,583 --> 00:18:22,583
You know, the situation
that we was in,

385
00:18:22,666 --> 00:18:23,458
how we wanted to
get out of it.

386
00:18:23,541 --> 00:18:24,959
Queens was the capital
of lyricism,

387
00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:26,165
you know what
I mean? And to me,

388
00:18:26,250 --> 00:18:27,875
you know what I'm
sayin', the good music

389
00:18:27,959 --> 00:18:28,666
came out of Queens.

390
00:18:28,750 --> 00:18:30,709
One thing you don't
want to do

391
00:18:30,791 --> 00:18:33,541
is you don't want
to be going to jail.

392
00:18:33,625 --> 00:18:34,834
You gotta -- You gotta,
you know,

393
00:18:34,916 --> 00:18:38,625
pretty much attach
yourself to something

394
00:18:38,709 --> 00:18:41,333
positive, and music was it.

395
00:18:41,416 --> 00:18:43,165
As I started to
go outside,

396
00:18:43,250 --> 00:18:45,416
then you hear about
Mobb Deep.

397
00:18:45,500 --> 00:18:46,750
And you heard,
"Oh, wow,

398
00:18:46,834 --> 00:18:47,791
these guys are
pretty famous."

399
00:18:47,875 --> 00:18:49,709
Like, "Oh, word?
Those guys that

400
00:18:49,791 --> 00:18:51,834
live on the third floor?"

401
00:18:51,916 --> 00:18:53,083
"And they got records
on the radio."

402
00:18:53,165 --> 00:18:54,208
"Oh, that's pretty cool."

403
00:18:54,290 --> 00:18:56,916
Then you hear about Nas.
"Who's Nas?"

404
00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,375
"Nas from Vernon."
"Yo, he's from Queensbridge?

405
00:18:59,458 --> 00:19:01,000
That's pretty dope."

406
00:19:01,083 --> 00:19:03,208
Ron loved music, but when
I seen Ron start to rap,

407
00:19:03,290 --> 00:19:05,000
at first I was like, "Come
on, man. Put --

408
00:19:05,083 --> 00:19:06,791
What are you doing?
You know what

409
00:19:06,875 --> 00:19:07,375
I'm sayin'? What are
you doing?

410
00:19:07,458 --> 00:19:09,250
Stick to ball, man."

411
00:19:15,750 --> 00:19:18,290
I was, uh, a star
at La Salle

412
00:19:18,375 --> 00:19:20,040
and they brung...
[sighs]

413
00:19:20,125 --> 00:19:21,040
the skinny kid
from Queens.

414
00:19:21,125 --> 00:19:23,040
He played for the same
AAU team I played for

415
00:19:23,125 --> 00:19:25,125
so I -- I knew Ron.

416
00:19:26,625 --> 00:19:30,333
[Ron] There was a all-boys'
school. Catholic.

417
00:19:30,416 --> 00:19:33,666
[Ron] I think I got in a fight
in the hallway. [chuckles]

418
00:19:33,750 --> 00:19:37,083
I remember being suspended.

419
00:19:37,165 --> 00:19:38,125
I remember them saying,

420
00:19:38,208 --> 00:19:41,040
"If you do this again,
we're kicking you out."

421
00:19:41,125 --> 00:19:42,916
And they sat me
the first 13 games

422
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,083
of my freshman year,

423
00:19:45,165 --> 00:19:47,165
and it sucked.

424
00:19:47,250 --> 00:19:49,750
[Shammgod] He didn't really
have a skillset at this point.

425
00:19:49,834 --> 00:19:51,250
I used to always tell him
to come in the mornings

426
00:19:51,333 --> 00:19:52,250
just to work on his skills.

427
00:19:52,333 --> 00:19:52,875
I'm like, "You need to
learn how to dribble,

428
00:19:52,959 --> 00:19:54,500
shoot, stuff like that."

429
00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:57,375
[crowd cheering]

430
00:19:57,458 --> 00:20:00,416
[Bill] His reputation, of
course, preceded him.

431
00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:03,583
That he was a tough,
tough player.

432
00:20:03,666 --> 00:20:06,416
And he wouldn't take
anything from anybody.

433
00:20:06,500 --> 00:20:09,541
I gotta attribute that
a lot to his father.

434
00:20:09,625 --> 00:20:11,125
I guess he said, "If I can
play against my father,

435
00:20:11,208 --> 00:20:13,375
I can play against anybody.

436
00:20:15,165 --> 00:20:17,875
I always found Ron
a hard kid

437
00:20:17,959 --> 00:20:20,250
and then a hard
guy not to like.

438
00:20:20,333 --> 00:20:23,125
There -- You know, despite
the rough exterior

439
00:20:23,208 --> 00:20:25,458
and the fact that he
looks like he's a --

440
00:20:25,541 --> 00:20:27,250
you know, like
a raging bull,

441
00:20:27,333 --> 00:20:27,959
there's actually, like
a soft spot

442
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,083
and a sweetness to him.

443
00:20:30,165 --> 00:20:31,458
He worked hard that summer.

444
00:20:31,541 --> 00:20:33,709
You know, he was playing
AAU or Riverside

445
00:20:33,791 --> 00:20:36,959
and they had Elton Brand,
they had Lamar Odom.

446
00:20:37,959 --> 00:20:39,709
I knew right away from
the first time I --

447
00:20:39,791 --> 00:20:41,290
I played against him
that he would be the

448
00:20:41,375 --> 00:20:44,333
toughest competition
the rest of my life.

449
00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:48,959
[Bill] That was one of the
greatest AAU teams of all time.

450
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,125
Ronnie and Elton Brand...

451
00:20:51,208 --> 00:20:54,290
You know, that was a
hell of a front line alone.

452
00:20:54,375 --> 00:20:55,290
Lamar Odom...

453
00:20:55,375 --> 00:20:57,666
You're not -- You're not
gonna beat that team.

454
00:20:57,750 --> 00:20:59,333
[laughs]

455
00:20:59,416 --> 00:21:01,208
[Mark] I think that for those
kids they formed a kind of

456
00:21:01,290 --> 00:21:03,165
aristocracy of -- of talent.

457
00:21:03,250 --> 00:21:06,000
What that team symbolizes

458
00:21:06,083 --> 00:21:07,834
was that there was
no going back.

459
00:21:07,916 --> 00:21:09,666
The shift was now final.

460
00:21:09,750 --> 00:21:12,165
The -- The path of the
game was inexorable.

461
00:21:12,250 --> 00:21:15,791
The real team,
the money team,

462
00:21:15,875 --> 00:21:17,750
was going to be the AAU squads,

463
00:21:17,834 --> 00:21:19,250
not your high school team.

464
00:21:20,290 --> 00:21:21,333
[crowd cheering]

465
00:21:21,416 --> 00:21:24,125
[Elton] Lamar Odom had a
six-inch growth spurt.

466
00:21:24,208 --> 00:21:26,500
You know, he went
from 6'1" to 6'7"

467
00:21:26,583 --> 00:21:28,000
from, like, ninth
to tenth grade.

468
00:21:28,083 --> 00:21:31,875
Silky-smooth point guard.

469
00:21:31,959 --> 00:21:33,875
It was almost not fair,
'cause I'm, like,

470
00:21:33,959 --> 00:21:36,375
a 6'4" center
[laughs]

471
00:21:36,458 --> 00:21:38,583
and they're telling me I got
talent. I'm watching him

472
00:21:38,666 --> 00:21:40,875
and just move and pass the
ball, unselfish,

473
00:21:40,959 --> 00:21:43,000
just amazing player.

474
00:21:43,083 --> 00:21:44,583
And Ron Artest
was the enforcer.

475
00:21:44,666 --> 00:21:45,165
You know, that's --
that's who he is,

476
00:21:45,250 --> 00:21:46,875
that's who he was.

477
00:21:46,959 --> 00:21:49,750
Defensive stopper.

478
00:21:50,583 --> 00:21:53,541
That's where we learned
how to play unselfishly.

479
00:21:53,625 --> 00:21:56,834
We always knew Lamar
was the most skilled,

480
00:21:56,916 --> 00:21:57,959
Elton was the best,

481
00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,666
I was pretty damn good.

482
00:22:00,750 --> 00:22:03,709
[Mark] Ron always made the
right basketball play.

483
00:22:03,791 --> 00:22:07,040
It's like he learned the game
at a Jewish summer camp.

484
00:22:07,125 --> 00:22:08,916
All that being said,

485
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,375
there was something
scary about the guy.

486
00:22:11,458 --> 00:22:13,040
There was a look
in his eyes,

487
00:22:13,125 --> 00:22:15,040
you didn't want to
mess with him,

488
00:22:15,125 --> 00:22:17,000
because he could
go off on you.

489
00:22:17,083 --> 00:22:18,250
[woman] Oh, no, he
didn't!

490
00:22:18,333 --> 00:22:19,959
No, he didn't!

491
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,583
We were playing a
tournament in St. Louis,

492
00:22:22,666 --> 00:22:24,709
and this is their home
tournament and

493
00:22:24,791 --> 00:22:27,583
the guy was scoring a little
too much for Ron's liking

494
00:22:27,666 --> 00:22:30,666
and he ended up, you know,
punching him in the face,

495
00:22:30,750 --> 00:22:32,165
coming off the pick.

496
00:22:32,250 --> 00:22:35,250
There was a -- a jaw
that was, uh, displaced.

497
00:22:35,333 --> 00:22:38,458
But that's who
Ron was, he's --

498
00:22:38,541 --> 00:22:41,290
He had pride
in his defense.

499
00:22:41,375 --> 00:22:42,416
I remember --
[sighs]

500
00:22:42,500 --> 00:22:44,333
We was watching a
high school game

501
00:22:44,416 --> 00:22:45,916
and there was a game
before us and this guy

502
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:47,416
got on my nerves

503
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:48,083
and I threw him
down, like,

504
00:22:48,165 --> 00:22:50,666
20 sets of bleachers

505
00:22:50,750 --> 00:22:51,458
from really high up.

506
00:22:53,165 --> 00:22:54,250
Um...

507
00:22:54,333 --> 00:22:55,250
It was pretty bad.

508
00:22:55,333 --> 00:22:57,416
Ron just picked him up...

509
00:22:57,500 --> 00:22:58,375
over his head and, like,

510
00:22:58,458 --> 00:23:00,125
just threw him down
the fucking stairs.

511
00:23:00,208 --> 00:23:02,959
That shit, that was crazy.

512
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:04,709
Ron, when he goes there,
ain't no stopping him.

513
00:23:07,333 --> 00:23:08,375
[Ron] I didn't really care.

514
00:23:08,458 --> 00:23:09,791
You know, when I was
younger, I didn't really

515
00:23:09,875 --> 00:23:13,541
care about anybody,
what they thought.

516
00:23:13,625 --> 00:23:15,250
You know, all I know is

517
00:23:15,333 --> 00:23:16,875
I'm here to play basketball.

518
00:23:16,959 --> 00:23:17,959
Get the hell out of
Queensbridge

519
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:18,709
for a little bit.

520
00:23:20,541 --> 00:23:22,125
[indistinct shouting]

521
00:23:23,375 --> 00:23:26,083
[Bill] When Shammgod left,
he became the focal point

522
00:23:26,165 --> 00:23:28,000
for the next two years.

523
00:23:28,083 --> 00:23:31,083
And we had very, very
successful years with him.

524
00:23:31,165 --> 00:23:33,458
The final year, we played
Christ the King,

525
00:23:33,541 --> 00:23:35,125
who was loaded, uh,
in the semi-finals

526
00:23:35,208 --> 00:23:37,750
of the city championship.

527
00:23:37,834 --> 00:23:40,875
And, uh, we were
down at half.

528
00:23:41,541 --> 00:23:43,834
I remember yelling at the
kids, saying, you know,

529
00:23:43,916 --> 00:23:45,916
"We rode this guy's
back the whole year.

530
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,666
Let's continue the --
the ride."

531
00:23:48,750 --> 00:23:51,875
And he went crazy
the second half.

532
00:23:51,959 --> 00:23:53,959
I remember he started
off the third quarter

533
00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,250
with a monstrous dunk.

534
00:23:56,333 --> 00:23:58,208
And, of course, we ended up
winning.

535
00:23:59,916 --> 00:24:02,250
We were the last team
since 1970

536
00:24:02,333 --> 00:24:05,165
to win the city championship
undefeated.

537
00:24:05,250 --> 00:24:08,750
It was him that, quote unquote
"willed us" into that --

538
00:24:08,834 --> 00:24:10,333
that record.

539
00:24:10,416 --> 00:24:11,500
When I took
him out of the game,

540
00:24:11,583 --> 00:24:12,666
when the game was
basically over,

541
00:24:12,750 --> 00:24:16,333
he had so many kids and
people from Queensbridge

542
00:24:16,416 --> 00:24:19,040
that was there,
it was incredible.

543
00:24:19,125 --> 00:24:20,875
And he actually went
up in the stands

544
00:24:20,959 --> 00:24:22,750
and they hugged him.

545
00:24:22,834 --> 00:24:24,625
It was very emotional.

546
00:24:27,791 --> 00:24:31,125
[Ron] At that age, at -- What
was I? 17 years old?

547
00:24:31,208 --> 00:24:33,541
There was a bunch of things
going on at that time.

548
00:24:33,625 --> 00:24:35,165
My little sister passed away.

549
00:24:35,250 --> 00:24:36,541
She was two-and-a-half months.

550
00:24:36,625 --> 00:24:38,375
She passed away
in the bed.

551
00:24:38,458 --> 00:24:40,040
Sudden infant death syndrome.

552
00:24:40,125 --> 00:24:41,959
Dedicated every game to her.

553
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,375
I remember, it was just hell.

554
00:24:45,458 --> 00:24:47,375
And I also had a baby
come at that time also.

555
00:24:47,458 --> 00:24:52,125
I was trying to
become a parent...

556
00:24:52,208 --> 00:24:54,208
...and a family man
at 17 years old.

557
00:24:54,290 --> 00:24:56,709
My brother, he did ten years.

558
00:24:56,791 --> 00:24:58,083
He got snitched on when
he was drug trafficking

559
00:24:58,165 --> 00:24:59,541
and he didn't tell.

560
00:24:59,625 --> 00:25:02,290
I remember,
I remember the day.

561
00:25:02,375 --> 00:25:06,165
I was right at the same spot
that Capone shot a cop

562
00:25:06,250 --> 00:25:07,458
maybe, like, three
years earlier.

563
00:25:07,541 --> 00:25:10,416
And that kind of hurt
me because

564
00:25:10,500 --> 00:25:11,916
I had no guidance.

565
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,165
And I look back at that and
I'm like, "Wow, you know?

566
00:25:14,250 --> 00:25:17,000
Um, how did you do that?"

567
00:25:19,333 --> 00:25:19,750
You ready?

568
00:25:19,834 --> 00:25:20,666
Yeah, I'm ready.

569
00:25:23,125 --> 00:25:26,165
I just feel like a big
storm is coming

570
00:25:26,250 --> 00:25:28,750
I--I don't know. I
don't know, man.

571
00:25:28,834 --> 00:25:29,916
I don't know.

572
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:30,875
[applause]

573
00:25:30,959 --> 00:25:34,208
I picked St. John's
because New York --

574
00:25:34,290 --> 00:25:35,290
New York fans and

575
00:25:35,375 --> 00:25:38,083
there's no better basketball
other than New York.

576
00:25:38,165 --> 00:25:39,541
[Jarvis] If I knew how it was
gonna've gone,

577
00:25:39,625 --> 00:25:42,125
I might not have taken the
job, to be honest with you.

578
00:25:42,208 --> 00:25:44,791
Ron -- R-- We had a lot
of fights. [laughs]

579
00:25:44,875 --> 00:25:49,250
It was -- It was, at times,
you'd think it was --

580
00:25:49,333 --> 00:25:50,250
you were watching
the circus.

581
00:25:50,333 --> 00:25:52,625
Every time I'd meet somebody

582
00:25:52,709 --> 00:25:54,625
that I played with back
in the days, they like,

583
00:25:54,709 --> 00:25:56,666
"You remember this story?"
I'm like, "No.

584
00:25:56,750 --> 00:25:58,959
I don't remember
the -- [laughs]

585
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:00,666
the -- my 100th
fight." [laughs]

586
00:26:02,375 --> 00:26:04,583
[Jarvis] He was the first.

587
00:26:04,666 --> 00:26:06,500
He was also the last
player I ever had that

588
00:26:06,583 --> 00:26:09,750
had those kinds of
mood swings.

589
00:26:09,834 --> 00:26:13,916
I knew there was something
that was off.

590
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,083
Something wasn't
quite right.

591
00:26:17,165 --> 00:26:18,709
Well, he was bipolar.

592
00:26:18,791 --> 00:26:24,375
He had a -- I guess it was
a chemical, uh, imbalance.

593
00:26:24,458 --> 00:26:25,165
You know, people would
say, "Ah, he's crazy."

594
00:26:25,250 --> 00:26:27,250
He wasn't crazy.

595
00:26:27,333 --> 00:26:29,500
I mean, first of all, he's too
smart anyhow, you know.

596
00:26:29,583 --> 00:26:31,834
But second of all, um,

597
00:26:31,916 --> 00:26:34,208
he had a -- he --
he had a...

598
00:26:34,290 --> 00:26:35,750
He had a disease, he
couldn't handle it.

599
00:26:37,165 --> 00:26:40,834
We'd be having a practice,
things would be going great.

600
00:26:40,916 --> 00:26:41,500
And then all of a sudden,
something would happen

601
00:26:41,583 --> 00:26:43,709
and Ron would just go off.

602
00:26:43,791 --> 00:26:47,125
And I would blow the
whistle, call a timeout,

603
00:26:47,208 --> 00:26:48,083
and I would pray.

604
00:26:48,165 --> 00:26:51,000
99 percent of the time,
that worked.

605
00:26:51,083 --> 00:26:53,416
Ron would calm down,

606
00:26:53,500 --> 00:26:55,750
and then I'd say, "Okay,
get a drink of water,"

607
00:26:55,834 --> 00:26:57,416
and we'd go back to work.

608
00:26:57,500 --> 00:27:00,583
This particular
Sunday evening,

609
00:27:00,666 --> 00:27:05,333
about 20 minutes later,
I call my second timeout.

610
00:27:05,416 --> 00:27:08,375
And we pray again,
and we come back out.

611
00:27:08,458 --> 00:27:10,541
Maybe 20 minutes later,

612
00:27:10,625 --> 00:27:13,625
I gotta call a
third timeout.

613
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,083
I said, "Ron...

614
00:27:17,165 --> 00:27:19,750
...I want you to
leave the gym."

615
00:27:19,834 --> 00:27:21,375
Well ---
[inhales]

616
00:27:21,458 --> 00:27:24,834
As -- On his way out,

617
00:27:24,916 --> 00:27:28,250
he picked up every ball
off the two-bar racks

618
00:27:28,333 --> 00:27:30,208
and threw it up into
the balcony in the --

619
00:27:30,290 --> 00:27:31,709
in the arena.

620
00:27:31,791 --> 00:27:36,458
Then, he took the ball
rack and threw that up.

621
00:27:36,541 --> 00:27:39,125
And then he slammed
his way out the gym.

622
00:27:39,208 --> 00:27:42,040
It was too much.
Too much, um...

623
00:27:42,125 --> 00:27:43,375
Way too much intensity.

624
00:27:43,458 --> 00:27:45,959
[chuckles]
Way too much.

625
00:27:47,083 --> 00:27:50,083
[Jarvis] I go up to my office,
I open the door.

626
00:27:50,165 --> 00:27:52,375
...the second secretary
used to have this

627
00:27:52,458 --> 00:27:54,165
old-fashioned
typewriter

628
00:27:54,250 --> 00:27:57,165
on her desk as you
enter the locker room.

629
00:27:57,250 --> 00:28:00,583
So the l-- The -- The
typewriter wasn't there.

630
00:28:00,666 --> 00:28:03,750
The typewriter was

631
00:28:03,834 --> 00:28:06,709
lodged into the wall.
[laughs]

632
00:28:06,791 --> 00:28:09,208
So I'm saying to myself,
"Damn, I didn't believe

633
00:28:09,290 --> 00:28:10,709
anybody could be
that strong."

634
00:28:10,791 --> 00:28:14,333
The typewriter's basically
part of the wall now.

635
00:28:15,125 --> 00:28:18,000
The next morning, uh,
you know, I had called Ron.

636
00:28:18,083 --> 00:28:19,750
He came in and he
was remorseful.

637
00:28:19,834 --> 00:28:23,541
He was really, really,
really sad.

638
00:28:23,625 --> 00:28:25,083
I never had a player
or anybody like that

639
00:28:25,165 --> 00:28:27,625
in my life

640
00:28:27,709 --> 00:28:29,875
that could go from being,

641
00:28:29,959 --> 00:28:31,625
I mean, the kindest,

642
00:28:31,709 --> 00:28:36,583
most gentle,
soft-spoken,

643
00:28:36,666 --> 00:28:40,875
mannerly, sweet,
lovable person

644
00:28:40,959 --> 00:28:41,625
to being,

645
00:28:41,709 --> 00:28:45,333
like, totally the opposite.

646
00:28:45,416 --> 00:28:48,959
Never had anybody in
my life like that, ever.

647
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:50,250
[commentator] This game
is sold-out.

648
00:28:50,333 --> 00:28:52,541
It's the first sell-out at
Madison Square Garden

649
00:28:52,625 --> 00:28:54,208
for St. John's in
three years.

650
00:28:54,290 --> 00:28:56,125
[man] For St. John's Ron
Artest led only the

651
00:28:56,208 --> 00:28:59,250
second triple double
in the school's history

652
00:28:59,333 --> 00:29:00,791
against Seton Hall
a few weeks ago.

653
00:29:00,875 --> 00:29:02,709
An outstanding
all-around player.

654
00:29:02,791 --> 00:29:05,290
The only reason I started
scoring is because

655
00:29:05,375 --> 00:29:09,666
media, NBA fans, they
wasn't recognizing defense

656
00:29:09,750 --> 00:29:11,458
or deflections, you know?

657
00:29:11,541 --> 00:29:13,000
Or being disruptive.

658
00:29:13,083 --> 00:29:15,583
And they didn't see that,
so I said, "Okay, I'm

659
00:29:15,666 --> 00:29:17,834
just gonna start
averaging 20, 20+."

660
00:29:17,916 --> 00:29:19,416
That's when I started
working on my game

661
00:29:19,500 --> 00:29:22,000
was because they
wasn't paying people

662
00:29:22,083 --> 00:29:25,083
who was having no points
and no rebounds.

663
00:29:26,333 --> 00:29:30,208
[commentator] Artest moves
closer...

