<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ORLANDO, Fla. -- For 11 months and change, Ron Artest has been visualizing his eventual return to the NBA hardwood. He sat in front of the TV with his wife and children, watching his Indiana Pacers teammates fight the good fight in his absence, and fantasized about how it might feel when his exile finally ended. "Last year, I was like, I can't wait to get back for that first game," Artest said after the Pacers' season-opening 90-78 victory over the Orlando Magic. "I'm going to go all out, try to score 50 points and all that nonsense.'' On Wednesday night, Artest returned from the longest suspension in NBA history, and what he felt was nothing like what he thought he might feel. He felt nothing. The entire affair was understated, completely lacking flair or suspense. Which was exactly what Artest, and his team, need if they're going to make a liar of this new TNT analyst guy named Reggie Miller. "You know what,'' Artest said, beaming like a rookie after his debut, "it was just a regular game.'' This might not have been the way Artest envisioned his return -- there were trumpets blaring, but they were courtesy of the opening-night marching band -- but it was the way almost everybody else expected the night to unfold. When he was introduced, he was lustily booed, and continued to get booed whenever he touched the ball in the early phases of the game. "Yeah, but it was a nice boo,'' Artest said. "They had to do that. They had nothing else to do.'' Early on, he was alternately overzealous and tentative, still feeling his way around the court. He shot 1-for-7 in the first half, with just two rebounds. "I was going too quickly, I was hesitant, making bad decisions, missing free throws,'' he said. ". . . After missing 73 games, it really showed.''</div> Source
