Metta World Peace is all business as LA Lakers get set to meet James Harden ... - New York Daily News

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Metta World Peace sounds as if he's come out swinging when he gets reacquainted with James Harden, whom he famously elbowed last month to draw six-game ban in playoffs.

Metta World Peace won’t be offering an olive branch or a friendly hand or any other goodwill gesture to James Harden when the Lakers start their second-round playoff series Monday night in Oklahoma City.

Ron Artest wouldn’t have bothered with any of that stuff, either.
So why would he do it now as World Peace?
Artest, oops, World Peace, will be all business as the Lakers go in as underdogs to the Thunder, which has been off for eight days since sweeping out the defending champion Mavericks.
After he made a triumphant return from a seven-game suspension in the Lakers' nerve-wracking, Game 7 win over the Nuggets late Saturday night, World Peace knew he wasn't going to be heading to Queensbridge for the next series.
Oklahoma City fans will finally get to give World Peace an earful for his unprovoked and dangerous elbowing of Harden that led to his 19-day exile.
'”It’s America, we have freedom of speech, they can say what they want,” he said.
As for making nice with Harden, World Peace has a better chance of being voted mayor of Oklahoma City.
“I don’t shake substitutes’ hands,” he explained.
You can also forget about World Peace seeking his victim out before the game to finally apologize for his senseless act.
“I’ve never done that in my life,” he said.
Sounds like must-watch TV and that's also what we had Saturday night, when the Nuggets pushed the Lakers to the limit. L.A. survived, just barely, 96-87, as it went on a 27-14 run over the last 10:30 to overcome a four-point deficit early in the fourth quarter.
Here's some of what the Lakers had to deal with just to get to the second round, besides World Peace’s suspension: The disappearance of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in Games 5 and 6 against a decidedly less-imposing front line than they’ll be seeing from the Thunder’s Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka. Kobe Bryant’s stomach virus. Magic Johnson’s bomb-throwing.
The Lakers used to win championships because of Magic. Now they’re trying to win in spite of him.
On the eve of the biggest game of the season, Johnson strongly suggested on ESPN that Mike Brown would be fired if the Lakers lost Game 7.
You expected more from the Laker icon who has a bronze statue in front of Staples Center. No longer a minority owner, he still holds a position with the team as a vice president, although it's pretty much reduced to being the resident legend and an occasional thorn in the side of Lakers execs Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak. His comments about Brown, who has two more guaranteed years at $9 million, created a new post.
Laker badwill ambassador.
Leading up to Game 7, the Lakers had to come out and defend Brown, saying ownership and the front office is “fully committed” to their first-year coach. Brown also had to address the matter delicately, of course â€" because they don’t get any bigger in L.A. than Magic, no matter if he's firing shots at his old team as a TV analyst or not.
Nuggets coach George Karl probably had the best take on the entire bizarre episode.
“I love Magic and I think he’s been a tremendous ambassador for the game,” he said. “But I think the statement is out of control. It was totally out of control. Mike Brown is a good coach. He had a solid-to-good year. Giving that statement is wild and crazy and ESPN-ish. I think he has another year on his contract for that comment.”
Bingo. More importantly for Lakers fans, they got to see their team win another Game 7 at home, their 11th straight, as the Nuggets made it a tougher series than anyone expected. After drawing criticism from Brown and Bryant, Gasol and Bynum answered the call in Game 7, combining for 39 points, 35 rebounds and 10 blocks.

Then there was World Peace. The Lakers had to go the distance against Denver, mainly because he wasn't there for the first six games. He probably shouldn’t have been able to play on Saturday, or for the rest of the playoffs, either. But David Stern made the suspension just long enough for World Peace to return for Game 7 if the Lakers needed him to advance. Did they ever. He responded with 15 points while holding Danilo Gallinari and Andre Miller to a combined six points on 2-for-19 shooting.

“He was monstrous for us … monstrous,'” Brown said. “He was absolutely freaking amazing.”
All in a day’s work for World Peace. Now he’s in for a hard day’s night in Oklahoma City. He’s had it coming.