Ron Artest just got right in Kobe’s face and told the great #8 he better not get his elbow up in his neck.  I’m telling you playoff basketball is back with this Rockets vs. Lakers series.  This is how it was back when the Bulls played the Knicks – not these boring games with no intensity like the Magic and Celtics.

On the Ron Artest Play, I thought Ron was probably going to stay in the game until he made an elbow reenactment.  Initially that looked like the Triple H cut throat gesture and the referees were already getting jumpy about how physical the game had gotten.  I love that he got in Kobe’s face and told Kobe that he wasn’t going to stick his elbow around his throat area.

Another physical spotlight of the game was Derek Fisher throwing a premeditated forearm on Luis Scola.  This is a suspension no questions asked for me.  I’m glad the refs did get this one right and threw him out of the game.  Phil Jackson is crazy for trying to compare this to something that happened in the Utah series.  I think he’s just trying to temper down what happened, but the severity on tape can’t be played down.

This Houston-Lakers series is going to be great.  If you couldn’t tell already, I’m pulling for the Rockets.  I love Artest in this series.