664
00:29:30,290 --> 00:29:33,000
Good! With one
second left!

665
00:29:33,083 --> 00:29:35,333
[man] Artest, does he
come out big or not?

666
00:29:35,416 --> 00:29:37,834
[man] Some shot by Artest,
and he's done all of this

667
00:29:37,916 --> 00:29:40,250
with four fouls on him.

668
00:29:42,083 --> 00:29:45,375
And anybody that thought
that he couldn't play

669
00:29:45,458 --> 00:29:48,666
beyond the foul line,
this kid, with time,

670
00:29:48,750 --> 00:29:52,666
this could be a
really, really great

671
00:29:52,750 --> 00:29:53,834
offensive player as well.

672
00:29:53,916 --> 00:29:57,416
Everybody knew how
good his defense was.

673
00:29:57,500 --> 00:29:59,165
And I think for Ron,
it just gave him

674
00:29:59,250 --> 00:30:03,875
that confidence that a kid
from Queensbridge needs.

675
00:30:03,959 --> 00:30:05,040
When I watched him
play at St. John's,

676
00:30:05,125 --> 00:30:07,875
I just thought to myself,
"This guy's gonna give

677
00:30:07,959 --> 00:30:10,250
a heart attack to
guys in the NBA,

678
00:30:10,333 --> 00:30:11,875
because he's gonna
go after them.

679
00:30:11,959 --> 00:30:13,208
He's not gonna back off."

680
00:30:13,290 --> 00:30:15,290
And I'm talking about
the best guys in the league.

681
00:30:16,125 --> 00:30:19,750
[Ron] I was really focused
on the court.

682
00:30:19,834 --> 00:30:20,834
And, um, you know,

683
00:30:20,916 --> 00:30:23,290
and I wanted to
just go to the NBA.

684
00:30:23,375 --> 00:30:27,875
With the 16th pick in
the 1999 NBA draft,

685
00:30:27,959 --> 00:30:29,583
the Chicago Bulls

686
00:30:29,666 --> 00:30:33,709
select Ron Artest from
St. John's University.

687
00:30:33,791 --> 00:30:37,125
[cheers and applause]

688
00:30:41,666 --> 00:30:43,458
Nah. [laughs]

689
00:30:43,541 --> 00:30:45,709
Playin' with the
camera a little bit.

690
00:30:45,791 --> 00:30:47,083
[Bill] I think getting
out of New York,

691
00:30:47,165 --> 00:30:49,375
-going to Chicago...
-How you doin'?

692
00:30:49,458 --> 00:30:52,916
...Being away from
his following,

693
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,959
I think that was
good for him.

694
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,165
Hi, baby.
Congratulations...

695
00:30:58,250 --> 00:30:59,583
-I see y'all later.
-Okay, now.

696
00:30:59,666 --> 00:31:02,125
[Bill] And, of course, Elton
Brand was also drafted from,

697
00:31:02,208 --> 00:31:04,375
so it wasn't like he
was going to a team

698
00:31:04,458 --> 00:31:06,000
that he knew nobody.

699
00:31:06,083 --> 00:31:07,040
We did it, we did
it together.

700
00:31:07,125 --> 00:31:09,875
And Ron and I were the
"baby Bulls." [laughs]

701
00:31:09,959 --> 00:31:12,583
We were on the same
team, so it was just --

702
00:31:12,666 --> 00:31:13,500
It was just a whirlwind.

703
00:31:14,165 --> 00:31:15,916
[Havoc] I seen Big Ron on
the block. He said,

704
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,333
"Yo, your boy going to
the league and all that."

705
00:31:19,416 --> 00:31:20,916
You see him?
He's a monster."

706
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:22,791
I was like, "That's
what you made!

707
00:31:22,875 --> 00:31:23,791
You know what I'm sayin'?
You made a monster!"

708
00:31:23,875 --> 00:31:25,791
And then that's what
he became:

709
00:31:25,875 --> 00:31:27,000
a monster in the league.

710
00:31:28,583 --> 00:31:32,000
♪tense piano

711
00:31:32,709 --> 00:31:35,040
[Ron] I was often fearful

712
00:31:35,125 --> 00:31:37,791
of going to the NBA
because I seen

713
00:31:37,875 --> 00:31:39,125
Antony Mason's arms.

714
00:31:39,208 --> 00:31:42,625
[chuckles] And then
you see Oakley. [laughs]

715
00:31:42,709 --> 00:31:44,791
And Malone.

716
00:31:44,875 --> 00:31:45,916
I always asked myself,
"Could I do this?"

717
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:50,500
And then I said, "Yeah, I
just have to be mean."

718
00:31:50,583 --> 00:31:53,208
I really had to have
a lot of hate for people

719
00:31:53,290 --> 00:31:55,208
when I would play.

720
00:31:55,290 --> 00:31:56,709
You know, um...

721
00:31:56,791 --> 00:31:59,583
And I would think bad
things about people.

722
00:32:01,458 --> 00:32:04,458
I was very stressed
at that time.

723
00:32:04,541 --> 00:32:06,208
You know, I was very
stressed because..

724
00:32:06,290 --> 00:32:08,040
Really, I don't know why.
I had money. [laughs]

725
00:32:08,125 --> 00:32:11,791
But I was super hungry,
you know? Um, still.

726
00:32:11,875 --> 00:32:14,750
And when I made it,
I became more hungry,

727
00:32:14,834 --> 00:32:17,791
and more crazy, and more
everything, you know?

728
00:32:17,875 --> 00:32:20,541
Everything was magnified.

729
00:32:20,625 --> 00:32:23,333
Uh, so it was really
a lot of things

730
00:32:23,416 --> 00:32:24,458
going on in my head.

731
00:32:24,541 --> 00:32:26,000
I remember there were him

732
00:32:26,083 --> 00:32:27,250
wrestling with Glenn
Robinson,

733
00:32:27,333 --> 00:32:28,834
them falling out
of bounds.

734
00:32:28,916 --> 00:32:29,875
[man] Oh! And Artest is

735
00:32:29,959 --> 00:32:33,541
really upset with
Robinson!...

736
00:32:33,625 --> 00:32:35,875
I remember, uh, seeing
Ronnie play for the Bulls,

737
00:32:35,959 --> 00:32:38,791
and he was good
for the Bulls.

738
00:32:38,875 --> 00:32:41,208
But something happened
between them.

739
00:32:41,290 --> 00:32:41,875
Brad Miller did
something to Shaq,

740
00:32:41,959 --> 00:32:44,375
then Shaq went after him.

741
00:32:44,458 --> 00:32:46,165
And here comes Ronnie
and he jumps on

742
00:32:46,250 --> 00:32:48,541
Shaq's back. [laughing]
And I'm thinking,

743
00:32:48,625 --> 00:32:50,500
"Oh, you gotta be crazy."

744
00:32:50,583 --> 00:32:52,250
But that was him.
He --

745
00:32:52,333 --> 00:32:53,458
You know, he was all-out.

746
00:32:53,541 --> 00:32:55,666
I went to a lot of places
with Ron in his early years.

747
00:32:55,750 --> 00:32:59,208
His early years was like...

748
00:32:59,290 --> 00:33:00,165
I'm looking like,
"Is he -- Is he

749
00:33:00,250 --> 00:33:02,208
gonna make it a long
time in the league?"

750
00:33:02,290 --> 00:33:05,666
I wanted to be the best
from -- from day one.

751
00:33:05,750 --> 00:33:06,959
But I wasn't doing things
to be the best.

752
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,040
I wasn't taking care
of my body. I was out

753
00:33:09,125 --> 00:33:09,875
partying and stuff.

754
00:33:09,959 --> 00:33:11,875
He was a first-round
draft pick,

755
00:33:11,959 --> 00:33:13,040
and he ends up,
during the summer,

756
00:33:13,125 --> 00:33:16,500
he had nothing to do,
so he went and got a job

757
00:33:16,583 --> 00:33:18,709
[laughs] in Chicago
in Circuit City

758
00:33:18,791 --> 00:33:19,709
and I'm thinking,

759
00:33:19,791 --> 00:33:22,040
"Now, that's really
different." You know?

760
00:33:22,125 --> 00:33:24,583
He's in the NBA and he
had a part-time job

761
00:33:24,666 --> 00:33:25,333
at Circuit City.

762
00:33:25,416 --> 00:33:27,333
I used to drop
him off at work,

763
00:33:27,416 --> 00:33:29,290
picking him up sometimes,

764
00:33:29,375 --> 00:33:30,750
tried to get a discount
on some DVDs players

765
00:33:30,834 --> 00:33:32,750
and stuff like that.

766
00:33:32,834 --> 00:33:34,000
But he really worked
there in the back.

767
00:33:34,083 --> 00:33:36,083
Like, during the NBA.
And then, uh...

768
00:33:36,165 --> 00:33:38,165
[laughs] Jerry Krause found
out and made him quit.

769
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:50,290
Well, I had counseling
in Chicago.

770
00:33:50,375 --> 00:33:52,666
I first got diagnosed
in the NBA in Chicago,

771
00:33:52,750 --> 00:33:53,791
most of my other family
members were all

772
00:33:53,875 --> 00:33:55,834
on medicine.

773
00:33:55,916 --> 00:33:57,000
So they thought I was
gonna be on the same

774
00:33:57,083 --> 00:33:59,333
medication as
my dad was.

775
00:33:59,416 --> 00:34:01,541
They just said, "Well,
whatever your dad is on,"

776
00:34:01,625 --> 00:34:02,916
the doctor,

777
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:03,791
"we're gonna give you
half that." [laughs]

778
00:34:03,875 --> 00:34:06,709
So I said, "A'ight, cool."

779
00:34:06,791 --> 00:34:08,416
You know, 'cause I wanted
to play basketball

780
00:34:08,500 --> 00:34:09,458
and stop being so mad.

781
00:34:09,541 --> 00:34:11,791
But that lasted for, like,
a day. I couldn't --

782
00:34:11,875 --> 00:34:14,208
That -- The medicine,
I didn't like it.

783
00:34:14,291 --> 00:34:15,166
I mean, we all --

784
00:34:15,250 --> 00:34:16,875
I think everybody
who -- who ever walked

785
00:34:16,958 --> 00:34:19,916
the planet Earth has dealt
with mental illness

786
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,916
or anxiety at some
scale or level,

787
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:25,916
so nothing really
out-of-the-ordinary.

788
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,291
Some people just have it more.

789
00:34:29,166 --> 00:34:32,083
I remember Bill Cartwright
saying, "Listen,

790
00:34:32,166 --> 00:34:35,041
If you keep acting like this,
they're gonna move you.

791
00:34:35,125 --> 00:34:39,041
I don't wanna move you. I want
you here."

792
00:34:39,125 --> 00:34:43,625
I said, "Okay, I'm not gonna
mess up again." [laughs]

793
00:34:43,708 --> 00:34:47,250
And then I did something else
stupid. They traded me.

794
00:34:50,208 --> 00:34:51,375
[Donnie] I -- I thought it
would be a good trade.

795
00:34:51,458 --> 00:34:54,541
I got Brad Miller,
him, and Ron Mercer.

796
00:34:54,625 --> 00:34:57,541
And the more I watched him
play, the more I thought,

797
00:34:57,625 --> 00:34:59,708
"Boy, this guy is effective."
'Cause he was, like,

798
00:34:59,791 --> 00:35:02,583
about 6'6", 6'7".

799
00:35:02,666 --> 00:35:04,708
But his shoulders were like
that.

800
00:35:04,791 --> 00:35:06,708
[Jermaine] I remember getting
into our first practice,

801
00:35:06,791 --> 00:35:08,583
and he just -- he chased
down everything.

802
00:35:08,666 --> 00:35:11,500
Wanted to impose his physical
nature onto

803
00:35:11,583 --> 00:35:13,000
the person that he was playing
against.

804
00:35:13,083 --> 00:35:15,333
And I knew, with my mentality

805
00:35:15,416 --> 00:35:16,000
and some of the people that we
already had,

806
00:35:16,083 --> 00:35:17,833
that would be a great mix.

807
00:35:17,916 --> 00:35:20,208
[crowds cheering]

808
00:35:21,583 --> 00:35:23,500
[Donnie] And then Jermaine
O'Neal was a very good player.

809
00:35:23,583 --> 00:35:25,250
Reggie Miller was a very good
player.

810
00:35:25,333 --> 00:35:27,125
I knew we had the makings of a
good team and we did.

811
00:35:27,208 --> 00:35:31,000
But if you get somebody who's
out there just

812
00:35:31,083 --> 00:35:34,000
doing sporadic things that are
unusual,

813
00:35:34,083 --> 00:35:35,666
you know, the players are, like,

814
00:35:35,750 --> 00:35:36,625
ducking all the time.

815
00:35:36,708 --> 00:35:38,625
And so I didn't want to see
that happen.

816
00:35:39,125 --> 00:35:42,125
♪dramatic spacey
music♪

817
00:35:44,041 --> 00:35:46,958
I could see that he was
up and down

818
00:35:47,041 --> 00:35:51,416
and that he reacted to
whatever mood he was in.

819
00:35:51,500 --> 00:35:52,958
Like, you know, he'd come in
and some days,

820
00:35:53,041 --> 00:35:54,333
he'd say, "I'm
not gonna practice today."

821
00:35:54,416 --> 00:35:57,208
"Oh, you -- you're gonna
practice, you know. [laughs]

822
00:35:57,291 --> 00:35:58,666
You gotta practice."

823
00:35:58,750 --> 00:35:59,541
In many cases, I'd try to
reach out to him

824
00:35:59,625 --> 00:36:02,041
to try to better understand
him w--

825
00:36:02,125 --> 00:36:04,375
You know, and a lot
was off the court.

826
00:36:04,458 --> 00:36:05,208
And he was a little bit, you
know, kind of

827
00:36:05,291 --> 00:36:07,166
stand-offish when it
came to that,

828
00:36:07,250 --> 00:36:09,250
so I didn't necessarily un--
understand him.

829
00:36:09,333 --> 00:36:11,916
And the ability for him to do
that

830
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,416
brought more tension between
me and him.

831
00:36:14,500 --> 00:36:17,041
I don't think any teammate,
um, the organization,

832
00:36:17,125 --> 00:36:19,375
anybody really understood Ron.

833
00:36:19,458 --> 00:36:21,208
And I'm not sure if he wanted
to be understood,

834
00:36:21,291 --> 00:36:22,875
you know, at the time. I think
everything he did

835
00:36:22,958 --> 00:36:24,708
was a reaction.

836
00:36:24,791 --> 00:36:26,458
[whistle]

837
00:36:26,541 --> 00:36:27,416
[Donnie] He'd get angry quick.

838
00:36:27,500 --> 00:36:30,750
And you'd think, "Oh, the --
Oh, the..."

839
00:36:30,833 --> 00:36:33,000
You're afraid he's gonna clear
the whole gym out.

840
00:36:33,083 --> 00:36:33,791
[Ron] I'm going to practice
and I hated everybody.

841
00:36:33,875 --> 00:36:36,000
You know?

842
00:36:36,083 --> 00:36:38,166
And then I would take that
hate back home and come

843
00:36:38,250 --> 00:36:40,791
back to practice the next
day with the same hate.

844
00:36:40,875 --> 00:36:42,041
And then when you get
into a game, I'm playing

845
00:36:42,125 --> 00:36:43,208
with people that I hate,
but I don't really hate them.

846
00:36:43,291 --> 00:36:45,458
I only hate them because
we just had a practice.

847
00:36:45,541 --> 00:36:46,625
You see what I'm sayin'?

848
00:36:46,708 --> 00:36:50,458
I was afraid that he'd do
something in a game,

849
00:36:50,541 --> 00:36:53,125
after a game, before a game,

850
00:36:53,208 --> 00:36:55,750
that the league would have to
get involved with.

851
00:36:59,291 --> 00:37:00,625
[crowd cheering]

852
00:37:00,708 --> 00:37:01,708
[crash]

853
00:37:03,125 --> 00:37:04,291
[commentator] Somebody just
threw something into the...

854
00:37:04,375 --> 00:37:05,958
Really, most of my problems
came when I lost.

855
00:37:06,041 --> 00:37:08,750
I was a sore loser.

856
00:37:09,375 --> 00:37:11,583
You know? Um, so...

857
00:37:12,541 --> 00:37:14,916
We'd lost a game and I
remember just wanting

858
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:16,666
to get my hands on something.

859
00:37:16,750 --> 00:37:20,750
The camera cost $120,000.
[laughs]

860
00:37:20,833 --> 00:37:22,125
I had to pay for it.

861
00:37:22,208 --> 00:37:23,291
[commentator] And Ron Artest,
losing his cool

862
00:37:23,375 --> 00:37:25,500
-after the game.
-He will receive a bill

863
00:37:25,583 --> 00:37:27,083
for throwing the
monitor right there.

864
00:37:27,166 --> 00:37:27,958
[commentator] That's just
immaturity.

865
00:37:28,041 --> 00:37:30,791
That's -- That's disgraceful.

866
00:37:30,875 --> 00:37:31,875
Sometimes he straddles the
line,

867
00:37:31,958 --> 00:37:33,625
sometimes he goes over it.

868
00:37:33,708 --> 00:37:35,500
[Donnie] That's the kind of
incidents I was worried about.

869
00:37:35,583 --> 00:37:38,666
You know, they're explosive
incidents that --

870
00:37:38,750 --> 00:37:40,875
there's no warning. It's like
that. [snaps fingers]

871
00:37:40,958 --> 00:37:42,875
If he perceived he got hit or
something

872
00:37:42,958 --> 00:37:45,500
in the wrong way,

873
00:37:45,583 --> 00:37:48,291
you know, he'd react to it
right away,

874
00:37:48,375 --> 00:37:50,125
and you were afraid, "Oh, this
guy's --

875
00:37:50,208 --> 00:37:53,000
You know, he's gonna start
beating people up out here."

876
00:37:53,083 --> 00:37:56,000
[commentator] And now, Bell
and Artest are nose-to-nose.

877
00:37:56,083 --> 00:37:58,375
And Artest has been thrown out.

878
00:37:58,458 --> 00:38:00,500
That's his second technical
tonight, so he's gone.

879
00:38:00,583 --> 00:38:01,166
[commentator] ...That started
before the game.

880
00:38:01,250 --> 00:38:03,166
You and I were watching it.

881
00:38:03,250 --> 00:38:05,375
-[buzzer]
-...fouled...

882
00:38:06,750 --> 00:38:10,041
Ron Artest, strong enough to
finish even with the foul,

883
00:38:10,125 --> 00:38:12,375
now having words with his
assistant coach Keith Askins.

884
00:38:14,500 --> 00:38:15,416
And Pat Riley is fired up.

885
00:38:15,500 --> 00:38:18,708
Artest's been hit with a
technical foul.

886
00:38:18,791 --> 00:38:22,416
Oh, it had nothing to with Pat
Reily. He was in the way.

887
00:38:22,500 --> 00:38:23,708
It had to do with the coach.

888
00:38:23,791 --> 00:38:25,625
He was being supportive of his
players,

889
00:38:25,708 --> 00:38:27,041
and I hated him and his
players.

890
00:38:27,125 --> 00:38:28,708
[laughs] It was real simple.

891
00:38:28,791 --> 00:38:33,708
Ronnie seemed to go from one
to 100 real quick.

892
00:38:33,791 --> 00:38:36,291
And...

893
00:38:36,375 --> 00:38:39,416
...at a point, I just questioned
whether he could control it.

894
00:38:39,500 --> 00:38:42,416
And so that's why we tried to
get him help,

895
00:38:42,500 --> 00:38:44,791
and we eventually did.

896
00:38:44,875 --> 00:38:45,416
[man] Artest has received
treatment

897
00:38:45,500 --> 00:38:47,625
for his anger problems.

898
00:38:47,708 --> 00:38:50,541
However, he's declined to take
medication despite the fact

899
00:38:50,625 --> 00:38:54,375
that some close to him think
it might be the best thing.

900
00:38:54,458 --> 00:38:57,583
♪soft emotional
music♪

901
00:39:04,625 --> 00:39:06,250
[Ron] Your records transfer from
team to team.

902
00:39:06,333 --> 00:39:07,583
Teams have to know
what they're getting.

903
00:39:07,666 --> 00:39:12,708
I had a long talk with Donnie,
and then we found, um,

904
00:39:12,791 --> 00:39:14,583
a psychologist in Indiana.

905
00:39:14,666 --> 00:39:17,250
I -- I could tell that he
didn't want to do it,

906
00:39:17,333 --> 00:39:18,583
but eventually,

907
00:39:18,666 --> 00:39:19,958
I remember him saying, "Yeah,
all right.

908
00:39:20,041 --> 00:39:22,166
I'll talk to him."

909
00:39:22,250 --> 00:39:24,833
[Ron] Well, I went a lot, after
every practice. [laughs]

910
00:39:24,916 --> 00:39:26,625
Um, after every practice.

911
00:39:26,708 --> 00:39:31,041
You know, because, uh, I was
always mad. [laughs]

912
00:39:31,125 --> 00:39:33,416
[man] ...you're doing?

913
00:39:33,500 --> 00:39:34,916
You're not gonna do anything.

914
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:36,416
-Come on, my nigga!
-Get the fucking security!

915
00:39:36,500 --> 00:39:38,500
Get your motherfucking
security...

916
00:39:40,875 --> 00:39:41,625
That's not the kind of thing,
you know,

917
00:39:41,708 --> 00:39:43,916
you take a pill and
you're --

918
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:44,791
you're okay.

919
00:39:44,875 --> 00:39:46,333
I knew that it was gonna take
time.

920
00:39:46,416 --> 00:39:48,625
I knew that Ronnie going
into it

921
00:39:48,708 --> 00:39:50,875
was kind of suspicious
of it.

922
00:39:50,958 --> 00:39:53,208
We did see his, uh,
psychiatrist.

923
00:39:53,291 --> 00:39:55,083
She did -- She travelled with
us quite a bit.

924
00:39:55,166 --> 00:39:58,208
Um... And so that part we
understood.

925
00:39:58,291 --> 00:40:00,625
The problem is that at the
time, we could never really

926
00:40:00,708 --> 00:40:03,791
get to understand, you know,
who Ron was

927
00:40:03,875 --> 00:40:05,625
because he wouldn't --
he wouldn't speak about it.

928
00:40:05,708 --> 00:40:08,000
I didn't have a good
relationship

929
00:40:08,083 --> 00:40:12,291
with those guys, 'cause I was
very -- I wasn't social.

930
00:40:12,375 --> 00:40:13,750
I -- I can't recall --

931
00:40:13,833 --> 00:40:15,958
I can't count on my hands how
many times I had lunch with

932
00:40:16,041 --> 00:40:18,041
one of my NBA teammates.

