Artest was repeatedly asked about the suspension, which he received after clotheslining J.J. Barea late in L.A.'s Game 2 loss to the Mavs, Artest made it clear that he wasn't about to discuss it. At least not very thoroughly.
The forward was constantly asked his feelings about what his suspension will mean to his team.
"Just gotta move on to tomorrow; big game tomorrow," he told reporters after practice on Friday. "We just got a big game tomorrow. I don't know what's more important than Game 3. There's nothing more important than Game 3."
Well, then. Next question. How about asking Artest if he feels he let the team down?
"We just move forward, we got a long way to go still, so we just move forward. Play basketball."
Of course, Artest won't actually be playing basketball in Game 3, but he didn't exactly let on what the team was going to miss in his absence.
"It's not about what we're gonna miss, it's about what we're gonna do," he said contusing to employ the Bill Belichick method for dealing with the media. "We're moving forward. That's what it's about. We've got a big game."
Artest also deflected questions about his potential replacement, "That's a question for [head coach] Phil [Jackson]," as well as a question about center Andrew Bynum's quotes about a lack of trust within the Lakers, Artest responded in kind with "That's a question for Andrew."