933
00:40:18,125 --> 00:40:19,750
You know, I think a lot of it
is just -- just lack of --

934
00:40:19,833 --> 00:40:21,333
lack of control at the time.

935
00:40:21,416 --> 00:40:22,833
You gotta understand what I'm
saying.

936
00:40:22,916 --> 00:40:24,458
It is two different parts.

937
00:40:24,541 --> 00:40:27,041
Ron was one of the most
unbelievable competitors

938
00:40:27,125 --> 00:40:29,333
that our league had seen at
the time.

939
00:40:31,375 --> 00:40:33,916
[whistle]
[crowds cheering]

940
00:40:35,125 --> 00:40:36,875
[commentator] Artest,
defensive player of the year,

941
00:40:36,958 --> 00:40:38,791
shows why with a steal
of Wade

942
00:40:38,875 --> 00:40:39,833
and a slam on the
other end.

943
00:40:39,916 --> 00:40:44,125
I just always remember being
the best defender,

944
00:40:44,208 --> 00:40:46,875
finish -- finishing number six
in MVP voting.

945
00:40:46,958 --> 00:40:49,250
[Kobe] Literally, if you put the
ball around this guy,

946
00:40:49,333 --> 00:40:52,416
if you show him the ball, he's
going to take it from you.

947
00:40:52,500 --> 00:40:53,666
Not some of the time, all of
the time.

948
00:40:53,750 --> 00:40:56,458
I -- I just never seen
anything like it.

949
00:40:56,541 --> 00:40:59,333
I mean, I used to say his left
hand was like a glue trap,

950
00:40:59,416 --> 00:41:01,458
because if he just got one
finger on that ball,

951
00:41:01,541 --> 00:41:03,500
he's popping that ball lose
and he's taking it from you.

952
00:41:03,583 --> 00:41:06,166
You're not gonna have any idea
how that happened.

953
00:41:08,583 --> 00:41:09,916
[commentator]: ...Now Artest
really leveling...

954
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:11,291
[commentator]: ...at the other
end.

955
00:41:11,375 --> 00:41:12,500
I mean, he took it to him
offensively and sacked him

956
00:41:12,583 --> 00:41:16,875
down to the baseline,
and ate him up.

957
00:41:16,958 --> 00:41:20,166
Look at the hands of Artest.
He is a -- Oh...

958
00:41:20,250 --> 00:41:21,875
...pushes him down!

959
00:41:21,958 --> 00:41:24,333
[indistinct chatter]

960
00:41:24,416 --> 00:41:25,416
[Jermaine] He hated Paul.

961
00:41:25,500 --> 00:41:27,541
He felt like he was
just tougher than Paul.

962
00:41:27,625 --> 00:41:31,125
Like, we knew how great Paul
was as a player,

963
00:41:31,208 --> 00:41:33,666
but he felt like he was the
one player

964
00:41:33,750 --> 00:41:35,375
that can change everything
about Paul.

965
00:41:35,458 --> 00:41:39,375
[Ron] We had wars over the
years.

966
00:41:39,458 --> 00:41:40,916
He a Hall of Famer...

967
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,708
...and I -- I feel like I had
something to do with that.

968
00:41:44,791 --> 00:41:46,333
Because I pushed him.

969
00:41:46,416 --> 00:41:49,875
We had wars. I'm proud -- I'm
proud that we had wars.

970
00:41:49,958 --> 00:41:51,083
Our time was now,

971
00:41:51,166 --> 00:41:53,083
and even our differences that
we had away from

972
00:41:53,166 --> 00:41:54,291
the actual games,

973
00:41:54,375 --> 00:41:56,958
um, we were able to put it
aside and just go compete.

974
00:41:57,041 --> 00:41:57,750
And that's why we ended up
having

975
00:41:57,833 --> 00:41:59,625
the best record of the
year.

976
00:42:02,291 --> 00:42:04,250
[whistle]
[cheering]

977
00:42:04,333 --> 00:42:06,250
[Ron] Back home, there
was no layups.

978
00:42:06,333 --> 00:42:08,791
It was that type of basketball
that made me who I was,

979
00:42:08,875 --> 00:42:09,583
so I brought that to the NBA.

980
00:42:09,666 --> 00:42:12,250
And some people called it
dirty,

981
00:42:12,333 --> 00:42:14,333
but I was just relentless.

982
00:42:15,041 --> 00:42:17,083
[Chauncy] We were about
the same team.

983
00:42:17,166 --> 00:42:21,166
Both teams just played with
the mentality of,

984
00:42:21,250 --> 00:42:24,416
you know, we -- we -- we gonna
win the game or the fight.

985
00:42:24,500 --> 00:42:27,250
He was always, um...

986
00:42:28,416 --> 00:42:29,458
On the edge of it, [laughs]
you know what I mean?

987
00:42:29,541 --> 00:42:33,083
And you never quite knew,

988
00:42:33,166 --> 00:42:35,625
you know, what was
bothering him.

989
00:42:35,708 --> 00:42:37,125
[Chauncy] It was maybe the
hardest series

990
00:42:37,208 --> 00:42:38,125
that I ever played in.

991
00:42:38,208 --> 00:42:39,916
Every single game was physical.

992
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,250
I mean, the winner of that
series was gonna win it all.

993
00:42:43,333 --> 00:42:44,750
It was a battle of attrition.

994
00:42:44,833 --> 00:42:46,291
And obviously, the biggest
play of the series

995
00:42:46,375 --> 00:42:48,416
was Tayshaun's block.

996
00:42:49,083 --> 00:42:50,625
[commentator] ...Reggie Miller!

997
00:42:50,708 --> 00:42:51,291
And it's blocked again!

998
00:42:51,375 --> 00:42:54,166
How did ... get there?

999
00:42:54,250 --> 00:42:56,625
[commentator] I didn't think
it was any way possible

1000
00:42:56,708 --> 00:42:58,291
for him to get this shot.

1001
00:42:58,375 --> 00:43:00,625
That is one of the most
amazing blocks

1002
00:43:00,708 --> 00:43:01,958
that I have ever seen.

1003
00:43:02,041 --> 00:43:02,625
[Jermaine] After the game
that Tayshaun made

1004
00:43:02,708 --> 00:43:05,208
the incredible block, uh,

1005
00:43:05,291 --> 00:43:08,083
we didn't see Ron for
two days.

1006
00:43:08,166 --> 00:43:09,833
And that was one of the first
times

1007
00:43:09,916 --> 00:43:14,125
that I felt anger towards him
in a way that I

1008
00:43:14,208 --> 00:43:16,500
typically have never felt
anger towards, uh,

1009
00:43:16,583 --> 00:43:18,166
a teammate.

1010
00:43:18,250 --> 00:43:20,833
An older group of guys would
have settled that up quickly.

1011
00:43:20,916 --> 00:43:22,625
But they were a young group of
guys who were, like,

1012
00:43:22,708 --> 00:43:28,125
"Oh!" [laughs] You know...
Pointing fingers.

1013
00:43:30,916 --> 00:43:32,000
[Chauncy] I called a play
for Rip.

1014
00:43:32,083 --> 00:43:34,666
Rip was a irritant, you know?
Like, he's --

1015
00:43:34,750 --> 00:43:36,250
he's running all over the place,

1016
00:43:36,333 --> 00:43:37,833
he's fouling and scratching
people,

1017
00:43:37,916 --> 00:43:41,250
and talking stuff. And I
remember, um,

1018
00:43:41,333 --> 00:43:44,250
Rip kind of baiting Ron into
the foul.

1019
00:43:44,333 --> 00:43:45,500
[commentator] Pacers been led
by as many

1020
00:43:45,583 --> 00:43:47,541
as 14 in the first half.

1021
00:43:47,625 --> 00:43:49,166
[commentator] Oh, wow.

1022
00:43:49,250 --> 00:43:53,916
Artest just leveled Rip...

1023
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:55,750
[Ron] He was smart.

1024
00:43:55,833 --> 00:43:57,083
It was tied up,

1025
00:43:57,166 --> 00:43:59,416
and he kind of threw his
butt back towards me.

1026
00:43:59,500 --> 00:44:01,291
It kind of felt like an
elbow.

1027
00:44:01,375 --> 00:44:04,541
It was an offensive foul, hit
me in the groin area.

1028
00:44:04,625 --> 00:44:06,708
And then I immediately forgot
that we were trying

1029
00:44:06,791 --> 00:44:10,041
to get to the finals, and
I elbow him in the face.

1030
00:44:10,125 --> 00:44:11,500
[Jermaine] That was a tough
pill to swallow.

1031
00:44:11,583 --> 00:44:14,000
You go through so much, you
know, to try to get to that --

1032
00:44:14,083 --> 00:44:16,375
that place where you can get
to the NBA finals, right?

1033
00:44:16,458 --> 00:44:17,916
You dream about that.

1034
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:20,958
[Ron] He shoots two free
throws and they score.

1035
00:44:21,041 --> 00:44:22,208
they go up four.

1036
00:44:22,291 --> 00:44:24,958
And, um...

1037
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,833
They won by four.
They go to the finals.

1038
00:44:28,916 --> 00:44:29,833
It is very stupid.

1039
00:44:29,916 --> 00:44:32,583
I don't care how unstable I
was mentally.

1040
00:44:32,666 --> 00:44:33,916
You know, it's stupid.

1041
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:38,291
You know, there's no excuse --
[laughs] um, for that.

1042
00:44:38,375 --> 00:44:39,541
[commentator]: And for the
first time in 14 years,

1043
00:44:39,625 --> 00:44:43,083
the Pistons go to the
NBA finals!

1044
00:44:43,166 --> 00:44:46,000
They're the 2004 Eastern
Conference champions!

1045
00:44:46,833 --> 00:44:49,583
At the end of the season,
after we lost,

1046
00:44:49,666 --> 00:44:52,500
I met with the management
and I felt like that

1047
00:44:52,583 --> 00:44:55,083
the time was up and we
needed to make a change,

1048
00:44:55,166 --> 00:44:56,958
because I didn't believe that
we were gonna be able to

1049
00:44:57,041 --> 00:45:01,250
ultimately reach our -- our
full potential as a team.

1050
00:45:01,333 --> 00:45:04,208
Am I aware that, uh, Jermaine
was upset with Ron?

1051
00:45:04,291 --> 00:45:06,083
Probably, yeah.

1052
00:45:06,166 --> 00:45:10,916
But, you know, there are guys
upset with guys every year.

1053
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:11,875
[Jermaine] I just didn't think
that it was gonna change.

1054
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:15,791
We had a lot of aggression on
that team,

1055
00:45:15,875 --> 00:45:17,791
but then what people don't
understand,

1056
00:45:17,875 --> 00:45:20,250
that aggression becomes
hate.

1057
00:45:20,333 --> 00:45:21,916
You know, or dislike.

1058
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:23,833
And you have no shot in --
in sports and really in life

1059
00:45:23,916 --> 00:45:26,666
if you are on a team with
some people that you

1060
00:45:26,750 --> 00:45:27,958
hate or dislike.

1061
00:45:28,041 --> 00:45:29,791
Well, I wasn't gonna listen to
anybody telling me to trade

1062
00:45:29,875 --> 00:45:31,416
anybody, if -- if you really
want to know that.

1063
00:45:31,500 --> 00:45:34,708
I didn't care who it was.

1064
00:45:39,041 --> 00:45:40,958
I get a call from Larry Bird,
uh, saying,

1065
00:45:41,041 --> 00:45:42,500
"Stephen, welcome
to the Indiana Pacers."

1066
00:45:42,583 --> 00:45:43,958
I was excited because I knew I
was playing with guys that

1067
00:45:44,041 --> 00:45:47,166
I knew. Me and Jermaine
O'Neal, class of '96.

1068
00:45:47,250 --> 00:45:48,958
We would play the McDonald's
All-American game.

1069
00:45:49,041 --> 00:45:49,625
I was excited because I got a
chance

1070
00:45:49,708 --> 00:45:51,791
to play with Ron Artest.

1071
00:45:51,875 --> 00:45:53,791
Coming into that season, it
was my first year, you know.

1072
00:45:53,875 --> 00:45:56,458
And they just had played
against, uh, the Pi-- Pistons

1073
00:45:56,541 --> 00:45:57,708
in the -- in the Eastern
Conference finals.

1074
00:45:57,791 --> 00:45:59,250
They had a long season
together.

1075
00:45:59,333 --> 00:46:01,625
So when I got there, Jermaine
and Ron was

1076
00:46:01,708 --> 00:46:03,583
white and black, night and day.

1077
00:46:03,666 --> 00:46:05,833
They was nowhere -- They
wasn't close at all.

1078
00:46:05,916 --> 00:46:08,166
We didn't talk to Ron at any
point between the time we

1079
00:46:08,250 --> 00:46:12,500
lost against the Pistons until
we got to training camp.

1080
00:46:12,583 --> 00:46:13,500
Not one word.

1081
00:46:13,583 --> 00:46:14,666
The relationship was -- It was
broken.

1082
00:46:14,750 --> 00:46:16,916
It -- It was really broken.

1083
00:46:17,958 --> 00:46:21,458
When he told us that he
needed time off

1084
00:46:21,541 --> 00:46:23,875
and the season hadn't even
started yet,

1085
00:46:23,958 --> 00:46:25,333
I was like...

1086
00:46:25,416 --> 00:46:27,625
I was just like, " This
motherfucker crazy, man."

1087
00:46:27,708 --> 00:46:29,250
I was just like, "Oh, I can't
believe it.

1088
00:46:29,333 --> 00:46:30,458
I can't believe
it."

1089
00:46:30,541 --> 00:46:34,083
Jermaine is looking at me
like, "Are you kidding me?"

1090
00:46:34,166 --> 00:46:36,041
[Jermaine] Leaving the team to
go down to the Source Awards

1091
00:46:36,125 --> 00:46:36,791
when we thought he was going
home

1092
00:46:36,875 --> 00:46:39,000
to take care of family issues.

1093
00:46:39,083 --> 00:46:42,041
He apologized but, you know,
when things continuously

1094
00:46:42,125 --> 00:46:45,708
happen, you know, it's --
it comes upon deaf ears.

1095
00:46:45,791 --> 00:46:47,708
I don't want anything to break
this team apart,

1096
00:46:47,791 --> 00:46:48,958
to tear this team apart.

1097
00:46:49,041 --> 00:46:52,250
Ron understands the situation,
he understands...

1098
00:46:52,333 --> 00:46:53,875
that that's something that
can't come up.

1099
00:46:53,958 --> 00:46:56,000
That any other
distraction is -- is...

1100
00:46:56,083 --> 00:46:57,875
is something that we don't
need as a team.

1101
00:46:57,958 --> 00:47:00,375
Allure still coming out on
November 23rd

1102
00:47:00,458 --> 00:47:01,916
and, uh, I want all the ladies
to know go get the album,

1103
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,000
the album's hot. You know what
I'm saying?

1104
00:47:05,083 --> 00:47:07,208
And, uh -- You know, we in the
house and I'm on the album,

1105
00:47:07,291 --> 00:47:09,500
rapping on the album. You know
what I'm saying?

1106
00:47:09,583 --> 00:47:10,708
So it's just go get the album.

1107
00:47:10,791 --> 00:47:12,166
[woman]: What kind of teammate
would you say you are?

1108
00:47:12,250 --> 00:47:14,875
Um...

1109
00:47:14,958 --> 00:47:17,208
Uh, at times, difficult.

1110
00:47:17,291 --> 00:47:19,666
Uh, you know. CEO, you know?
Like, well, like I said,

1111
00:47:19,750 --> 00:47:20,625
Allure coming out
November 23rd.

1112
00:47:20,708 --> 00:47:23,250
We six and two right now.

1113
00:47:23,333 --> 00:47:24,875
And Allure's album is coming
out on the 23rd.

1114
00:47:24,958 --> 00:47:27,583
I don't how many times I gotta
tell you.

1115
00:47:27,666 --> 00:47:28,916
Tru Warier Records.

1116
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:29,625
All the ladies, go get the
album,

1117
00:47:29,708 --> 00:47:30,916
'cause the album's fire.

1118
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:32,416
[woman]: Do you think he's
learned?

1119
00:47:32,500 --> 00:47:34,583
[Jermaine] Ask him.

1120
00:47:34,666 --> 00:47:36,250
He's the best defender in
he game right now,

1121
00:47:36,333 --> 00:47:37,916
so hopefully that doesn't come
up and, you know, we just

1122
00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:40,083
contin-- we just continue to
win games and --

1123
00:47:40,166 --> 00:47:43,000
and prepare for winning the
championship this year.

1124
00:47:43,083 --> 00:47:44,666
I knew his passion for music,

1125
00:47:44,750 --> 00:47:46,250
but I didn't think he would
put his music

1126
00:47:46,333 --> 00:47:47,708
before basketball.

1127
00:47:47,791 --> 00:47:49,333
And, once again, he wasn't
thinking,

1128
00:47:49,416 --> 00:47:51,875
but when things came back to
him, it clicked.

1129
00:47:51,958 --> 00:47:53,458
[Jermaine] He was coming off
defensive player of the year.

1130
00:47:53,541 --> 00:47:55,583
At the time, he was averaging,
like, maybe 22,

1131
00:47:55,666 --> 00:47:56,583
23 points a game.

1132
00:47:56,666 --> 00:47:59,625
[Ron] It was cool to be able
to say that.

1133
00:47:59,708 --> 00:48:01,791
I was one of the best at one
point in time, you know?

1134
00:48:01,875 --> 00:48:05,083
My average went up. I was
trying to get MVP.

1135
00:48:05,166 --> 00:48:07,958
You know? Um, and I felt like
I was on my way,

1136
00:48:08,041 --> 00:48:08,791
from a basketball standpoint.

1137
00:48:08,875 --> 00:48:11,875
I never questioned Ron's
ability.

1138
00:48:11,958 --> 00:48:12,041
Never.

1139
00:48:13,458 --> 00:48:15,958
Where he was mentally, every
single day, I questioned.

1140
00:48:16,041 --> 00:48:18,291
I was looking to see -- All
these guys are young and they

1141
00:48:18,375 --> 00:48:21,333
got these little petty things
going on among them.

1142
00:48:21,416 --> 00:48:22,750
Is it gonna get straightened
out

1143
00:48:22,833 --> 00:48:24,083
or I'm gonna have to trade
these guys.

1144
00:48:24,166 --> 00:48:26,083
Well, I was gonna wait and see
if we won with it.

1145
00:48:26,166 --> 00:48:30,416
And we were winning until we
got to the Detroit thing

1146
00:48:30,500 --> 00:48:32,583
and then it blew up.

1147
00:48:38,625 --> 00:48:40,208
It was a statement time. They
had just beat us in the

1148
00:48:40,291 --> 00:48:41,166
conference finals the year
before.

1149
00:48:41,250 --> 00:48:43,791
We knew it was a national
televised game.

1150
00:48:43,875 --> 00:48:45,833
Um, we were had -- had the
best record at the time.

1151
00:48:45,916 --> 00:48:47,208
We wanted to send a message.

1152
00:48:47,291 --> 00:48:50,416
We had made it clear publicly
that we felt like we were

1153
00:48:50,500 --> 00:48:51,541
the better team.

1154
00:48:51,625 --> 00:48:53,375
And I think that was kind of a
build-up

1155
00:48:53,458 --> 00:48:56,000
and, you know, obviously, as
defending champions, um,

1156
00:48:56,083 --> 00:48:58,833
they felt like they needed
more respect.

1157
00:48:58,916 --> 00:49:00,500
I mean, warm-ups in the game,
being in that arena,

1158
00:49:00,583 --> 00:49:01,500
you can feel it.

1159
00:49:01,583 --> 00:49:03,166
Nobody had to tell him. You
could feel it.

1160
00:49:03,250 --> 00:49:06,458
Fans was "You suck, you're
that."

1161
00:49:06,541 --> 00:49:08,000
It's coming from all over.

1162
00:49:08,083 --> 00:49:09,666
We were everything under the
sun.

1163
00:49:09,750 --> 00:49:12,625
Racial slurs, assholes,

1164
00:49:12,708 --> 00:49:14,416
talking about our families,
our girls.

1165
00:49:14,500 --> 00:49:15,541
It was all kind of stuff.

1166
00:49:15,625 --> 00:49:17,208
It was -- It was hostile and
every time I played in

1167
00:49:17,291 --> 00:49:18,333
Detroit, in was hostile.

1168
00:49:18,416 --> 00:49:19,833
I remember not being able to
deal with it.

1169
00:49:19,916 --> 00:49:22,166
I remember not wanting a fan

1170
00:49:22,250 --> 00:49:24,041
to scream at me. It was j-- I
just hated it.

1171
00:49:24,125 --> 00:49:28,041
So not to say that we didn't
care about the game,

1172
00:49:28,125 --> 00:49:30,000
but we didn't focus on the game.

1173
00:49:30,083 --> 00:49:33,583
It wasn't circled on our
schedule like it was them.

1174
00:49:33,666 --> 00:49:35,583
And they came in and they did
what they had to do.

1175
00:49:35,666 --> 00:49:38,500
And, uh, they -- they smacked
us. They really did.

1176
00:49:38,583 --> 00:49:41,875
I was killing them. I had 24.
[laughs]

1177
00:49:41,958 --> 00:49:44,833
And, um, they couldn't stop me.

1178
00:49:44,916 --> 00:49:46,333
[commentator]: Artest is
really playing

1179
00:49:46,416 --> 00:49:47,958
a disciplined game
tonight.

1180
00:49:48,041 --> 00:49:50,333
[commentator]: Oh, one of
first...for Ron Artest,

1181
00:49:50,416 --> 00:49:54,000
best known for his defense,
has half of the Pacer points.

1182
00:49:54,083 --> 00:49:56,708
[Bill] But this was not just
any game.

1183
00:49:56,791 --> 00:50:00,375
This was two fierce and bitter
rivals on a Friday night.

1184
00:50:00,458 --> 00:50:03,166
They're the champions and
you're in their building and

1185
00:50:03,250 --> 00:50:04,750
you're torching them and
you're the guy who's doing it.

1186
00:50:04,833 --> 00:50:07,875
And that doesn't just happen.

1187
00:50:07,958 --> 00:50:11,583
Towards the end of the game,
when the Pistons were getting

1188
00:50:11,666 --> 00:50:14,000
whooped pretty bad, I had
moved up a few rows and

1189
00:50:14,083 --> 00:50:16,583
let one of my workers come
down and see what it was like

1190
00:50:16,666 --> 00:50:19,083
sitting, you know,
court-side.

1191
00:50:19,166 --> 00:50:19,916
[Chauncy] Coach Brown, he was
taking all of us

1192
00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:22,458
out of the game. You know?

1193
00:50:22,541 --> 00:50:24,416
Um, all of us -- I had just
checked out.

1194
00:50:24,500 --> 00:50:25,500
The only reason Ben didn't
check out,

1195
00:50:25,583 --> 00:50:26,750
if I'm not mistaken, is
because he was on

1196
00:50:26,833 --> 00:50:28,916
the free throw line.

1197
00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:30,916
And then a little exchange at
the end,

1198
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,666
uh, with Ron, um, Ben had kind
of warned him, like,

1199
00:50:33,750 --> 00:50:35,541
you know, "Just chill. Y'all
won.

1200
00:50:35,625 --> 00:50:36,916
Y'all got the came won. Just
chill.

1201
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,416
Don't -- Don't hit me no more."

1202
00:50:39,500 --> 00:50:42,166
You know what I'm saying? "Or
elbow me, whatever."

1203
00:50:42,250 --> 00:50:42,791
And I guess, um,

1204
00:50:42,875 --> 00:50:46,625
Ron didn't really listen.

1205
00:50:46,708 --> 00:50:49,541
And at the end of the game,
I'm guarding Ben.

1206
00:50:49,625 --> 00:50:51,416
We're up 13, 14 points.

1207
00:50:51,500 --> 00:50:53,208
I'm letting Ben just go right
by me and score and we --

1208
00:50:53,291 --> 00:50:55,458
I'm trying to let the clock run
out so we can get out of here.

1209
00:50:55,541 --> 00:50:58,083
[commentator]: Oh! Ben Wallace
is fouled.

1210
00:50:58,166 --> 00:50:59,833
And Wallace st-- Oh!

1211
00:50:59,916 --> 00:51:01,250
Right at Artest!

1212
00:51:01,333 --> 00:51:04,958
This is potentially serious if
they don't get between...

1213
00:51:05,041 --> 00:51:05,958
I never knew why he fouled him
like that,

1214
00:51:06,041 --> 00:51:08,250
because the game was already
over.

1215
00:51:08,333 --> 00:51:11,000
You know, not even sure why
Ron was still in the game.

1216
00:51:11,083 --> 00:51:12,958
It was a bad foul by Ron.

1217
00:51:13,041 --> 00:51:14,708
The dumbest thing he could've
done, probably.

1218
00:51:14,791 --> 00:51:17,125
It was something about Ron on
Ben a foul.

1219
00:51:17,208 --> 00:51:18,916
[commentator]: Wallace upset.

1220
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:20,458
Players trying to hold each
other off.

1221
00:51:20,541 --> 00:51:23,375
I remember Ben Wallace being
open for the layup

1222
00:51:23,458 --> 00:51:24,291
and not wanting to give up a
layup.

1223
00:51:24,375 --> 00:51:29,250
I didn't want to change my
mentality

1224
00:51:29,333 --> 00:51:31,750
because we were winning.

1225
00:51:31,833 --> 00:51:33,958
I always played to the last
second.

1226
00:51:34,041 --> 00:51:35,208
That's the only way I know.

1227
00:51:35,291 --> 00:51:39,166
I have to finish my -- finish
the game and finish it hard.

1228
00:51:39,250 --> 00:51:40,708
And he was open for a layup

1229
00:51:40,791 --> 00:51:42,416
and I did not want him to get
the layup.

1230
00:51:42,500 --> 00:51:45,250
Just took so damn long, man.
The --

1231
00:51:45,333 --> 00:51:47,250
From the push...

1232
00:51:48,750 --> 00:51:50,166
...to the confrontation

1233
00:51:50,250 --> 00:51:50,875
to Rasheed Wallace, Richard
Hamilton,

1234
00:51:50,958 --> 00:51:53,958
everybody's in the middle.

1235
00:51:54,041 --> 00:51:55,375
You know, it just took way too
long.

1236
00:51:55,458 --> 00:51:56,625
We were just kind of in shock.
We were like,

1237
00:51:56,708 --> 00:51:59,000
"Whoa, look at this." And then
they were going at it and

1238
00:51:59,083 --> 00:51:59,833
we were like, "Oh, here it goes.

1239
00:51:59,916 --> 00:52:02,000
They're gonna get at it."

1240
00:52:02,083 --> 00:52:03,791
Ben was mad. Now, he had a
right to be.

1241
00:52:03,875 --> 00:52:04,875
He had a right to be mad.

1242
00:52:06,083 --> 00:52:07,458
He kept throwing stuff at Ron
trying to antagonize Ron.

1243
00:52:07,541 --> 00:52:08,625
[Ron] He threw a towel.

1244
00:52:08,708 --> 00:52:09,875
Then he hit me with the
wristband.

1245
00:52:09,958 --> 00:52:13,916
I went to the ref. I said,
"What the hell is going on?

1246
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:17,500
You know, I got -- I got the
foul. You called the foul.

1247
00:52:17,583 --> 00:52:18,958
I got pushed, no tech.

1248
00:52:19,041 --> 00:52:20,916
I got something thrown at me,
no tech, no ejection.

1249
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:23,791
Like, what's going on here?
You know what I'm saying?"

1250
00:52:23,875 --> 00:52:24,583
So now, I'm at this point. I'm
like,

1251
00:52:24,666 --> 00:52:26,208
"I gotta protect myself
now."

1252
00:52:26,291 --> 00:52:28,708
Oh, he did what he was
supposed to do.

1253
00:52:28,791 --> 00:52:30,000
He was told, like, "If you
feel yourself getting

1254
00:52:30,083 --> 00:52:34,750
too agitated, then get
away from it

1255
00:52:34,833 --> 00:52:38,208
and sit down and just be by
yourself for a minute.

1256
00:52:38,291 --> 00:52:41,875
The foundation of my
psychology at that time,

1257
00:52:41,958 --> 00:52:46,375
we did talk about, uh,
often, um,

1258
00:52:46,458 --> 00:52:48,375
going to happy places. [laughs]

1259
00:52:48,458 --> 00:52:49,875
So that's why he went over and
laid down

1260
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:51,666
on the scorers table.

1261
00:52:51,750 --> 00:52:52,958
[Ron] There was nowhere
else to go.

1262
00:52:53,041 --> 00:52:54,541
Scorers table was very
comfortable at that time,

1263
00:52:54,625 --> 00:52:55,833
quite honestly.

1264
00:52:55,916 --> 00:52:57,750
I could've went to the chair,
but it just didn't feel --

1265
00:52:57,833 --> 00:52:58,750
it felt awkward.

1266
00:53:00,125 --> 00:53:00,750
People have asked me why I
went to the scorers table.

1267
00:53:00,833 --> 00:53:02,083
Where else am I gonna go?

1268
00:53:02,166 --> 00:53:06,083
Into a -- the -- a cafe? Or am
I gonna go to...

1269
00:53:06,166 --> 00:53:07,333
...the locker room?

1270
00:53:07,416 --> 00:53:09,416
We have 20 seconds left.

1271
00:53:09,500 --> 00:53:12,166
The scorers table was right
there,

1272
00:53:12,250 --> 00:53:15,083
so I can sit, I can stand on
top of the scorers table,

1273
00:53:15,166 --> 00:53:18,875
I can lay, I can do pushups.
[laughs]

1274
00:53:18,958 --> 00:53:20,416
There's so many -- Wha--

1275
00:53:20,500 --> 00:53:21,708
I laid down.

1276
00:53:21,791 --> 00:53:22,708
Well, I'm just thinking,

1277
00:53:22,791 --> 00:53:24,458
"This is just Ron being Ron,
you know?

1278
00:53:24,541 --> 00:53:26,583
It's just Ron-Ron just doing
his thing.

1279
00:53:26,666 --> 00:53:28,041
Like, he's relaxed and he's
chilling.

1280
00:53:28,125 --> 00:53:29,458
Listen, they came here,
got the win.

1281
00:53:29,541 --> 00:53:30,750
He's just kind of showing out
a little bit.

1282
00:53:30,833 --> 00:53:35,083
But it's no big deal. This is
gonna be over soon," you know?

1283
00:53:35,166 --> 00:53:37,708
And -- And boy, I didn't --

1284
00:53:37,791 --> 00:53:39,291
I wasn't right about that.

1285
00:53:39,375 --> 00:53:42,000
You know, Ben wore a thousand
armbands and headbands,

1286
00:53:42,083 --> 00:53:43,333
so he was just -- I mean, he's
just steady throwing them.

1287
00:53:43,416 --> 00:53:46,041
Just throwing them. And so
people started

1288
00:53:46,125 --> 00:53:48,875
throwing stuff from
the stands.

1289
00:53:48,958 --> 00:53:50,291
So he was throwing them at
Ron,

1290
00:53:50,375 --> 00:53:50,833
and the next thing you
know, you see cups and all

1291
00:53:50,916 --> 00:53:53,083
this stuff fly in.

1292
00:53:53,166 --> 00:53:54,375
We were all kind of booing him
and telling him,

1293
00:53:54,458 --> 00:53:56,458
"Get off the scorers table."

1294
00:53:56,541 --> 00:53:58,666
And kids were kind of throwing
popcorn down at him.

1295
00:53:58,750 --> 00:54:01,250
I was sitting there talking
with my buddy and -- and, uh,

1296
00:54:01,333 --> 00:54:03,916
I said, you know, I was
drinking a Diet Coke

1297
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:05,791
with ice in it and he said --

1298
00:54:05,875 --> 00:54:07,458
I said, "I bet I could hit him
from right here with that cup."

1299
00:54:07,541 --> 00:54:11,041
And, uh, and he goes, "No,
we're too far away."

1300
00:54:11,125 --> 00:54:15,083
And, uh... And I just launched
it in the air

1301
00:54:15,166 --> 00:54:16,666
underhand and it kind of went
up in the air

1302
00:54:16,750 --> 00:54:19,583
with a perfect arc and hit
him right in the chest.

1303
00:54:19,666 --> 00:54:21,833
[indistinct shouting]

1304
00:54:21,916 --> 00:54:24,583
A beer or any type of beverage
is thrown in someone's face,

1305
00:54:24,666 --> 00:54:26,166
that's assault.

1306
00:54:26,250 --> 00:54:28,291
In a lot of states, that's
assault.

1307
00:54:28,375 --> 00:54:30,083
I'm sitting there. I'm like,
"Holy cow," you know?

1308
00:54:30,166 --> 00:54:30,875
I -- I didn't really think
I was gonna hit him.

1309
00:54:30,958 --> 00:54:33,750
And then, uh,

1310
00:54:33,833 --> 00:54:35,625
Artest turned around and
looked up in the stands

1311
00:54:35,708 --> 00:54:37,958
and the kid sitting next to
me, he's yelling at Artest

1312
00:54:38,041 --> 00:54:39,500
going, "Yeah, you got it!"

1313
00:54:39,583 --> 00:54:42,000
[commentator]: Now Artest has
jumped over the scorers table

1314
00:54:42,083 --> 00:54:42,958
and is trying to get down to...

1315
00:54:43,041 --> 00:54:45,541
When I seen him raise his
hand, I'm like --

1316
00:54:45,625 --> 00:54:48,166
When I got hit, I'm like...

1317
00:54:48,250 --> 00:54:49,500
"That guy hit me.

1318
00:54:49,583 --> 00:54:52,250
There's nobody else that
could've possibly hit me."

1319
00:54:52,333 --> 00:54:55,333
[laughs] So I ran right in
that direction,

1320
00:54:55,416 --> 00:54:56,916
and my --

1321
00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:59,708
What I wanted to do was choke
him. [laughs]

1322
00:54:59,791 --> 00:55:01,208
Not to death, but...

1323
00:55:01,291 --> 00:55:03,500
[laughs] just to let him know,

1324
00:55:03,583 --> 00:55:06,708
"Don't you ever hit me with a
cup in your life."

1325
00:55:06,791 --> 00:55:07,875
I just started getting
adrenaline and my heart

1326
00:55:07,958 --> 00:55:10,958
started racing and seeing him
come, I started to get,

1327
00:55:11,041 --> 00:55:12,916
like, I was like, "Oh,
man. Here it goes."

1328
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:14,041
[commentator]: Artest is in
the stands!

1329
00:55:14,125 --> 00:55:16,416
[crowd screaming]

1330
00:55:19,750 --> 00:55:21,500
I thought he was coming at me

1331
00:55:21,583 --> 00:55:23,666
and he passed me and went and
grabbed this kid.

1332
00:55:23,750 --> 00:55:25,291
I don't know if I blame him.

1333
00:55:25,375 --> 00:55:27,208
Um, but if you're gonna go
into the stands,

1334
00:55:27,291 --> 00:55:29,208
hit the right person.

1335
00:55:29,291 --> 00:55:31,208
Right? He hit the wrong person.

1336
00:55:31,291 --> 00:55:32,875
And Artest was looking at this
kid saying,

1337
00:55:32,958 --> 00:55:34,291
"Oh, you threw it."

1338
00:55:34,375 --> 00:55:37,333
So he take -- takes off in the
-- into the stands

1339
00:55:37,416 --> 00:55:39,125
and grabs this kid

1340
00:55:39,208 --> 00:55:42,791
and, uh, just starts, like,
bodyslamming this kid.

1341
00:55:42,875 --> 00:55:45,375
And then beer started flying
and...

1342
00:55:45,458 --> 00:55:48,416
I felt bad right away. I went
and grabbed Artest

1343
00:55:48,500 --> 00:55:50,083
around, you know, like a bear
hug

1344
00:55:50,166 --> 00:55:52,166
trying to pull him off this kid.

1345
00:55:52,250 --> 00:55:53,791
I have to be honest, I wasn't
necessarily

1346
00:55:53,875 --> 00:55:55,166
whispering in his ear saying,

1347
00:55:55,250 --> 00:55:58,125
"Hey, I'm the one that
threw the cup." [laughs]

1348
00:55:59,291 --> 00:56:01,791
I was very upset. All I wanted
to do was go up in the --

1349
00:56:01,875 --> 00:56:04,250
go in the stands and tell this
fan, "You asshole.

1350
00:56:04,333 --> 00:56:05,375
Don't ever throw a cup at me."

1351
00:56:05,458 --> 00:56:07,416
And I thought that was gonna
be it. [laughs]

1352
00:56:07,500 --> 00:56:08,916
I didn't know it was gonna be
more and more

1353
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:10,583
and more and more.

1354
00:56:10,666 --> 00:56:12,750
Not a very proud moment, but
hey, it just --

1355
00:56:12,833 --> 00:56:16,916
it's one of those things, you
know? It was kind of a...

1356
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:21,208
spontaneous, you know, instant
chaos that, you know,

1357
00:56:21,291 --> 00:56:23,791
got me engulfed and, uh, I
just reacted.

1358
00:56:23,875 --> 00:56:27,125
He had time to reflect and to
think and...

1359
00:56:27,208 --> 00:56:29,500
And then...

1360
00:56:30,541 --> 00:56:32,708
...And then he just lost his
mind.

1361
00:56:34,166 --> 00:56:38,000
And for a long time,

1362
00:56:38,083 --> 00:56:39,458
I kept asking myself the
ultimate question

1363
00:56:39,541 --> 00:56:42,958
for people who do lose
their mind.

1364
00:56:43,041 --> 00:56:44,958
And that is that

1365
00:56:45,041 --> 00:56:47,166
to lose something

1366
00:56:47,250 --> 00:56:50,708
at some point, you have to
have it in the first place.

1367
00:56:51,541 --> 00:56:56,125
And I questioned that
that night.

1368
00:56:56,208 --> 00:56:57,208
I wasn't afraid at one moment.

1369
00:56:57,291 --> 00:56:59,750
I wasn't worried at one moment.

1370
00:56:59,833 --> 00:57:01,791
You know, my whole mind was,

1371
00:57:01,875 --> 00:57:05,166
you know, protecting myself
and protecting my teammates

1372
00:57:05,250 --> 00:57:06,000
and, uh, we'll get out of here
together and deal with the

1373
00:57:06,083 --> 00:57:09,375
consequences later.

1374
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:11,666
[indistinct shouting]

1375
00:57:11,750 --> 00:57:13,333
[commentator] And now another
fight's breaking out

1376
00:57:13,416 --> 00:57:16,125
in front of the Pistons bench.

1377
00:57:16,208 --> 00:57:19,166
It's a -- It's a fan on the
court.

1378
00:57:19,250 --> 00:57:21,791
This is very, very dangerous.

1379
00:57:21,875 --> 00:57:22,833
[Ron] But a guy comes at me.

1380
00:57:22,916 --> 00:57:25,166
At the time, I'm like, "This
guy is crazy."

1381
00:57:25,250 --> 00:57:27,083
You know, now, I'm like, you
know, I always wanted to know

1382
00:57:27,166 --> 00:57:29,333
what he was thinking,
but if he --

1383
00:57:29,416 --> 00:57:31,625
he's really lucky
there was beer on the floor,

1384
00:57:31,708 --> 00:57:33,833
because I slipped. I couldn't
quite get a grip,

1385
00:57:33,916 --> 00:57:36,500
'cause the punch would've
connected even more.

1386
00:57:36,583 --> 00:57:39,375
[indistinct shouting]

1387
00:57:42,291 --> 00:57:43,916
I think about the animosity
that we had

1388
00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:45,541
amongst each other
as teammates.

1389
00:57:45,625 --> 00:57:47,166
But that very moment, we came
together

1390
00:57:47,250 --> 00:57:48,083
to protect each other.

1391
00:57:48,166 --> 00:57:49,375
It was all put to the test
that night.

1392
00:57:49,458 --> 00:57:54,333
As the captain of the team,
um, you

1393
00:57:54,416 --> 00:57:55,208
are put in positions and have
to make

1394
00:57:55,291 --> 00:57:57,708
decisions for your team.

1395
00:57:57,791 --> 00:57:59,375
And, um, when you're making
decisions for your team,

1396
00:57:59,458 --> 00:58:01,166
you're standing with your
team.

1397
00:58:01,250 --> 00:58:03,375
I believed in what I did

1398
00:58:03,458 --> 00:58:06,708
and I would absolutely do it
again.

1399
00:58:06,791 --> 00:58:09,375
I would absolutely do it
again, because at that point,

1400
00:58:09,458 --> 00:58:11,958
people are trying to kill you.

1401
00:58:12,041 --> 00:58:14,375
Over a basketball game.

1402
00:58:14,458 --> 00:58:17,083
[commentator] Fans are
throwing cups

1403
00:58:17,166 --> 00:58:19,333
with liquid in them now
onto the court.

1404
00:58:19,416 --> 00:58:21,833
Ron Artest has a look in his
eye

1405
00:58:21,916 --> 00:58:23,375
that's very scary right now.

1406
00:58:23,458 --> 00:58:26,541
That incident magnified
everything.

1407
00:58:26,625 --> 00:58:29,166
It magnified where I was in my
life,

1408
00:58:29,250 --> 00:58:32,875
and it magnified how much of an
asshole these guys were.

1409
00:58:32,958 --> 00:58:33,791
[laughs]

1410
00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:36,916
There were security guards
coming, cops coming everywhere

1411
00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:38,916
and I was looking at my buddy,
I'm like, "Holy cow."

1412
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:40,208
He goes, "Yeah, let's get out
of here,"

1413
00:58:40,291 --> 00:58:42,416
so we took off. [laughs]

1414
00:58:42,500 --> 00:58:44,583
And, uh, and then it started
--

1415
00:58:44,666 --> 00:58:46,500
We were heading out and we
saw it kind of escalating

1416
00:58:46,583 --> 00:58:48,750
down on the court.

1417
00:58:48,833 --> 00:58:49,958
[commentator] You wonder if
the official

1418
00:58:50,041 --> 00:58:51,375
is gonna let this game
continue.

1419
00:58:51,458 --> 00:58:54,083
Now they're throwing bottles
out onto the floor.

1420
00:58:54,166 --> 00:58:56,583
15 -- You know, 12 to 15 of you,

1421
00:58:56,666 --> 00:58:58,791
uh, as a team, um, and then

1422
00:58:58,875 --> 00:58:59,916
you look and all the exits are
blocked

1423
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:02,833
because the people are running
on -- on the court.

1424
00:59:02,916 --> 00:59:04,416
[commentator]: They're trying
to get the Pacers to go back

1425
00:59:04,500 --> 00:59:05,750
to the locker room.

1426
00:59:05,833 --> 00:59:09,416
[laughs] It was crazy. It was
crazy, 'cause, like,

1427
00:59:09,500 --> 00:59:13,541
it literally was like a movie,
man. It was like a movie.

1428
00:59:13,625 --> 00:59:17,708
[commentator] You have these
ridiculous fans trying to...

1429
00:59:17,791 --> 00:59:19,791
I remember Chuck ... trying to
protect me, but m--

1430
00:59:19,875 --> 00:59:23,250
I -- I wanted to go back in
the stands again,

1431
00:59:23,333 --> 00:59:25,208
because more people was
throwing beer and popcorn.

1432
00:59:25,291 --> 00:59:26,291
I'm like -- I'm trying to figure
out --

1433
00:59:26,375 --> 00:59:27,958
I'm trying to find the faces

1434
00:59:28,041 --> 00:59:30,291
of the person who threw the
popcorn and who threw the --

1435
00:59:30,375 --> 00:59:32,541
more beer and more soda,

1436
00:59:32,625 --> 00:59:34,791
'cause I'm ready to take on
more people.

1437
00:59:34,875 --> 00:59:37,208
[commentator] Somebody could
really get hurt.

1438
00:59:37,291 --> 00:59:38,416
[Stephen] We were coming
off the courtand we had

1439
00:59:38,500 --> 00:59:39,958
just made it through
the tunnel.

1440
00:59:40,041 --> 00:59:41,916
You know, from getting hit
with soda, popcorn,

1441
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:43,041
all kind of stuff.

1442
00:59:43,125 --> 00:59:47,000
our adrenaline's still pumping
and, uh...

1443
00:59:47,083 --> 00:59:48,000
Chuck Person's got Ron. He's
bringing Ron.

1444
00:59:48,083 --> 00:59:50,250
There's a number of cameras
right there.

1445
00:59:50,333 --> 00:59:51,125
[commentator] This is a bad
showing from the

1446
00:59:51,208 --> 00:59:53,541
Pistons fans here.

1447
00:59:56,166 --> 00:59:57,750
[indistinct shouting]

1448
00:59:57,833 --> 01:00:00,291
I'm the mode at that point
where, you know, I got --

1449
01:00:00,375 --> 01:00:03,208
I had my brother's back.
I'm proud of it.

1450
01:00:03,291 --> 01:00:05,791
So I'm looking at these people
run and throw chairs and you

1451
01:00:05,875 --> 01:00:06,958
got people rocking chairs and,
I mean, it just --

1452
01:00:07,041 --> 01:00:10,000
stuff coming and people got
these water bottles and

1453
01:00:10,083 --> 01:00:12,000
running up to us and just
lining us up.

1454
01:00:12,083 --> 01:00:13,625
Would you be the person that
go to my home

1455
01:00:13,708 --> 01:00:16,625
and tell my wife and my kids
that their dad

1456
01:00:16,708 --> 01:00:19,375
is dead from one of these
chairs that you see

1457
01:00:19,458 --> 01:00:21,625
on these camera angles?

1458
01:00:21,708 --> 01:00:23,875
When they -- we got whole iron
chairs flying

1459
01:00:23,958 --> 01:00:25,416
and people throwing them at us.

1460
01:00:25,500 --> 01:00:26,291
[commentator] This is one of
the worst scenes

1461
01:00:26,375 --> 01:00:27,416
I've ever seen.

1462
01:00:27,500 --> 01:00:30,541
This is a low moment in NBA
history.

1463
01:00:30,625 --> 01:00:33,416
When I knew it was really bad
was when

1464
01:00:33,500 --> 01:00:37,208
we got in the locker room
and Coach Brown...

1465
01:00:37,291 --> 01:00:39,583
You know, coaches always
address the team after,

1466
01:00:39,666 --> 01:00:42,541
and Larry was crying.

1467
01:00:42,625 --> 01:00:45,041
He was crying. I looked at
him, he was crying.

1468
01:00:45,125 --> 01:00:49,041
And when he finally calmed and
came to,

1469
01:00:49,125 --> 01:00:52,041
he said that we gave the game
a black eye,

1470
01:00:52,125 --> 01:00:55,750
um, tonight and we will always
be remembered for that.

1471
01:00:55,833 --> 01:00:58,083
I'm sitting there looking at
my socks.

1472
01:00:58,166 --> 01:01:00,875
Just blood everywhere, my
legs are all scratched up.

1473
01:01:00,958 --> 01:01:02,375
And he -- and he's leaning
back in the locker room

1474
01:01:02,458 --> 01:01:03,208
and he was like, "Jack...

1475
01:01:03,291 --> 01:01:06,083
[sighs]

1476
01:01:06,166 --> 01:01:07,416
You think we gonna get in
trouble?"

1477
01:01:07,500 --> 01:01:09,708
I asked Stephen that because I
just wanted to [laughs]

1478
01:01:09,791 --> 01:01:14,958
confirm that we are in some
... trouble.

1479
01:01:15,041 --> 01:01:17,416
In my mind, I had a lot going
on,

1480
01:01:17,500 --> 01:01:18,750
and I remember asking this
to room,

1481
01:01:18,833 --> 01:01:20,583
"Do you think we're gonna be
suspended?"

1482
01:01:20,666 --> 01:01:23,208
Because I already been
suspended so

1483
01:01:23,291 --> 01:01:24,041
many times already.

1484
01:01:24,125 --> 01:01:26,000
I say...

1485
01:01:26,833 --> 01:01:30,666
"Trouble? You lucky if we have
a job."

1486
01:01:30,750 --> 01:01:32,666
And Jamal ... and everybody
bust out laughing 'cause

1487
01:01:32,750 --> 01:01:35,916
they couldn't believe that he
would ask this question.

1488
01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:38,333
"Bro, we just beat up fans. We
just went in the stands.

1489
01:01:38,416 --> 01:01:39,916
This has never been done
before, okay?

1490
01:01:40,000 --> 01:01:40,708
We brought the hood to
Auburn Hills, okay?

1491
01:01:40,791 --> 01:01:43,125
This has never been done
before.

1492
01:01:43,208 --> 01:01:44,958
You might've played your last
basketball game, Ron.

1493
01:01:45,041 --> 01:01:46,666
Me -- [laughs] Me too.

1494
01:01:46,750 --> 01:01:48,208
We might be, uh, going
overseas together, brother,

1495
01:01:48,291 --> 01:01:49,166
okay?

1496
01:01:49,250 --> 01:01:50,083
Uh, just letting you know. I
--

1497
01:01:50,166 --> 01:01:52,125
Now you know I'm your
friend, okay?"

1498
01:01:52,208 --> 01:01:55,666
He definitely said, "We might
not have a job again."

1499
01:01:55,750 --> 01:01:57,166
He definitely said that.

1500
01:01:57,250 --> 01:01:58,791
No, that was the dumbest
question ever.

1501
01:01:58,875 --> 01:02:00,083
I don't know what he was
thinking asking

1502
01:02:00,166 --> 01:02:01,041
that question, but that lets
you know

1503
01:02:01,125 --> 01:02:02,458
he wasn't in his right mind at
the time.

1504
01:02:02,541 --> 01:02:06,000
And I just went directly to him.

1505
01:02:06,083 --> 01:02:07,541
You know, I tried to fight him.

1506
01:02:07,625 --> 01:02:09,250
They really didn't make it to
each other,

1507
01:02:09,333 --> 01:02:10,625
but he got up upset.

1508
01:02:10,708 --> 01:02:13,958
And it spiraled to J.O.

1509
01:02:14,041 --> 01:02:16,125
really did -- he was so mad at
Ron that

1510
01:02:16,208 --> 01:02:18,125
he turned to the coaches

1511
01:02:18,208 --> 01:02:20,791
and said, "When we're fighting
or get into a -- a argument

1512
01:02:20,875 --> 01:02:23,583
or a type of scuffle, do not
grab us."

1513
01:02:23,666 --> 01:02:25,083
He's talking to the coaches.

1514
01:02:25,166 --> 01:02:26,625
So at that time,

1515
01:02:26,708 --> 01:02:28,958
the players and coaches
charging each other.

1516
01:02:29,041 --> 01:02:30,541
And a c-- a couple of us jump
in.

1517
01:02:30,625 --> 01:02:32,041
We're like, "No! No! No,
no! We're here together!"

1518
01:02:32,125 --> 01:02:34,333
So it got bad. It got bad

1519
01:02:34,416 --> 01:02:36,708
and that comment sparked a lot
of stuff in the locker room.

1520
01:02:36,791 --> 01:02:38,000
It sparked a lot.

1521
01:02:38,083 --> 01:02:40,666
[commentator]: And another
incident for Ron Artest.

1522
01:02:40,750 --> 01:02:42,583
So unfortunate, and again,

1523
01:02:42,666 --> 01:02:46,416
the fan... Hopefully, security
is able to get the fan

1524
01:02:46,500 --> 01:02:48,875
and he'll receive proper
punishment.

1525
01:02:49,541 --> 01:02:51,208
I always liked Ron

1526
01:02:51,291 --> 01:02:57,791
because here was a guy who had
realized the ultimate dream,

1527
01:02:57,875 --> 01:03:01,875
to make something of his life
using basketball.

1528
01:03:01,958 --> 01:03:04,208
And then...

1529
01:03:04,583 --> 01:03:05,541
...He threw it all away.

1530
01:03:05,625 --> 01:03:08,666
And for what purpose?

1531
01:03:08,750 --> 01:03:11,666
For a quick moment before I
went to bed,

1532
01:03:11,750 --> 01:03:13,125
I had a moment. [laughs]

1533
01:03:13,208 --> 01:03:14,500
I was a little upset.

1534
01:03:14,583 --> 01:03:15,666
I might've cried a little bit.

1535
01:03:15,750 --> 01:03:17,916
But when I woke up, I'm like,
"Yo,

1536
01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:19,208
this is not my fault, man.

1537
01:03:19,291 --> 01:03:20,666
This guy was an asshole.

1538
01:03:20,750 --> 01:03:21,875
And what did you want me to do?"

1539
01:03:21,958 --> 01:03:25,166
The fan made a $50 bet

1540
01:03:25,250 --> 01:03:28,333
that he couldn't hit me.

1541
01:03:28,416 --> 01:03:31,041
So when John threw the cup,

1542
01:03:31,125 --> 01:03:35,416
um, he had to pay the fan that
raised his hand $50.

1543
01:03:35,500 --> 01:03:38,291
So everybody's feeling sorry
for this stupid-ass fan.

1544
01:03:38,375 --> 01:03:40,083
His ass made the $50 bet.

1545
01:03:40,166 --> 01:03:41,791
[John] That night, when I got
home,

1546
01:03:41,875 --> 01:03:44,250
I was with a few of my buddies,
and I could see my wife

1547
01:03:44,333 --> 01:03:46,458
sitting on the porch smoking a
cigarette.

1548
01:03:46,541 --> 01:03:48,500
And I'm like, "Oh, this is not
good,"

1549
01:03:48,583 --> 01:03:50,291
'cause she doesn't smoke.
[laughs]

1550
01:03:50,375 --> 01:03:52,333
And, uh, all she could say
was,

1551
01:03:52,416 --> 01:03:54,583
"Did you guys have fun
tonight?"

1552
01:03:54,666 --> 01:03:57,000
And, uh, I said, "Yeah, it was
a good time." She goes,

1553
01:03:57,083 --> 01:03:59,791
"You and you and you need to
get the ... out of here

1554
01:03:59,875 --> 01:04:01,250
and you need to come inside
and watch."

1555
01:04:01,333 --> 01:04:02,833
She goes, "They're looking
for you."

1556
01:04:02,916 --> 01:04:05,416
And sure enough, they're
showing my face

1557
01:04:05,500 --> 01:04:09,291
with a halo over it saying,
"We're looking for this guy."

1558
01:04:09,916 --> 01:04:11,958
[David] John Green will face two
counts of assault and battery.

1559
01:04:12,041 --> 01:04:15,208
One involving a cup that
struck Ron Artest

1560
01:04:15,291 --> 01:04:17,875
in the chest and face area.

1561
01:04:17,958 --> 01:04:20,375
The second is also an assault
on Ron Artest

1562
01:04:20,458 --> 01:04:21,750
from behind when he struck
him.

1563
01:04:21,833 --> 01:04:24,125
John Green, uh, we will depict

1564
01:04:24,208 --> 01:04:25,500
what, in my mind,
single-handedly

1565
01:04:25,583 --> 01:04:29,583
incited this whole interaction
between the fans and players,

1566
01:04:29,666 --> 01:04:31,416
and probably is the one
that's, um,

1567
01:04:31,500 --> 01:04:32,625
most culpable.

1568
01:04:32,708 --> 01:04:35,208
[John] I mean, I threw a cup
up in the air, you know?

1569
01:04:35,291 --> 01:04:36,291
I -- I...

1570
01:04:36,375 --> 01:04:37,583
They charged me with assault
from throwing a cup

1571
01:04:37,666 --> 01:04:40,583
up in the air, you know?

1572
01:04:40,666 --> 01:04:42,250
Then they charged me with
assault

1573
01:04:42,333 --> 01:04:43,916
for punching Ron Artest,

1574
01:04:44,000 --> 01:04:45,541
which I didn't even
understand, because he

1575
01:04:45,625 --> 01:04:47,291
came up into the stands and
grabbing some kid

1576
01:04:47,375 --> 01:04:50,125
and I'm trying to defend this
kid, so...

1577
01:04:50,208 --> 01:04:54,291
They -- They found me not
guilty for throwing the cup

1578
01:04:54,375 --> 01:04:58,333
and they found me guilty for
punching Ron Artest, so...

1579
01:04:58,416 --> 01:05:01,416
Then I was given, uh, 30 days
in work release.

1580
01:05:01,500 --> 01:05:03,333
Ron Artest will face one count

1581
01:05:03,416 --> 01:05:06,125
of assault for mistakenly
striking

1582
01:05:06,208 --> 01:05:10,666
and pushing and shoving the
fan by the name of Mike Ryan.

1583
01:05:10,750 --> 01:05:11,625
[Donnie] I felt when he went
into the stands,

1584
01:05:11,708 --> 01:05:12,916
that's automatic.

1585
01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:16,125
So I knew there was gonna be
suspensions.

1586
01:05:16,208 --> 01:05:20,166
Somebody hit him in the face
with a, uh, drink

1587
01:05:20,250 --> 01:05:24,166
and anywhere in the world,

1588
01:05:24,250 --> 01:05:26,500
you'd know, I throw a drink in
this guy's face,

1589
01:05:26,583 --> 01:05:28,000
he's coming after me.

1590
01:05:28,083 --> 01:05:29,000
And he went after him

1591
01:05:29,083 --> 01:05:30,916
and that's what happened. It --

1592
01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:31,791
You know, he violated one of
the biggest principles

1593
01:05:31,875 --> 01:05:35,458
of the game by going into
the stands.

1594
01:05:35,541 --> 01:05:36,333
[Ron] It's not about the
stands.

1595
01:05:36,416 --> 01:05:38,833
It was about somebody had a
issue.

1596
01:05:38,916 --> 01:05:40,333
Somebody ... hit you.

1597
01:05:40,416 --> 01:05:44,208
His -- Whether it was at
Starbucks [laughs]

1598
01:05:44,291 --> 01:05:50,041
or whether he was at, uh, IBM
in the office

1599
01:05:50,125 --> 01:05:52,500
and then [laughs]

1600
01:05:52,583 --> 01:05:54,833
the mailroom guy [laughs]

1601
01:05:54,916 --> 01:05:56,958
throws a water in your face,

1602
01:05:57,041 --> 01:05:59,208
the CEO of IBM's gonna kick
his ass.

1603
01:05:59,291 --> 01:06:02,750
[Mike] I'm always tempted to
compare him to Tyson.

1604
01:06:02,833 --> 01:06:06,041
For Ron, like Tyson, there's
always this

1605
01:06:06,125 --> 01:06:10,875
tacit expectation, "When's the
guy gonna blow?

1606
01:06:10,958 --> 01:06:13,083
When's he gonna come undone?

1607
01:06:13,166 --> 01:06:15,083
When's he gonna go nuts?"

1608
01:06:15,166 --> 01:06:16,875
And that night,

1609
01:06:16,958 --> 01:06:19,041
in Detroit, you saw it.

1610
01:06:19,125 --> 01:06:20,708
[Ron] That had nothing to do
with any

1611
01:06:20,791 --> 01:06:22,041
anger management issues.

1612
01:06:22,125 --> 01:06:23,541
In my neighborhood, you wasn't
--

1613
01:06:23,625 --> 01:06:25,041
you're not allowed to get
bullied. Or if you been

1614
01:06:25,125 --> 01:06:26,875
bullied, you're never gonna
let it happen again.

1615
01:06:26,958 --> 01:06:28,208
Your first reaction is, "See?

1616
01:06:28,291 --> 01:06:29,708
I knew that guy was gonna go
crazy."

1617
01:06:29,791 --> 01:06:32,041
And for years and years,

1618
01:06:32,125 --> 01:06:36,041
this is not just what the
league feared

1619
01:06:36,125 --> 01:06:39,416
or the sport feared or all
American sports feared.

1620
01:06:39,500 --> 01:06:41,875
This is what middle America
feared.

1621
01:06:41,958 --> 01:06:43,916
And, you know, the hammer had
to come down.

1622
01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:47,125
I announce the, uh, following
suspensions, uh, resulting

1623
01:06:47,208 --> 01:06:49,833
from the actions at the
Indiana Pacers

1624
01:06:49,916 --> 01:06:53,250
and the Detroit Pistons game
on November 19th.

1625
01:06:53,333 --> 01:06:57,250
Uh, Indiana's Ron Artest has
been suspended

1626
01:06:57,333 --> 01:06:59,833
for the remainder of the season.

1627
01:07:00,625 --> 01:07:05,500
Indiana's Stephen Jackson has
been suspended for 30 games.

1628
01:07:05,833 --> 01:07:10,000
Indiana's Jermaine O'Neil has
been suspended for 25 games.

1629
01:07:10,083 --> 01:07:11,916
I got the word on TV

1630
01:07:12,000 --> 01:07:14,375
that I was suspended
indefinitely.

1631
01:07:14,458 --> 01:07:16,541
And then,

1632
01:07:16,625 --> 01:07:18,083
I'm like, "Okay, I might
never, ever

1633
01:07:18,166 --> 01:07:19,291
be in the NBA again."

1634
01:07:19,375 --> 01:07:21,250
Whatever assistance he has
received to this point

1635
01:07:21,333 --> 01:07:23,916
did not keep him from doing
something that was

1636
01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:26,458
unforgivable on Friday night.

1637
01:07:26,541 --> 01:07:30,125
It was hard, it was hard,
'cause I lost my LA Gear deal.

1638
01:07:30,208 --> 01:07:34,083
I had my own sneaker. Carl's
Jr. commercial's coming.

1639
01:07:34,166 --> 01:07:38,000
Um, a ESPN and TNT commercial,
you know?

1640
01:07:38,083 --> 01:07:39,458
Um, the face --

1641
01:07:39,541 --> 01:07:41,958
Well, one of the faces of my
team at that time.

1642
01:07:42,041 --> 01:07:44,333
And one of the faces of the
league at that time.

1643
01:07:44,416 --> 01:07:50,833
Players cannot lose control
and go into the stands.

1644
01:07:50,916 --> 01:07:55,458
And, as a corollary, have to
hold fans accountable

1645
01:07:55,541 --> 01:07:58,750
for their anti-social behavior
as well.

1646
01:07:58,833 --> 01:08:01,083
[man] What was your personal
reaction when you saw,

1647
01:08:01,166 --> 01:08:03,333
for the first time, what had
happened Friday night?

1648
01:08:03,416 --> 01:08:09,208
Um, I would say shock, uh, and
revulsion.

1649
01:08:11,125 --> 01:08:12,208
And fear.

1650
01:08:13,958 --> 01:08:15,791
[Lamar] I was upset.

1651
01:08:15,875 --> 01:08:18,833
I just didn't want him to
always be remembered

1652
01:08:18,917 --> 01:08:21,708
for that incident. I mean, he
gave so much to the game,

1653
01:08:21,792 --> 01:08:25,000
he worked so hard just to make
it to the NBA,

1654
01:08:25,082 --> 01:08:26,542
as all of us have.

1655
01:08:26,625 --> 01:08:28,332
I just didn't want him to --
to remember that,

1656
01:08:28,417 --> 01:08:29,625
and I didn't think he
deserved that.

1657
01:08:29,708 --> 01:08:30,833
[Ron] And after that happened,
I said, "You know what?

1658
01:08:30,917 --> 01:08:32,958
I'm gonna retire."

1659
01:08:33,041 --> 01:08:36,708
So I started to promote my
R&B album.

1660
01:08:36,792 --> 01:08:39,125
I had a great album at that
time, too.

1661
01:08:39,207 --> 01:08:42,500
I produced a record, it was
called Chapter III .

1662
01:08:42,582 --> 01:08:44,291
All R&B, Allure.

1663
01:08:44,375 --> 01:08:48,207
And I remember, when I had the
brawl on November 19th,

1664
01:08:48,291 --> 01:08:50,375
the album came out on
the 23rd.

1665
01:08:50,457 --> 01:08:51,542
That's not the image that
David Stern

1666
01:08:51,625 --> 01:08:53,125
wants to put forth. He don't
wanna put forth

1667
01:08:53,207 --> 01:08:54,291
a negative image,

1668
01:08:54,375 --> 01:08:55,833
and I've been working real
hard on doing a lot of

1669
01:08:55,917 --> 01:08:57,207
positive things.

1670
01:08:57,291 --> 01:08:59,833
And, uh, you know, got this
album coming out.

1671
01:08:59,917 --> 01:09:02,207
It's positive, it's about
love, you know?

1672
01:09:02,291 --> 01:09:03,792
It's not rap, it's not hardcore.

1673
01:09:03,875 --> 01:09:07,375
But everything's positive and,
uh, look at this.

1674
01:09:07,457 --> 01:09:10,582
-Ron, we -- we appreciate --
-Y'all have a good morning.

1675
01:09:10,667 --> 01:09:13,082
That album had to take a
backseat.

1676
01:09:13,166 --> 01:09:15,041
We shelved it.

1677
01:09:16,291 --> 01:09:20,166
Well, he wasn't around. You
know?

1678
01:09:20,250 --> 01:09:22,582
I got suspended 30 games, I
came back.

1679
01:09:22,667 --> 01:09:23,500
I ended up coming back
and playing.

1680
01:09:23,582 --> 01:09:24,082
We ended up
going to the play-offs.

1681
01:09:24,166 --> 01:09:27,375
Ron wasn't around, so...

1682
01:09:27,457 --> 01:09:29,708
Nobody had seen him, nobody
heard from him, you know?

1683
01:09:29,792 --> 01:09:32,875
Nobody -- nothing, so he kind
of just, like, faded to black.

1684
01:09:32,958 --> 01:09:34,542
Well, I'm sure it killed
Ronnie,

1685
01:09:34,625 --> 01:09:36,500
'cause Ronnie needed basketball.

1686
01:09:36,582 --> 01:09:37,792
He really did.

1687
01:09:37,875 --> 01:09:39,125
We would've won the
championship, everybody

1688
01:09:39,207 --> 01:09:40,166
knows that.

1689
01:09:40,250 --> 01:09:41,582
Reggie would have a
championship right now.

1690
01:09:41,667 --> 01:09:44,917
That's one thing I regret and
I know he regrets too.

1691
01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:46,667
But, uh...

1692
01:09:46,750 --> 01:09:48,332
that's just the way it went
down.

1693
01:09:48,417 --> 01:09:51,250
[Jermaine] I never thought
Ron was a bad person.

1694
01:09:51,332 --> 01:09:52,125
I never -- I never thought,
even to this day,

1695
01:09:52,207 --> 01:09:53,375
I never thought Ron was a
bad --

1696
01:09:53,457 --> 01:09:56,457
I thought Ron didn't necessarily
understand everything,

1697
01:09:56,542 --> 01:09:59,582
because he was still trying to
understand himself,

1698
01:09:59,667 --> 01:10:01,792
so how do you expect for him
to understand

1699
01:10:01,875 --> 01:10:04,625
other people's feelings
and he's still reaching and

1700
01:10:04,708 --> 01:10:07,207
trying to grab help from other
people?

1701
01:10:07,291 --> 01:10:09,250
And that's the part where I
wish

1702
01:10:09,332 --> 01:10:12,792
I would've understood better
as a teammate

1703
01:10:12,875 --> 01:10:15,125
instead of being angry as a
teammate.

1704
01:10:15,207 --> 01:10:17,041
Ron kind of separated himself
from everybody

1705
01:10:17,125 --> 01:10:19,082
because he felt like everybody
was mad at him.

1706
01:10:19,166 --> 01:10:20,375
You know, he felt like
everybody turned --

1707
01:10:20,457 --> 01:10:22,332
turned their back on him.

1708
01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:26,082
When he was eligible to play
his first game,

1709
01:10:26,166 --> 01:10:27,667
it was a summer league game

1710
01:10:27,750 --> 01:10:30,082
and I actually flew to the
game to cover it

1711
01:10:30,166 --> 01:10:32,332
and to watch him. And you
could tell

1712
01:10:32,417 --> 01:10:33,500
that he was just different.

1713
01:10:33,582 --> 01:10:35,250
He really looked like he had
put through the ringer.

1714
01:10:35,332 --> 01:10:38,417
He almost had, like, this
glazed look about him

1715
01:10:38,500 --> 01:10:40,291
where maybe he was feeling the
pressure of "Yeah, I'm g--

1716
01:10:40,375 --> 01:10:42,457
I'm being given another
chance,

1717
01:10:42,542 --> 01:10:44,250
I gotta try to make the most
of it."

1718
01:10:44,332 --> 01:10:46,917
I mean, nothing changed that
particular year.

1719
01:10:47,000 --> 01:10:49,250
Um, you know, Ron was on the
cover

1720
01:10:49,332 --> 01:10:51,082
of Sports Illustrated with
Larry.

1721
01:10:51,166 --> 01:10:52,625
[Stephen] With all that he's
been through, with all

1722
01:10:52,708 --> 01:10:54,082
that he's done, they stood
behind him.

1723
01:10:54,166 --> 01:10:55,708
You know, we stood behind him.

1724
01:10:55,792 --> 01:10:57,833
And, uh, we felt we had a
chance

1725
01:10:57,917 --> 01:11:00,041
to right our wrongs.

1726
01:11:00,958 --> 01:11:02,250
[Jermaine] It's about Ron
right now, though.

1727
01:11:02,332 --> 01:11:04,750
It's about Ron. Ron Artest
being back.

1728
01:11:04,833 --> 01:11:06,667
Ron Artest's back! All-star.

1729
01:11:06,750 --> 01:11:08,250
You are back. A lot of
people wondered

1730
01:11:08,332 --> 01:11:10,332
how long it would take you to
get back in your playing form.

1731
01:11:10,417 --> 01:11:11,667
How comfortable are you?

1732
01:11:11,750 --> 01:11:14,291
I'm real comfortable. You
know, the team is doing well.

1733
01:11:14,375 --> 01:11:15,166
You know, we -- we ready to
win and that's it.

1734
01:11:15,250 --> 01:11:16,542
That's what we come here
to do

1735
01:11:16,625 --> 01:11:17,250
and, uh, that's about it.

1736
01:11:17,332 --> 01:11:21,917
We were practicing and, uh,

1737
01:11:22,000 --> 01:11:24,667
all of a sudden, I -- I...

1738
01:11:24,750 --> 01:11:27,833
Ronnie comes out and says he
wants to be traded.

1739
01:11:29,750 --> 01:11:31,000
If you want the truth, I
looked at the pages like

1740
01:11:31,082 --> 01:11:36,708
"I told you. I told you."

1741
01:11:36,792 --> 01:11:38,582
And...

1742
01:11:41,375 --> 01:11:46,332
It put an incredible divide
between me and the Pacers.

1743
01:11:46,417 --> 01:11:48,500
I say, "Ronnie, did you just
say you wanted to be traded?"

1744
01:11:48,582 --> 01:11:51,207
"Nah, nah, nah, I don't want
to be traded."

1745
01:11:51,291 --> 01:11:53,457
And he again said it.

1746
01:11:53,542 --> 01:11:57,000
The reason I wanted out of
Indiana was because, um...

1747
01:11:57,082 --> 01:11:58,750
I didn't really want out, I
just couldn't deal

1748
01:11:58,833 --> 01:12:00,041
with the pressure.

1749
01:12:00,125 --> 01:12:01,250
So I couldn't just

1750
01:12:01,332 --> 01:12:04,917
go professionally to
Donnie Walsh

1751
01:12:05,000 --> 01:12:07,207
and to my agent and say, "Hey,
I don't want to be in Indiana

1752
01:12:07,291 --> 01:12:09,000
because it's too much
pressure."

1753
01:12:09,082 --> 01:12:12,207
I did it through the media.

1754
01:12:12,291 --> 01:12:13,875
I made excuses.

1755
01:12:13,958 --> 01:12:17,125
"This is really not a, um, a
comfortable spot for me.

1756
01:12:17,207 --> 01:12:18,582
You know, is there any way you
could help me

1757
01:12:18,667 --> 01:12:19,582
get traded?"

1758
01:12:19,667 --> 01:12:22,000
I'm really, um...

1759
01:12:22,082 --> 01:12:23,582
...playing basketball and
protecting myself from media,

1760
01:12:23,667 --> 01:12:28,041
and I'm protecting my, uh,
mental, uh -- [laughs]

1761
01:12:28,125 --> 01:12:31,500
uh, stability. Um...

1762
01:12:31,582 --> 01:12:33,417
My guard is up.

1763
01:12:33,500 --> 01:12:36,417
You know, so it's so much --
so many things that was coming

1764
01:12:36,500 --> 01:12:38,542
with putting that Indiana
Jersey on.

1765
01:12:38,625 --> 01:12:41,500
His action that night put this
whole franchise in jeopardy

1766
01:12:41,582 --> 01:12:42,958
for a whole year,

1767
01:12:43,041 --> 01:12:45,457
and it was gonna take a lot of
work to get it back up again.

1768
01:12:45,542 --> 01:12:49,667
And I thought, "And here, this
guy is saying

1769
01:12:49,750 --> 01:12:51,667
'I want to leave?'

1770
01:12:52,417 --> 01:12:55,625
Okay, you can leave and we'll
do it without you."

1771
01:12:57,082 --> 01:13:00,207
[Jermaine] I thought it was
kind of... [sighs]

1772
01:13:00,291 --> 01:13:02,417
It was cheap by him, you know,
breaking out on us.

1773
01:13:02,500 --> 01:13:03,332
It -- It pissed a lot of
people off.

1774
01:13:03,417 --> 01:13:06,958
It pissed a lot of
people off.

1775
01:13:11,708 --> 01:13:14,625
[Donnie] It was very hard to
trade him because

1776
01:13:14,708 --> 01:13:17,500
it had gone out, like, "This
guy's crazy."

1777
01:13:17,582 --> 01:13:20,375
And I remember thinking to
myself that

1778
01:13:20,457 --> 01:13:25,250
somewhere along the line,
there'll be a guy that will say

1779
01:13:25,332 --> 01:13:26,125
"That guy was the hardest
playing guy

1780
01:13:26,207 --> 01:13:29,625
I ever saw in my life."

1781
01:13:29,708 --> 01:13:32,750
Out of nowhere, I got a call
that, uh,

1782
01:13:32,833 --> 01:13:35,792
it was Sacramento would want
to do a trade for him,

1783
01:13:35,875 --> 01:13:37,667
so we traded him.

1784
01:13:39,958 --> 01:13:41,207
[Ron] When I came back,

1785
01:13:41,291 --> 01:13:44,291
it wasn't as bad as I
thought it was.

1786
01:13:44,375 --> 01:13:46,917
It was a lot of barbershop
talk.

1787
01:13:48,250 --> 01:13:50,457
[commentator] It's an
offensive foul.

1788
01:13:50,542 --> 01:13:54,500
Artest is down on the drive by
Ginóbili.

1789
01:13:54,582 --> 01:13:57,207
Well, Ginóbili elbowed me in
the mouth.

1790
01:13:57,291 --> 01:13:59,500
I had a big,

1791
01:13:59,582 --> 01:14:01,207
swollen lip

1792
01:14:01,291 --> 01:14:03,667
and had to get stitches.

1793
01:14:03,750 --> 01:14:05,000
Ginóbili deserved to be
smacked in the back

1794
01:14:05,082 --> 01:14:06,625
of the head.

1795
01:14:06,708 --> 01:14:10,125
But I didn't. I just gave him
an elbow to the chest,

1796
01:14:10,207 --> 01:14:13,500
said "You asshole." [laughs]

1797
01:14:13,582 --> 01:14:17,082
So that was, like, a situation
where that's --

1798
01:14:17,166 --> 01:14:19,833
People be reaching. It was
definitely white or black.

1799
01:14:19,917 --> 01:14:23,457
You either like Ron at that
time or you don't.

1800
01:14:52,457 --> 01:14:55,125
[man] Obviously, the, uh...

1801
01:14:55,207 --> 01:14:58,875
You know, the events of --
of this past Monday, uh,

1802
01:14:58,958 --> 01:15:03,750
remain a very, very serious
issue, uh, going forward.

1803
01:15:04,667 --> 01:15:07,625
[Ron] First, I wanna, uh,

1804
01:15:07,708 --> 01:15:11,500
apologize to my wife,

1805
01:15:11,582 --> 01:15:12,708
to my family.

1806
01:15:18,792 --> 01:15:20,667
[breathing heavily]

1807
01:15:41,125 --> 01:15:43,207
[whispering] Take a minute.

1808
01:15:58,875 --> 01:16:01,875
I want to apologize to the
Kings. [sniffling]

1809
01:16:03,917 --> 01:16:06,792
To my teammates, the NBA.

1810
01:16:06,875 --> 01:16:10,792
Everybody that, you know,
supported me and, uh,

1811
01:16:10,875 --> 01:16:13,291
for another incident to come,
uh, to come up

1812
01:16:13,375 --> 01:16:16,582
is very unfortunate.

1813
01:16:16,667 --> 01:16:19,166
I definitely want to apologize
for my behavior.

1814
01:16:19,250 --> 01:16:21,917
You know, Ron Artest, uh, once
again is, you know,

1815
01:16:22,000 --> 01:16:25,708
in the media for something
other than basketball.

1816
01:16:25,792 --> 01:16:26,875
I definitely apologize, once
again, to the fans

1817
01:16:26,958 --> 01:16:28,708
hoping that, you know, Ron
Artest can, you know,

1818
01:16:28,792 --> 01:16:30,833
pretty much stay on a
straight path.

1819
01:16:30,917 --> 01:16:33,833
And, uh, I want to prove to
them that I can.

1820
01:16:33,917 --> 01:16:35,792
I figured out that, uh, I need
help. I figured that out.

1821
01:16:35,875 --> 01:16:39,500
And I figured out that in
order to fix some, um,

1822
01:16:39,582 --> 01:16:41,332
people call them "demons"
or "mental health issues"

1823
01:16:41,417 --> 01:16:46,417
or, um, "depression."

1824
01:16:46,500 --> 01:16:49,708
Or, um, the opposite of
depression, "anxiety."

1825
01:16:49,792 --> 01:16:51,750
Right? Those were the things I
had.

1826
01:16:53,375 --> 01:16:56,457
Yeah, hereditary, um...

1827
01:16:56,542 --> 01:17:00,207
Um, biological, and then also,
environmental.

1828
01:17:00,291 --> 01:17:03,125
So many things that can
mold anybody.

1829
01:17:03,207 --> 01:17:04,417
And I realized that,

1830
01:17:04,500 --> 01:17:08,082
so then just addressing all
those different issues.

1831
01:17:16,500 --> 01:17:19,207
There's a lot of stigma when
it comes to mental illness,

1832
01:17:19,291 --> 01:17:20,207
things like that. Well, it
doesn't mean you can't

1833
01:17:20,291 --> 01:17:21,457
have a normal life.

1834
01:17:21,542 --> 01:17:23,833
Or a successful life.

1835
01:17:23,917 --> 01:17:25,375
Um, definitely, there was some
damage control.

1836
01:17:25,457 --> 01:17:28,417
We had to do some of that.

1837
01:17:28,500 --> 01:17:32,250
And I remember not wanting to
overnight change.

1838
01:17:32,332 --> 01:17:34,667
I wanted to just let it happen
naturally.

1839
01:17:34,750 --> 01:17:35,375
You know, um, and then that's
what happened.

1840
01:17:35,457 --> 01:17:37,417
You know, you just --

1841
01:17:38,625 --> 01:17:39,958
People get over it. It was --
It took a long time for me.

1842
01:17:42,750 --> 01:17:45,291
I'm in Boston and I'm just
there because

1843
01:17:45,375 --> 01:17:46,542
I want to see the game.

1844
01:17:46,625 --> 01:17:49,207
I also wanted to experience, um,

1845
01:17:49,291 --> 01:17:51,917
championship.

1846
01:17:52,041 --> 01:17:52,582
'Cause I'm like, "Oh, I'm
getting older.

1847
01:17:52,667 --> 01:17:54,417
I need to get a ring.

1848
01:17:54,500 --> 01:17:56,417
So how is it gonna be when I
get here?"

1849
01:17:56,500 --> 01:17:59,417
[commentator] After a 22-year
absence, the Boston Celtics

1850
01:17:59,500 --> 01:18:02,082
are NBA champions once again.

1851
01:18:02,166 --> 01:18:05,082
Banner number 17, soon to be
raised to the rafters.

1852
01:18:05,166 --> 01:18:08,582
[Ron] I felt bad for the Lakers
'cause Lamar's on that team.

1853
01:18:08,667 --> 01:18:10,792
So I go in there and I say to
Phil,

1854
01:18:10,875 --> 01:18:15,082
"I want to say 'Good job'
to Kobe.

1855
01:18:15,166 --> 01:18:17,750
Kobe's in the shower

1856
01:18:17,833 --> 01:18:20,166
and I don't feel like waiting
around long."

1857
01:18:20,250 --> 01:18:22,792
I was naked in the shower and,
um...

1858
01:18:22,875 --> 01:18:25,166
[laughs] I just -- I just hear
my name

1859
01:18:25,250 --> 01:18:27,582
and I turn around and
it's -- it's Ron.

1860
01:18:27,667 --> 01:18:29,500
He was just like, "Hey,

1861
01:18:29,582 --> 01:18:31,750
I'm -- I'm gonna come help you.
I'm gonna come join you.

1862
01:18:31,833 --> 01:18:34,875
This is not gonna happen again.
I got you."

1863
01:18:34,958 --> 01:18:38,582
Obviously, I would love to
play with Kobe, but, um...

1864
01:18:38,667 --> 01:18:41,207
I'd much rather play against
Kobe.

1865
01:18:41,291 --> 01:18:42,792
The next season, he went to
the Rockets.

1866
01:18:42,875 --> 01:18:43,958
You know, gave us some
headaches.

1867
01:18:44,041 --> 01:18:47,792
[commentator] Ron and Kobe
pushing on each other.

1868
01:18:47,875 --> 01:18:50,125
Pushing and shoving Ron and
elbowing Kobe.

1869
01:18:50,207 --> 01:18:51,917
Kobe, right back at Ron. Ron,
back at Kobe.

1870
01:18:52,000 --> 01:18:55,625
I think a lot of players let
him get away with stuff

1871
01:18:55,708 --> 01:18:57,875
because he's so strong and,
you know,

1872
01:18:57,958 --> 01:19:00,000
tends to scare people a lot.

1873
01:19:00,082 --> 01:19:02,542
Um, but every time he hit me
with a elbow,

1874
01:19:02,625 --> 01:19:04,000
I threw one right back at him,
twice as hard.

1875
01:19:04,082 --> 01:19:06,917
[commentator] Boy, Bryant
threw that arm out

1876
01:19:07,000 --> 01:19:10,125
and Artest will not back
down to anybody.

1877
01:19:10,207 --> 01:19:15,332
And then he started talking
trash. And I said, "You know..."

1878
01:19:15,417 --> 01:19:18,667
I said, "Ron, is this something
you're sure you want to do?"

1879
01:19:18,750 --> 01:19:20,958
He said, "Oh, I..." I said,
"Excuse me?

1880
01:19:21,041 --> 01:19:22,833
Okay." And then I went and
proceeded to score

1881
01:19:22,917 --> 01:19:25,542
whatever next point straight or
whatever and

1882
01:19:25,625 --> 01:19:27,792
winded up winning the game.

1883
01:19:27,875 --> 01:19:29,833
[commentator] Ron pokes it
away, Kobe tracks it down,

1884
01:19:29,917 --> 01:19:32,833
spins left, shoots ... three
at the buzzer, nails it.

1885
01:19:32,917 --> 01:19:35,417
He basically let Ron run right
past him

1886
01:19:35,500 --> 01:19:38,291
so he could get an open look
at a three...

1887
01:19:38,375 --> 01:19:39,041
[whistle]

1888
01:19:39,125 --> 01:19:41,667
[commentator] Loose ball for ...

1889
01:19:41,750 --> 01:19:44,750
I love Kobe. Yeah, Kobe's my
man.

1890
01:19:44,833 --> 01:19:46,792
But at that time, we're super
competitive.

1891
01:19:46,875 --> 01:19:48,375
[commentator]: Ron Artest
against Kobe Bryant.

1892
01:19:48,457 --> 01:19:50,958
He's gotta be very careful that
he does not get a technical.

1893
01:19:51,041 --> 01:19:53,667
He said that, uh, he's gonna go
over here.

1894
01:19:53,750 --> 01:19:55,291
He's talking to Kobe.

1895
01:19:55,375 --> 01:19:56,166
Wow, here -- here we go.

1896
01:19:56,250 --> 01:19:58,082
Uh oh.

1897
01:19:58,166 --> 01:20:00,625
I just kept thinking, "Don't
get ejected."

1898
01:20:00,708 --> 01:20:01,958
That's all I kept thinking.
"It's play-offs.

1899
01:20:02,041 --> 01:20:03,207
Don't get ejected."

1900
01:20:03,291 --> 01:20:05,000
[commentator] He went right
over to Bryant.

1901
01:20:05,082 --> 01:20:08,667
Artest has, uh, gotten very,
very upset.

1902
01:20:08,750 --> 01:20:11,207
I think they have thrown Ron
Artest out of the game.

1903
01:20:11,291 --> 01:20:14,041
I don't think that shit
should've surprised anybody.

1904
01:20:14,125 --> 01:20:15,667
You know what I'm saying?
You've got two

1905
01:20:15,750 --> 01:20:19,542
strong-headed
alpha males.

1906
01:20:26,082 --> 01:20:27,542
[man] Yeah, Ron, Kobe, was
quoted as saying

1907
01:20:27,625 --> 01:20:30,625
he's "not sure you're -- Lakers
are a better team with you."

1908
01:20:30,708 --> 01:20:33,332
Do you feel you have to win
him over?

1909
01:20:33,417 --> 01:20:35,542
Uh, I gotta win myself over
first.

1910
01:20:35,625 --> 01:20:37,875
I gotta -- I gotta make sure
I, um...

1911
01:20:37,958 --> 01:20:39,082
I'm doing everything.

1912
01:20:39,166 --> 01:20:41,417
It's not a given. The Lakers --
He's right.

1913
01:20:41,500 --> 01:20:44,250
There's not a given that just
'cause you --

1914
01:20:44,332 --> 01:20:46,792
you add me to a team, you
know, it was just gonna be,

1915
01:20:46,875 --> 01:20:48,792
you know, the number one
team.

1916
01:20:48,875 --> 01:20:50,500
We gotta put that work in.

1917
01:20:50,582 --> 01:20:54,417
I was in a position where the
Houston Rockets

1918
01:20:54,500 --> 01:20:55,667
didn't bring me back.

1919
01:20:55,750 --> 01:20:58,250
The Lakers was the only team
that offered a contract,

1920
01:20:58,332 --> 01:20:59,291
so what am I gonna do?

1921
01:20:59,375 --> 01:21:01,207
[Lamar] I didn't think they knew
what to think.

1922
01:21:01,291 --> 01:21:03,166
Not too many people...

1923
01:21:04,166 --> 01:21:06,708
...had the competitive skill or
the heart enough

1924
01:21:06,792 --> 01:21:09,417
to stand, um, stand up against
Kobe like that.

1925
01:21:09,500 --> 01:21:13,207
[Kobe] The first time I saw him
when he joined our team,

1926
01:21:13,291 --> 01:21:15,207
I told him, I said, "Listen,

1927
01:21:15,291 --> 01:21:18,041
you're coming here to replace
a player that was like a

1928
01:21:18,125 --> 01:21:20,875
brother to me and still is to
this day.

1929
01:21:21,542 --> 01:21:23,958
Like, Trevor came here and
played lights-out for us.

1930
01:21:24,041 --> 01:21:26,625
He didn't miss a three in the
play-offs,

1931
01:21:26,708 --> 01:21:29,291
and he was tenacious on defense.

1932
01:21:29,375 --> 01:21:31,917
And showed up to work every
single day,

1933
01:21:32,000 --> 01:21:34,125
came to practice early, stayed
at practice late.

1934
01:21:34,207 --> 01:21:35,958
And this is who you're coming
in here to replace.

1935
01:21:36,041 --> 01:21:39,625
So I better not get any bullshit
from you."

1936
01:21:39,708 --> 01:21:42,291
And it was really that direct
and him understanding this is

1937
01:21:42,375 --> 01:21:45,958
not a place to come in and
goof around or

1938
01:21:46,041 --> 01:21:47,500
to act out or anything like
that.

1939
01:21:47,582 --> 01:21:49,291
I'm expecting you to be
extremely sharp

1940
01:21:49,375 --> 01:21:53,207
and be extremely crisp and
I won't have it another way.

1941
01:21:53,291 --> 01:21:56,708
[Mark] I think they provide a
very interesting symbiosis.

1942
01:21:56,792 --> 01:22:02,500
However tough Kobe wants to be
seen, he's a middle-class kid

1943
01:22:02,582 --> 01:22:05,166
who's fluent in Italian, who's
seen the world,

1944
01:22:05,250 --> 01:22:07,125
who has a sense of -- of -- of
culture.

1945
01:22:07,750 --> 01:22:10,667
And you have Ron...

1946
01:22:10,750 --> 01:22:12,417
...from the projects...

1947
01:22:12,500 --> 01:22:14,125
...who's scary.

1948
01:22:14,207 --> 01:22:16,958
And that season, they found
something together.

1949
01:22:17,041 --> 01:22:19,917
I knew practice was gonna be
intense because

1950
01:22:20,000 --> 01:22:22,125
if he's anything how I am, I'm
intense in practice.

1951
01:22:22,207 --> 01:22:25,166
I build up hate for whoever's
on the other side.

1952
01:22:25,250 --> 01:22:27,291
Um, so -- But Kobe was always
--

1953
01:22:27,375 --> 01:22:29,000
we was always on the same
team,

1954
01:22:29,082 --> 01:22:32,041
so [laughs] I had to somehow
take the hate

1955
01:22:32,125 --> 01:22:34,166
that I went into practice with
for Kobe

1956
01:22:34,250 --> 01:22:38,875
and turn it into... You know,
and turn it into love.

1957
01:22:38,958 --> 01:22:40,958
[Kobe] Like, on defense, we
knew we can get after guys

1958
01:22:41,041 --> 01:22:42,708
and just scare the living shit
out of them.

1959
01:22:42,792 --> 01:22:44,332
We knew that.

1960
01:22:44,417 --> 01:22:45,792
We'd said, "Okay, we're gonna
go get this player.

1961
01:22:45,875 --> 01:22:48,041
Let's just make his night a
complete living hell.

1962
01:22:48,125 --> 01:22:49,875
Let's just harass him, let's
beat him up,

1963
01:22:49,958 --> 01:22:52,250
let's intimidate him."
And we --

1964
01:22:52,332 --> 01:22:53,291
we'd have fun doing that.

1965
01:22:55,375 --> 01:22:56,041
[commentator] Bryant shoots...

1966
01:22:56,125 --> 01:22:58,542
...and comes up short. Artest...

1967
01:22:58,625 --> 01:23:01,625
[cheering]

1968
01:23:01,708 --> 01:23:04,041
[commentator] Ron Artest!

1969
01:23:04,125 --> 01:23:05,207
[Lamar] That was like a dream
come true.

1970
01:23:05,291 --> 01:23:07,625
I knew we were gonna win -- I
knew I was gonna win

1971
01:23:07,708 --> 01:23:11,041
a championship ring with
somebody that I grew up with.

1972
01:23:11,125 --> 01:23:13,457
So I was kind of looking
forward to that.

1973
01:23:18,291 --> 01:23:19,708
[Kobe] On the finals, he had
a thing with Paul going back

1974
01:23:19,792 --> 01:23:23,375
to his days in Indiana.

1975
01:23:23,457 --> 01:23:25,041
Right? I -- I think that's
kind of where it started.

1976
01:23:25,125 --> 01:23:28,582
Game one, right during the
tip-off,

1977
01:23:28,667 --> 01:23:31,917
they get tangled up like this,
like fighting for position

1978
01:23:32,000 --> 01:23:33,457
and the ball go up. They
fighting for position

1979
01:23:33,542 --> 01:23:35,667
and they throw each other
down. Shit like that.

1980
01:23:35,750 --> 01:23:37,166
They always went at it.

1981
01:23:37,250 --> 01:23:39,833
[commentator] Pierce and
Artest already grappling.

1982
01:23:39,917 --> 01:23:43,250
It took 27 seconds for these
two to go at it a bit.

1983
01:23:43,332 --> 01:23:45,250
He would cheap-shot Paul all
the time and

1984
01:23:45,332 --> 01:23:47,041
be extremely physical with
Paul.

1985
01:23:47,125 --> 01:23:50,667
Um, but to Paul's credit,
Paul didn't back down.

1986
01:23:50,750 --> 01:23:51,500
[commentator] I don't
know if they deserve

1987
01:23:53,000 --> 01:23:55,457
the technicals, but that's a
heck of a takedown by Artest.

1988
01:23:55,542 --> 01:23:58,417
And I was in a zone that
play-off series.

1989
01:23:58,500 --> 01:24:01,375
♪intense music

1990
01:24:05,667 --> 01:24:09,542
[cheering]

1991
01:24:14,207 --> 01:24:15,958
I wasn't getting a lot of
shots, but I was in a zone.

1992
01:24:16,041 --> 01:24:18,958
And I wanted to stay there.

1993
01:24:19,542 --> 01:24:20,750
[whistle]

1994
01:24:21,250 --> 01:24:23,542
[cheering]

1995
01:24:26,041 --> 01:24:27,125
That was the only thing I was
trying to do was

1996
01:24:27,207 --> 01:24:29,291
protect the zone that I was in.

1997
01:24:29,375 --> 01:24:30,332
[Kobe] I think, for him, it was

1998
01:24:30,417 --> 01:24:31,417
the mental aspect of the game.

1999
01:24:31,500 --> 01:24:34,125
He used to let a lot of things
affect him.

2000
01:24:34,207 --> 01:24:37,082
Previous plays, uh,

2001
01:24:37,166 --> 01:24:38,625
bad shot turnover, he would
carry it with him

2002
01:24:38,708 --> 01:24:40,332
to the next play.

2003
01:24:40,417 --> 01:24:44,125
And what he saw from me is how
I wouldn't do that.

2004
01:24:44,207 --> 01:24:45,291
I'd stay in the moment.

2005
01:24:45,375 --> 01:24:46,875
[Ron] I was only different
psychologically

2006
01:24:46,958 --> 01:24:49,375
when I was a Laker because
I had more help.

2007
01:24:49,457 --> 01:24:51,833
So all the work that Donnie
Walsh did,

2008
01:24:51,917 --> 01:24:54,166
and all the work that my
counselors did,

2009
01:24:54,250 --> 01:24:55,625
it led me up to the Lakers.

2010
01:24:55,708 --> 01:24:57,332
[Donnie] Well, I hope that we
had something to do with that.

2011
01:24:57,417 --> 01:24:59,332
That was a -- a tough price to
pay for it.

2012
01:24:59,417 --> 01:25:04,833
Without your mental health, I
mean, you can't do shit.

2013
01:25:04,917 --> 01:25:06,166
You can't be yourself.

2014
01:25:06,250 --> 01:25:07,332
You can only be a shell of
yourself.

2015
01:25:07,417 --> 01:25:11,667
And I think Ron realized that
and he realized to

2016
01:25:11,750 --> 01:25:13,500
get where he needed to go
in life, he had to be right.

2017
01:25:13,582 --> 01:25:18,750
[Ron] It happened over time
for me. I was determined.

2018
01:25:18,833 --> 01:25:21,833
After I got over the anger
management

2019
01:25:21,917 --> 01:25:26,500
counseling sessions, it became
sports psychology because

2020
01:25:26,582 --> 01:25:29,875
I never had a chance to just
focus on the game.

2021
01:25:29,958 --> 01:25:34,542
You know? So when I was able
to get past everything else,

2022
01:25:34,625 --> 01:25:35,457
then it was like,

2023
01:25:35,542 --> 01:25:36,625
"How am I focused in the
fourth quarter?"

2024
01:25:36,708 --> 01:25:38,875
It became fun.

2025
01:25:45,332 --> 01:25:47,792
[Lamar] It's game seven in LA.

2026
01:25:47,875 --> 01:25:48,833
Paul Pierce is from LA.

2027
01:25:48,917 --> 01:25:51,625
There's no way we can let him
walk out there

2028
01:25:51,708 --> 01:25:53,708
with that trophy.

2029
01:25:53,792 --> 01:25:56,166
The night before, I called Dr.
Santhi and said,

2030
01:25:56,250 --> 01:25:59,582
"I need you to come tomorrow."
[laughs]

2031
01:25:59,667 --> 01:26:02,000
And she hopped on the flight,
came from Houston.

2032
01:26:02,082 --> 01:26:05,041
We had a session after the
shoot-around.

2033
01:26:13,833 --> 01:26:15,582
Well, we just talked about,
um, I hated Paul Pierce.

2034
01:26:15,667 --> 01:26:17,625
[laughs]

2035
01:26:17,708 --> 01:26:19,917
That's really what that was
about. I'm not gonna lie.

2036
01:26:20,000 --> 01:26:22,041
I hated Paul Pierce.

2037
01:26:22,125 --> 01:26:23,166
Not because I hated him
as a person.

2038
01:26:23,250 --> 01:26:25,207
On the court, like I said, I
have to build up hate.

2039
01:26:25,291 --> 01:26:27,792
But that hate, it -- it got in
the way.

2040
01:26:27,875 --> 01:26:30,332
I did not want it getting in --
in the way.

2041
01:26:30,417 --> 01:26:32,125
[Lamar] And it was -- it was
just real intense.

2042
01:26:32,207 --> 01:26:33,750
It was tooth and nail.

2043
01:26:33,833 --> 01:26:38,582
We couldn't rely on Kobe just
to get it done.

2044
01:26:38,667 --> 01:26:40,582
[commentator] Bryant nearly
falls, gets back up,

2045
01:26:40,667 --> 01:26:43,500
... puts it up, and it grazes
the rim.

2046
01:26:43,582 --> 01:26:45,582
Artest with the rebound!

2047
01:26:45,667 --> 01:26:47,250
[Ron] I just wanted to be
focused on the game.

2048
01:26:47,332 --> 01:26:48,457
That's all I wanted.

2049
01:26:48,542 --> 01:26:51,708
And one of the things that we
practiced was breathing.

2050
01:26:53,500 --> 01:26:56,625
Don't matter if you're
fighting for post position,

2051
01:26:56,708 --> 01:26:58,958
don't matter if it's shooting
a free throw,

2052
01:26:59,041 --> 01:27:01,750
don't matter if you're locking
somebody up or dunking,

2053
01:27:01,833 --> 01:27:03,000
the breath was always the
same.

2054
01:27:03,082 --> 01:27:06,708
[indistinct shouting]

2055
01:27:06,792 --> 01:27:07,958
-No more threes!
-Hey!

2056
01:27:08,041 --> 01:27:11,291
Kobe switched up, and then
when -- when ... came down,

2057
01:27:11,375 --> 01:27:13,291
you didn't switch!

2058
01:27:13,375 --> 01:27:14,166
Come on, now! This shit ain't
over!

2059
01:27:14,250 --> 01:27:15,667
Let's end it! We gotta end
it!

2060
01:27:15,750 --> 01:27:19,291
And I'm just taking the same
breaths. Throughout the game,

2061
01:27:19,375 --> 01:27:21,291
no matter how fast the game is
going.

2062
01:27:21,375 --> 01:27:24,125
It was a technique that we
practiced,

2063
01:27:24,207 --> 01:27:27,917
and it took me a while to
master, you know.

2064
01:27:28,000 --> 01:27:30,625
And I was able to do that
throughout the play-offs.

2065
01:27:30,708 --> 01:27:32,250
[commentator] Coming up on a
minute remaining.

2066
01:27:32,332 --> 01:27:33,750
I've had teammates in the past
that were scared

2067
01:27:33,833 --> 01:27:34,792
to shoot that ball.

2068
01:27:34,875 --> 01:27:37,917
And, uh... You know, when I
kicked it to him

2069
01:27:38,000 --> 01:27:39,041
and he loaded up to shoot
the ball...

2070
01:27:39,125 --> 01:27:41,875
[Ron] Paul, he took one step
back, I came back.

2071
01:27:41,958 --> 01:27:44,708
I was just kind of like, "Go
in, go in, go in, go in."

2072
01:27:44,792 --> 01:27:46,750
It wasn't so much like "Don't
shoot it."

2073
01:27:46,833 --> 01:27:50,000
It was more like "Just go in."

2074
01:27:50,582 --> 01:27:52,000
[commentator] Bryant looking.

2075
01:27:52,082 --> 01:27:53,875
Artest, that's a three.

2076
01:27:53,958 --> 01:27:57,041
[cheering]

2077
01:27:57,125 --> 01:27:59,625
Lakers by six...

2078
01:27:59,708 --> 01:28:00,833
[Lamar] I was right there.

2079
01:28:00,917 --> 01:28:02,000
I was ready for him to swing it
one more time, 'cause I was

2080
01:28:02,082 --> 01:28:04,667
ready to shoot that bitch.

2081
01:28:05,166 --> 01:28:08,582
And he got it, and he lined up
like he always does,

2082
01:28:08,667 --> 01:28:10,833
straight up, and he made it.

2083
01:28:10,917 --> 01:28:14,291
[commentator] The Lakers
repeat back-to-back titles!

2084
01:28:14,375 --> 01:28:18,625
The LA Lakers, the 2010 NBA
champions!

2085
01:28:19,625 --> 01:28:22,667
First, I want to thank
everybody in my hood.

2086
01:28:23,166 --> 01:28:26,417
[N.O.R.E.] When I seen him
do that -- [laughs]

2087
01:28:26,500 --> 01:28:28,207
I just...

2088
01:28:28,291 --> 01:28:29,082
...I just looked and I just
looked at all

2089
01:28:29,166 --> 01:28:32,041
my Queensbridge buddies,

2090
01:28:32,125 --> 01:28:34,125
And I just remember just

2091
01:28:34,207 --> 01:28:35,875
looking at my guys,
you know.

2092
01:28:35,958 --> 01:28:39,000
Being honored, like, how do
you -- how do you do that?

2093
01:28:39,082 --> 01:28:40,833
How do you win, like, one of
the biggest honors

2094
01:28:40,917 --> 01:28:43,542
and you shout-out

2095
01:28:43,625 --> 01:28:47,166
one of the craziest projects
in the world.

2096
01:28:47,250 --> 01:28:51,332
Notorious. People definitely
don't want to go there.

2097
01:28:51,417 --> 01:28:54,750
And you stand there and you
shout them out.

2098
01:28:54,833 --> 01:28:56,958
I definitely want to thank my
doctor, Dr. Santhi,

2099
01:28:57,041 --> 01:28:59,082
my, um, my psychiatrist.

2100
01:28:59,166 --> 01:29:01,125
I started laughing. [laughs]

2101
01:29:01,207 --> 01:29:03,833
Only Ronnie would get up and
thank his psychiatrist

2102
01:29:03,917 --> 01:29:05,250
for winning the championship.

2103
01:29:05,332 --> 01:29:08,041
She really helped me
relax a lot.

2104
01:29:08,125 --> 01:29:09,417
Thank you so much.

2105
01:29:09,500 --> 01:29:12,625
[Mark] To me, it was his
three-pointers

2106
01:29:12,708 --> 01:29:14,582
that saved the game,

2107
01:29:14,667 --> 01:29:18,917
beat the Boston Celtics in the
seventh game at Staples.

2108
01:29:19,000 --> 01:29:22,917
Saved Kobe's reputation. At
least, in part.

2109
01:29:23,000 --> 01:29:26,500
And what does he do? The guy
thanks his shrink.

2110
01:29:26,582 --> 01:29:30,082
If that's not an evolved man,
I don't know what is.

2111
01:29:30,166 --> 01:29:32,332
[Ron] So difficult to play...

2112
01:29:32,417 --> 01:29:34,667
And so much commotion going on
in the play-offs,

2113
01:29:34,750 --> 01:29:36,291
and she helped me relax.

2114
01:29:36,375 --> 01:29:37,625
I thank you so much.

2115
01:29:37,708 --> 01:29:39,833
-Ron, you were able to hit --
-I knocked down that three

2116
01:29:39,917 --> 01:29:40,875
just like you told me.

2117
01:29:41,000 --> 01:29:48,792
Who gets to have his worst part
seen

2118
01:29:48,875 --> 01:29:51,500
on national TV

2119
01:29:51,582 --> 01:29:53,708
and rescue himself

2120
01:29:53,792 --> 01:29:56,291
by copping to it?

2121
01:29:56,375 --> 01:29:59,291
"Okay, I'm a little crazy.

2122
01:29:59,375 --> 01:30:02,125
I -- I -- I don't use the term
casually.

2123
01:30:02,207 --> 01:30:04,207
But okay, you got -- I'm --

2124
01:30:04,291 --> 01:30:07,375
I gotta take my meds. I'm
gonna thank my shrink."

2125
01:30:07,457 --> 01:30:10,125
How many people are big enough
to say that?

2126
01:30:10,207 --> 01:30:12,542
[cheering and shouting]

2127
01:30:15,457 --> 01:30:17,542
One of the best defenders of
all time.

2128
01:30:17,625 --> 01:30:19,291
You saw it this series.

2129
01:30:19,375 --> 01:30:21,375
One of the best ever!

2130
01:30:21,457 --> 01:30:22,917
Ever!

2131
01:30:26,667 --> 01:30:28,833
[Ron] I got Wheaties!

2132
01:30:28,917 --> 01:30:33,166
I got a Wheaties box! Get my
Wheaties box.

2133
01:30:33,250 --> 01:30:34,875
I got Wheaties!

2134
01:30:34,958 --> 01:30:37,166
-You don't seem excited!
-[laughter]

2135
01:30:37,250 --> 01:30:39,207
I'm leaving!

2136
01:30:40,582 --> 01:30:42,291
Y'all don't seem excited. I'm
all excited.

2137
01:30:42,375 --> 01:30:44,792
I feel like a -- I feel like
the oddball.

2138
01:30:44,875 --> 01:30:48,625
I never saw Ron that happy or
that -- that excited.

2139
01:30:48,708 --> 01:30:50,667
Hey, people over there on your
laptops!

2140
01:30:50,750 --> 01:30:52,000
[laughter]

2141
01:30:52,082 --> 01:30:53,625
Hey!

2142
01:30:53,708 --> 01:30:55,958
Hey, all the way over
there on your laptop!

2143
01:30:56,041 --> 01:30:58,457
-Acknowledge me, please!
-[laughter]

2144
01:30:58,542 --> 01:30:59,166
Hey!

2145
01:30:59,250 --> 01:31:01,457
It was he was like -- Like --

2146
01:31:01,542 --> 01:31:03,667
like in a manic state, so to
speak.

2147
01:31:03,750 --> 01:31:05,457
This is Diamond, my daughter,
and my wife.

2148
01:31:05,542 --> 01:31:06,833
This my son, Jeron.

2149
01:31:06,917 --> 01:31:08,708
This is my sister, Angelica.

2150
01:31:08,792 --> 01:31:09,958
She got to meet Kobe, she's so
happy.

2151
01:31:10,041 --> 01:31:12,207
This is my mom.

2152
01:31:12,291 --> 01:31:13,542
This is my big daughter.

2153
01:31:13,625 --> 01:31:16,207
-Where's Ron-Ron?
-Ron-Ron's with Kobe.

2154
01:31:16,291 --> 01:31:18,125
Ron-Ron's with Kobe?

2155
01:31:18,207 --> 01:31:19,582
My other son's with Kobe instead
of me, huh?

2156
01:31:19,667 --> 01:31:23,542
All right, whatever.
This is my dad.

2157
01:31:23,625 --> 01:31:26,041
You see his muscles?

2158
01:31:26,125 --> 01:31:29,750
I think the championship
validated me because...

2159
01:31:31,375 --> 01:31:33,875
...the career that I was
supposed to have, I had.

2160
01:31:33,958 --> 01:31:35,332
I hit a big-ass shot.

2161
01:31:35,417 --> 01:31:38,958
He passed me the ball. He
never passes me the ball.

2162
01:31:39,041 --> 01:31:41,250
And he passed me the ball.

2163
01:31:41,332 --> 01:31:45,000
Kobe passed me the ball. And I
shot a three.

2164
01:31:45,082 --> 01:31:47,457
If ... shoot the three, I
heard him.

2165
01:31:47,542 --> 01:31:49,417
And he's the zen master, so he
can speak to you without...

2166
01:31:49,500 --> 01:31:50,750
[laughter] You know?

2167
01:31:50,833 --> 01:31:53,332
He can speak to you, and he
don't need a microphone,

2168
01:31:53,417 --> 01:31:54,375
he just -- You can hear him in
your head.

2169
01:31:54,457 --> 01:31:55,875
"Ron, don't shoot, don't shoot."

2170
01:31:55,958 --> 01:31:57,000
[laughter]

2171
01:31:57,082 --> 01:31:59,291
I said, "Whatever. Bong!"

2172
01:31:59,375 --> 01:32:02,750
Whoo! Yes!

2173
01:32:02,833 --> 01:32:05,082
[Stephen] Everything he does
is -- is sincere.

2174
01:32:05,166 --> 01:32:07,250
As misunderstood as he is,

2175
01:32:07,332 --> 01:32:08,582
I think he felt it meant more
to him,

2176
01:32:08,667 --> 01:32:11,082
and it would mean more
coming from him

2177
01:32:11,166 --> 01:32:14,958
to these people if I'm thanking
you at my highest point.

2178
01:32:15,041 --> 01:32:17,457
I'm winning the championship,
I got a ring.

2179
01:32:17,542 --> 01:32:19,250
I got all eyes on me.

2180
01:32:19,332 --> 01:32:22,250
When I was younger, I bailed
out on my Indiana team.

2181
01:32:22,332 --> 01:32:25,000
I was so young, so egotistical,

2182
01:32:25,082 --> 01:32:28,875
and I bailed out on Donnie, um,

2183
01:32:28,958 --> 01:32:31,250
Larry, Jermaine...

2184
01:32:31,332 --> 01:32:34,166
I wanted to let them know,
like, you know, on --

2185
01:32:34,250 --> 01:32:36,750
national TV, like, you know,
"Thank you.

2186
01:32:36,833 --> 01:32:39,041
Um, and I appreciate you guys
and always wish

2187
01:32:39,125 --> 01:32:40,291
I could've won with you guys,

2188
01:32:40,375 --> 01:32:42,417
and thank you guys." 'Cause
they was always there for me.

2189
01:32:42,500 --> 01:32:45,958
I think, at that time, in
2010, um,

2190
01:32:46,041 --> 01:32:47,082
it was still very raw.

2191
01:32:47,166 --> 01:32:50,041
You know, we were still, you
know, still on the --

2192
01:32:50,125 --> 01:32:51,625
on the probation.

2193
01:32:51,708 --> 01:32:54,457
You know, um, we were still
the team with a lot of

2194
01:32:54,542 --> 01:32:56,625
remnants of -- of -- of that
situation.

2195
01:32:56,708 --> 01:32:59,958
And then to see him do
everything he did

2196
01:33:00,041 --> 01:33:01,457
leading up into the brawl

2197
01:33:01,542 --> 01:33:04,958
and then basically have our
team dismantled

2198
01:33:05,041 --> 01:33:09,082
because of that, to go to
another team and win it...

2199
01:33:09,875 --> 01:33:12,000
That's a hard pill to --
That's a hard pill to swallow.

2200
01:33:12,082 --> 01:33:14,500
And I feel some -- sometimes
like a coward, you know,

2201
01:33:14,582 --> 01:33:16,625
when I see those guys, 'cause
it's like man,

2202
01:33:16,708 --> 01:33:17,750
now I'm on the Lakers, we got
a chance to win.

2203
01:33:17,833 --> 01:33:19,833
I had a chance to win with
you guys, you know?

2204
01:33:19,917 --> 01:33:23,207
And I feel, you know, almost
like a coward.

2205
01:33:23,291 --> 01:33:27,000
God says, "Forgive -- Forgive
everybody."

2206
01:33:27,082 --> 01:33:28,291
But at the time, I had never
even had

2207
01:33:28,375 --> 01:33:30,457
a conversation with Ron.

2208
01:33:30,542 --> 01:33:34,417
I was not happy for him when
he won the championship.

2209
01:33:34,500 --> 01:33:36,291
The next person I'm about --
I'm about to bring out,

2210
01:33:36,375 --> 01:33:38,958
I've known since I was 12
years old.

2211
01:33:39,041 --> 01:33:41,166
-Um --
-[cheering]

2212
01:33:41,250 --> 01:33:45,250
Uh, we come from the same
family tree in New York City

2213
01:33:45,332 --> 01:33:47,833
of basketball, and, uh, I just
want to let him know

2214
01:33:47,917 --> 01:33:49,833
that his family's proud of him.

2215
01:33:49,917 --> 01:33:52,207
The one and only, Ron Artest.

2216
01:33:52,291 --> 01:33:54,917
[cheering]

2217
01:34:04,082 --> 01:34:06,207
I really don't care about the
ring. I just wanted to win.

2218
01:34:06,291 --> 01:34:08,875
I hate losing.

2219
01:34:08,958 --> 01:34:09,958
The -- the ring's not
important.

2220
01:34:10,041 --> 01:34:11,082
I don't even wear jewelry.

2221
01:34:11,166 --> 01:34:14,041
So, um, so what else can you
do with the ring?

2222
01:34:14,125 --> 01:34:17,041
So I had interest in helping
people, you know, who --

2223
01:34:17,125 --> 01:34:19,542
or trying to bring awareness to,
you know, mental health

2224
01:34:19,625 --> 01:34:20,708
and everything like that.

2225
01:34:20,792 --> 01:34:22,582
And I was like, "Wow, you know
maybe the ring"

2226
01:34:22,667 --> 01:34:24,041
and then it was that simple.
I was like, "Yeah, it's perfect"

2227
01:34:24,125 --> 01:34:28,750
You know, uh, that's something
that can, um, help others.

2228
01:34:28,833 --> 01:34:31,708
Something materialistic, you
know.

2229
01:34:31,792 --> 01:34:35,582
We raffled it. The strategy
was to raise

2230
01:34:35,667 --> 01:34:37,332
enough money to give back to

2231
01:34:37,417 --> 01:34:39,542
some mental health
institutions.

2232
01:34:39,625 --> 01:34:43,250
P. Diddy said he would pay
$220,000 for it -- [laughs]

2233
01:34:43,332 --> 01:34:46,332
which is pretty cool. I said,
"That's not gonna be enough."

2234
01:34:46,417 --> 01:34:49,917
And I raised $670,000 in three
months.

2235
01:34:50,000 --> 01:34:51,582
And the person who won the
raffle, his mom

2236
01:34:51,667 --> 01:34:52,582
had mental health issues.

2237
01:34:52,667 --> 01:34:57,082
It's Ron being Ron, you know?

2238
01:34:57,166 --> 01:34:59,750
He -- he's gonna say or do a
lot of things that most people

2239
01:34:59,833 --> 01:35:03,207
would look at and be like,
"What?"

2240
01:35:03,291 --> 01:35:06,082
But he's doing it from his
heart.

2241
01:35:06,166 --> 01:35:10,500
Yes, how's everybody doing
today? Yes.

2242
01:35:10,582 --> 01:35:12,250
I went through, um, parenting
counseling,

2243
01:35:12,332 --> 01:35:14,250
I went through anger
management counseling,

2244
01:35:14,332 --> 01:35:17,332
I went through marriage
counseling, and I was like,

2245
01:35:17,417 --> 01:35:20,708
"It was so expensive, but it
helped me."

2246
01:35:20,792 --> 01:35:24,291
So I'm like, "How can a kid in
East LA,

2247
01:35:24,375 --> 01:35:26,000
in Queensbridge projects,

2248
01:35:26,082 --> 01:35:27,750
in Detroit, you know, in
Little Rock, Arkansas,

2249
01:35:27,833 --> 01:35:31,417
how can they get the same
help, you know,

2250
01:35:31,500 --> 01:35:32,332
that I've -- that I've gotten?

2251
01:35:32,417 --> 01:35:34,875
You know, without paying so
much."

2252
01:35:34,958 --> 01:35:37,291
You should never be surprised
with Ron Artest's --

2253
01:35:37,375 --> 01:35:39,917
what Ron Artest does.

2254
01:35:40,000 --> 01:35:41,917
You know, most of the things
that he does is --

2255
01:35:42,000 --> 01:35:43,082
is selfless.

2256
01:35:43,166 --> 01:35:48,625
Let's not lose sight of the
completely unpredictable

2257
01:35:48,708 --> 01:35:52,625
beauty in the arc of his story.

2258
01:35:52,708 --> 01:35:56,833
He starts off in Queensbridge

2259
01:35:56,917 --> 01:36:00,041
with his father beating him up
to toughen him.

2260
01:36:00,125 --> 01:36:04,207
We know that he's impaired,
and he ends up

2261
01:36:04,291 --> 01:36:08,082
winning the title, thanking
his shrink.

2262
01:36:08,166 --> 01:36:09,207
How great is that?

2263
01:36:09,291 --> 01:36:10,792
And when you think of mental
health, you know,

2264
01:36:10,875 --> 01:36:12,917
I don't think you have to
be, um,

2265
01:36:13,000 --> 01:36:15,166
you know afraid. It doesn't
mean you're crazy.

2266
01:36:15,250 --> 01:36:18,542
That just means that, you
know, um, you have

2267
01:36:18,625 --> 01:36:20,542
some issues in your life and
you're a young teenager

2268
01:36:20,625 --> 01:36:21,833
or a young kid,

2269
01:36:21,917 --> 01:36:27,166
you know, that does not know
how, you know, to handle it.

2270
01:36:27,250 --> 01:36:29,332
And...

2271
01:36:29,417 --> 01:36:31,750
This is gonna be a way where,
I think, you know,

2272
01:36:31,833 --> 01:36:33,917
you'll be able to talk to
somebody about your problems.

2273
01:36:39,457 --> 01:36:42,375
I reached out to some Twitter
followers saying,

2274
01:36:42,457 --> 01:36:45,750
"Anybody that can find me this
man, I'll take you to lunch."

2275
01:36:45,833 --> 01:36:48,792
I didn't say his name because

2276
01:36:48,875 --> 01:36:50,375
I didn't want people to think
I'm looking for John Green

2277
01:36:50,457 --> 01:36:51,000
for a fight.

2278
01:36:51,082 --> 01:36:52,875
It was in the summertime.

2279
01:36:52,958 --> 01:36:55,708
We were actually getting ready
to go out jetskiing.

2280
01:36:55,792 --> 01:36:58,958
This fan said, "I found a
number, you owe me lunch."

2281
01:36:59,041 --> 01:37:02,750
I called the number, his wife
answered.

2282
01:37:02,833 --> 01:37:04,542
I told her who I was, she was
like, "Get the F out of here.

2283
01:37:04,625 --> 01:37:07,082
Stop playing a prank."

2284
01:37:07,166 --> 01:37:10,041
She was like, "Excuse me? This
is who? What?

2285
01:37:10,125 --> 01:37:13,125
I'm -- I'm, like, looking at her
going, "Who is it?"

2286
01:37:13,207 --> 01:37:14,875
And, uh,

2287
01:37:14,958 --> 01:37:17,000
she looks at me with her
eyes and her kind of mouth

2288
01:37:17,082 --> 01:37:19,082
wide open and she's kind of
handing me the phone

2289
01:37:19,166 --> 01:37:21,250
and she goes, "It's Ron."

2290
01:37:21,332 --> 01:37:23,166
I said, "Ron? Ron who?" And
she goes,

2291
01:37:23,250 --> 01:37:24,708
"It's Ron Artest."

2292
01:37:24,792 --> 01:37:26,833
So I grabbed the phone, I
said, "Hello?"

2293
01:37:26,917 --> 01:37:28,417
So I hear this voice on the
other end of the phone,

2294
01:37:28,500 --> 01:37:31,457
real soft-spoken.

2295
01:37:31,542 --> 01:37:33,917
He says, "Hey, John?" And I
said, "Yeah."

2296
01:37:34,000 --> 01:37:34,582
And he goes, "Hey, this is Ron."

2297
01:37:34,667 --> 01:37:37,000
John answers the phone.

2298
01:37:37,082 --> 01:37:39,542
"Hey, Ron. What's up?" Like he
knew I was calling.

2299
01:37:39,625 --> 01:37:40,917
This guy's crazy.

2300
01:37:41,000 --> 01:37:43,750
I was amazed that this guy
actually went to the trouble

2301
01:37:43,833 --> 01:37:48,708
to pick up that, you know,
400 lb phone

2302
01:37:48,792 --> 01:37:50,457
and make a phone call to me.

2303
01:37:50,542 --> 01:37:52,542
I mean, I -- I thought about it
for a long time,

2304
01:37:52,625 --> 01:37:54,082
and I was like, "Man, that's
really amazing."

2305
01:37:54,166 --> 01:37:56,750
I reached out to John Green
because...

2306
01:37:57,833 --> 01:38:00,917
Just to, like, get rid of, um,
animosity and stuff.

2307
01:38:01,041 --> 01:38:05,958
I just don't like to hold
grudges too long.

2308
01:38:06,041 --> 01:38:07,166
Some things don't make it
right,

2309
01:38:07,250 --> 01:38:09,250
some things you take back.

2310
01:38:09,332 --> 01:38:14,500
John was a alcoholic and he
had taken AA meetings.

2311
01:38:15,166 --> 01:38:18,875
He was going through things
with his family.

2312
01:38:18,958 --> 01:38:21,250
And who knows what the kid who
actually made the bet

2313
01:38:21,332 --> 01:38:23,291
was going through.
[laughs]

2314
01:38:23,375 --> 01:38:28,250
So us three, we're pretty
stupid-ass people.

2315
01:38:28,332 --> 01:38:29,457
[John] We were able to talk
a lot about the -- the --

2316
01:38:29,542 --> 01:38:30,958
that night.

2317
01:38:31,041 --> 01:38:34,250
He shared with me that he's
gone through some

2318
01:38:34,332 --> 01:38:38,667
mental illness and, uh, he's
been seeing a counselor and

2319
01:38:38,750 --> 01:38:41,166
I've been through a lot of the
same situations myself,

2320
01:38:41,250 --> 01:38:45,125
you know, with, uh, I'm a
recovering alcoholic.

2321
01:38:45,207 --> 01:38:48,207
I remember turning on the TV
maybe four, five years ago

2322
01:38:48,291 --> 01:38:51,625
and I saw him and the
guy, um...

2323
01:38:51,708 --> 01:38:55,207
basically are friends now.

2324
01:38:55,875 --> 01:38:59,457
And that touched me the
wrong way.

2325
01:38:59,542 --> 01:39:03,625
Because that impacted a lot of
people.

2326
01:39:03,708 --> 01:39:04,667
That was very personal to me.

2327
01:39:04,750 --> 01:39:05,833
I watched -- I -- it's hard to
watch a city

2328
01:39:05,917 --> 01:39:07,375
be stripped down like that.

2329
01:39:07,457 --> 01:39:09,958
Out of all the times that I
tried to reach out to Ron,

2330
01:39:10,041 --> 01:39:13,166
I tried to be a good teammate
to him,

2331
01:39:13,250 --> 01:39:16,166
and then you go and you reach
out to this guy.

2332
01:39:16,250 --> 01:39:19,125
Literally reached out and
found -- found the guy.

2333
01:39:19,207 --> 01:39:20,833
But never spoke to me.

2334
01:39:20,917 --> 01:39:24,667
So that was -- that was a
problem.

2335
01:39:26,833 --> 01:39:29,375
[Ron] And Jermaine always,
always was there for me.

2336
01:39:29,457 --> 01:39:30,708
Always -- always was there
for me.

2337
01:39:30,792 --> 01:39:33,457
More than anyone.

2338
01:39:34,125 --> 01:39:35,542
[Jermaine] He got my number.

2339
01:39:35,625 --> 01:39:37,625
He's reached out to me
multiple times talking

2340
01:39:37,708 --> 01:39:39,750
about his regrets towards
me and the Pacers and --

2341
01:39:39,833 --> 01:39:42,000
And I knew it was really --

2342
01:39:42,082 --> 01:39:44,457
he's really thinking about
this.

2343
01:39:45,332 --> 01:39:49,875
And our friendship is now
just starting.

2344
01:39:51,041 --> 01:39:55,457
[Ron] It's years and years
and years of psychology

2345
01:39:55,542 --> 01:39:57,542
and then, um...

2346
01:39:59,082 --> 01:40:00,250
...and that's it.
"Content" is a great word.

2347
01:40:00,332 --> 01:40:01,875
I love content. Content is very
important.

2348
01:40:01,958 --> 01:40:03,958
A lot of people's not content.

2349
01:40:04,041 --> 01:40:08,375
Metta is receiving the mental
health heroes award

2350
01:40:08,457 --> 01:40:12,542
because of his courage and
willingness to come forward

2351
01:40:12,625 --> 01:40:15,250
and talk about mental health.

2352
01:40:15,332 --> 01:40:16,750
This is not common, as you
know,

2353
01:40:16,833 --> 01:40:20,000
amongst professional athletes.

2354
01:40:20,082 --> 01:40:23,375
But Metta is setting the tone
and bringing attention

2355
01:40:23,457 --> 01:40:25,250
to mental health disorders

2356
01:40:25,332 --> 01:40:27,917
and the importance of seeking
help.

2357
01:40:28,000 --> 01:40:31,166
So ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome

2358
01:40:31,250 --> 01:40:32,582
Metta to the podium.

2359
01:40:32,667 --> 01:40:35,750
[cheers and applause]

2360
01:40:38,332 --> 01:40:41,082
[Ron] I was affected by
mental health.

2361
01:40:41,166 --> 01:40:43,500
Uh, my dad had functioned
on medication.

2362
01:40:43,582 --> 01:40:45,917
My auntie has been in
institutions

2363
01:40:46,000 --> 01:40:47,708
since she was --
since I was 10

2364
01:40:47,792 --> 01:40:49,792
and I'm 38 now. And, um,

2365
01:40:49,875 --> 01:40:52,958
and one of her sons has been
locked away in institutions.

2366
01:40:53,041 --> 01:40:55,750
My little sister is, um, uh,

2367
01:40:55,833 --> 01:40:58,125
been in and out of institutions
since she was 13.

2368
01:40:58,207 --> 01:41:00,291
She's about 23, 24 now.

2369
01:41:00,375 --> 01:41:02,125
And she's trying to get off
medication and

2370
01:41:02,207 --> 01:41:06,332
trying to make a life for
herself. And so...

2371
01:41:06,417 --> 01:41:09,375
I'm like, "The way I played
defense

2372
01:41:09,457 --> 01:41:11,291
is the way I attack this."

2373
01:41:11,375 --> 01:41:14,750
It was the last day of my game
with the Lakers.

2374
01:41:14,833 --> 01:41:17,917
I was post-traumatic syndrome.

2375
01:41:18,000 --> 01:41:19,542
I was going through a little
bit.

2376
01:41:19,625 --> 01:41:20,958
I'm like, "Oh, my goodness.
What am I --

2377
01:41:21,041 --> 01:41:22,457
what am I gonna do? I have
nothing to do this morning.

2378
01:41:22,542 --> 01:41:24,917
I'm not preparing for
a next season next year."

2379
01:41:25,000 --> 01:41:26,792
And that was kind of haunting.

2380
01:41:26,875 --> 01:41:29,792
I got myself together

2381
01:41:29,875 --> 01:41:33,291
and I called, uh, UCLA.

2382
01:41:33,375 --> 01:41:35,332
I said, "I want to go back to
school."

2383
01:41:35,417 --> 01:41:38,166
And I went to UCLA and took
digital analytics.

2384
01:41:38,250 --> 01:41:42,000
Then I signed up for a coding
class,

2385
01:41:42,082 --> 01:41:43,917
with technology being very
important.

2386
01:41:44,000 --> 01:41:45,833
So I got a digital marketing
team

2387
01:41:45,917 --> 01:41:47,250
and my digital marketing team,

2388
01:41:47,332 --> 01:41:50,625
I mean, we can do anything,
you know?

2389
01:41:50,708 --> 01:41:52,917
Books... [laughs]

2390
01:41:53,000 --> 01:41:56,000
...sneakers -- [laughs] We
can market anything.

2391
01:41:56,082 --> 01:41:58,000
Can I have a hug before you
go?

2392
01:41:58,082 --> 01:42:00,958
You all right? You good?
Give me a hug.

2393
01:42:01,041 --> 01:42:03,500
I'm happy with my kids. My
kids are doing well.

2394
01:42:03,582 --> 01:42:06,750
They're smart, and I'm so
proud of my children.

2395
01:42:06,833 --> 01:42:08,708
Happy with where -- where I'm
at.

2396
01:42:08,792 --> 01:42:11,417
I got a pretty simple
lifestyle. [laugh]

2397
01:42:11,500 --> 01:42:12,207
It's not too complicated.

2398
01:42:12,291 --> 01:42:15,457
Don't worry about fucking up.

2399
01:42:15,958 --> 01:42:18,542
Get your basketball body going.

2400
01:42:18,625 --> 01:42:20,375
If you've got two people in
front of you,

2401
01:42:20,457 --> 01:42:23,833
if you've got a little bit of
space, attack that shit.

2402
01:42:23,917 --> 01:42:27,250
Great thing to my mind about
Ron Artest,

2403
01:42:27,332 --> 01:42:29,207
the everlasting
accomplishment

2404
01:42:29,291 --> 01:42:33,291
is that you see athletes all
the time

2405
01:42:33,375 --> 01:42:38,417
come back from drugs, come
back from orthopedic ruin,

2406
01:42:38,500 --> 01:42:41,542
come back from jail time.

2407
01:42:41,625 --> 01:42:46,000
Who comes back from what we
dismiss as crazy?

2408
01:42:46,082 --> 01:42:49,625
You know how much balls it
takes to come back from crazy?

2409
01:42:51,125 --> 01:42:52,625
[Ron] People evolve, man.
That's -- that's it.

2410
01:42:52,708 --> 01:42:54,250
People evolve.

2411
01:42:54,332 --> 01:42:57,250
It took a long time to get
there...

2412
01:42:57,332 --> 01:43:00,125
...to be great. [laughs]

2413
01:43:00,207 --> 01:43:02,917
I never thought I would be
able to laugh about it.

2414
01:43:03,000 --> 01:43:06,582
And it wasn't a consistently
great career, stats-wise,

2415
01:43:06,667 --> 01:43:08,250
but it was definitely a great
moment,

2416
01:43:08,332 --> 01:43:11,833
and that's gonna go down
in history. It's recorded.

2417
01:43:11,917 --> 01:43:16,582
Interterrestrial aliens don't
really give a shit. [laughs]

2418
01:43:16,667 --> 01:43:19,582
But we down here on Earth give
a shit.

2419
01:43:19,667 --> 01:43:22,082
Hell of a moment.

2420
01:43:22,166 --> 01:43:24,582
Unless, somehow, all the
electricity goes out

2421
01:43:24,667 --> 01:43:25,792
in the world,

2422
01:43:25,875 --> 01:43:29,708
that moment's gonna be
replayed a long time.

2423
01:43:32,875 --> 01:43:35,375
♪It's the Q to the B
with the M-O-B-B♪

2424
01:43:35,457 --> 01:43:38,417
♪Queensbridge Brooklyn
and we D-double-E-P♪

2425
01:43:38,500 --> 01:43:40,082
♪Y'all wish I lived the
life I live♪

2426
01:43:40,166 --> 01:43:43,500
♪Ayo Prodigy, tell 'em what
this is Dunn♪

2427
01:43:43,582 --> 01:43:44,792
Somebody asked him one day,

2428
01:43:44,875 --> 01:43:49,792
"Who's the illest player you
ever played against?"

2429
01:43:49,875 --> 01:43:51,708
He said, "Mike Chatfield."

2430
01:43:51,792 --> 01:43:53,332
Yo, listen to me.

2431
01:43:53,417 --> 01:43:56,625
I was in DFY with Mike
Chatfield.

2432
01:43:56,708 --> 01:43:57,542
I could ne-- Listen.

2433
01:43:57,625 --> 01:44:00,417
I could never steal the ball
from him.

2434
01:44:00,500 --> 01:44:03,082
Like, I was good at, like,
getting the ball.

2435
01:44:03,166 --> 01:44:04,457
He would just be like this --

2436
01:44:04,542 --> 01:44:08,291
So when he said that, I was
like, "Ahh!"

2437
01:44:08,375 --> 01:44:09,667
He said Mike Chatfield!

2438
01:44:09,750 --> 01:44:11,625
He could've said he played
against Michael Jordan

2439
01:44:11,708 --> 01:44:13,125
was the hardest person he
played against.

2440
01:44:13,207 --> 01:44:15,750
He could've said Kobe! He
could've said LeBron!

2441
01:44:15,833 --> 01:44:20,000
He said Mike fucking
Chatfield, yo!

2442
01:44:20,082 --> 01:44:23,207
That's amazing! I was in jail
with him!

2443
01:44:23,291 --> 01:44:24,375
...I'm so sorry.

2444
01:44:24,457 --> 01:44:27,291
I went too far.
I went too far.

2445
01:44:27,375 --> 01:44:29,041
Okay, let's get back to the
question.

2446
01:44:29,125 --> 01:44:30,792
What was it? You didn't
even ask that question.

2447
01:44:30,875 --> 01:44:33,332
I'm so-- I'm so sorry I went
there.

2448
01:44:33,417 --> 01:44:35,000
[commentator] He's not the
perfect player,

2449
01:44:35,082 --> 01:44:38,082
he's not the perfect person,
but anybody who knows him well

2450
01:44:38,166 --> 01:44:42,125
swear by his loyalty and
what a big heart he has.

2451
01:44:42,207 --> 01:44:45,792
♪Yo, Sevada
d-d-drop that beat♪

2452
01:44:45,875 --> 01:44:49,542
♪minimal synth
beats♪

2453
01:44:54,833 --> 01:44:57,375
♪♪♪

2454
01:45:04,917 --> 01:45:06,332
♪ Artest, back to
three♪

2455
01:45:06,417 --> 01:45:09,625
♪ Artest, back to
three-three♪

2456
01:45:09,708 --> 01:45:12,207
♪ Artest, back to
three♪

2457
01:45:12,291 --> 01:45:14,542
♪ Artest, back to
three♪

2458
01:45:14,625 --> 01:45:16,332
♪ Artest, back to
three♪

2459
01:45:16,417 --> 01:45:19,457
♪ Artest, back-
back to three♪

2460
01:45:19,542 --> 01:45:21,500
♪ Artest, back to
three♪

2461
01:45:21,582 --> 01:45:24,375
♪ Back to three
back to three♪

2462
01:45:24,457 --> 01:45:26,792
♪ Artest, back to
three♪

2463
01:45:26,875 --> 01:45:29,207
♪ Artest, back to
three-three♪

2464
01:45:29,291 --> 01:45:31,667
♪ Artest, back to
three♪

2465
01:45:31,750 --> 01:45:34,875
♪ Artest, back to
three♪

2466
01:45:34,958 --> 01:45:37,417
♪minimal synth
beats♪

2467
01:45:44,457 --> 01:45:46,457
♪♪♪

2468
01:45:58,041 --> 01:46:01,457
♪♪♪