Artest: San Antonio was inhospitable

ryno · by **ryno** on Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:49 pm

King: San Antonio was inhospitable 
Ron Artest says problems at two hotels and the visitors' locker room upset the Kings. 
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer 
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 9, 2006 
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C9 
 
 
LAS VEGAS -- When the Kings lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of last season's playoffs, their end resulted from numerous factors. 
Running out of gas, according to Ron Artest, was not one of them. 
 
Nearly three months after the Spurs won the series in six games, the Kings' small forward said San Antonio's home-court advantage went beyond the court. He said the AT&T Center's visitors' locker room reeked with gas before the Spurs' Game 5 victory, and that the hotel experience at two facilities didn't do much for relaxation and preparation throughout the series. 
 
Wake-up calls in hotel rooms, Artest said, routinely came hours early for numerous players. And room service, he also said, would take several hours to arrive. 
 
The Kings switched hotels after losing Game 1, moving from a Hyatt Regency on the city's outskirts to a downtown Marriott. San Antonio's annual "Fiesta" event was taking place at the time, and Kings officials said they had stayed at the Hyatt because there was no availability near the city's Riverwalk. But Artest said the hotel move didn't improve matters. 
 
"It was both hotels, really, but the second hotel was horrible," said Artest, who was suspended for Game 2 of the series. "The second hotel, they were waking us up too early. They were bringing our lunch late. When you play an NBA game, you've got to have your lunch at a certain time. You eat at a certain time. 
 
"One morning, I didn't even get my breakfast. I had to eat my breakfast on the bus. And then when I got to the game, they had the gas (in the locker room). The gas was killing our locker room. It wasn't even a safe environment. It was horrible, horrible. … I just know that if the Spurs are going to make us smell gas, we should've made the Spurs smell gas. We should've put gas in their locker room." 
 
Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin said he never requested a wake-up call, but he did remember smelling the gas. 
 
"I just had the gas thing," he said. "It was horrible. I think I remember just smelling it once." 
 
Spurs officials declined comment. Kings spokesman Darrin May said he was aware of the gas in the locker room before Game 5 but had no knowledge of the hotel difficulties. 
 
<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14276348p-15085749c.html" target="top">Link</a> 
<div style="text-align:center"> 
<img src="http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/2170/sanantoniospursr22zr.jpg"/></div><div style="text-align:center">Go Spurs Go!</div>

SpursFanIsrael · by **SpursFanIsrael** on Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:52 pm

All I hear is "Bla-Bla-Bla" <div style="text-align:center"><img src="http://sahoops.net/banners/sfi.jpg"/></div> 
 
"Freedom has no price 
It has a date: 27/7/06"

Pitter5008 · by **Pitter5008** on Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:52 pm

Boo hoo

b1gdon · by **b1gdon** on Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:12 am

A bit ironic coming from the home of the Hyattburger. <img src="http://www.marca.es/ficheros/marca/fotos03/NBA/los_angeles_lakers/kobe_bryant_llorando030516.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

by **fatside** on Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:02 am

I agree, those two hotels are terrible. I even sent a letter to the Hyatt's management about how bad their hotel is, and they sent me a discount off my next stay there. Why would I want to stay there again? My balcony faced a bunch of worn out chairs, tables, scaffolding, etc. The room smelled bad. Any motel looked better. The service is terrible. Fool me once, and shame on you. Fool me twice, and shame on me. The Kings have stayed here many times, so didn't they know not to stay there. It is the King's fault for staying there. They know other players in the NBA, and they could have asked the other players. 
Sometimes, when I want to spend a night downtown, I stay at the La Valencia. It is a great place to bring a date. The place is clean, professional, and it is really nice. 
 
They are downtown, so what is it suppose to smell like. The last I checked every car downtown was putting out gas fumes. I can smell the gas when I go outside. It always smells bad. I hate jogging because I feel that I just such in gas faster than when I walk. 
5 star hotels don't mean a thing. I stayed at that really big hotel downtown in Corpus. The sheets were worn out, and a spider was running through my salad. I paid several hundred dollars a night for a hotel in London, and the hotel room is smaller than some walk-in closets that I have been in. They didn't even have air conditioning. I had to open my window to get cooler. 
This is San Antonio, not Utopia. Drink the margaritas, and everything will be all right, at least that is what they say.

Zan the Fan · by **Zan the Fan** on Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:57 pm

<img src="http://img.medjeti.com/wahmbulance.jpg" style="border:0;"/> 
 
<img src=http://www.sahoops.net/smilies/cheers.gif ALT=":cheers"> <div style="text-align:center"><img src="http://img288.imageshack.us/img288/451/manuhulk7wr.jpg"/></div> 
 
 
When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before." 
-Jacob August Riis (1849-1914)

SpursNation · by **SpursNation** on Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:49 pm

Hey Artest...you think you got gas in the locker room??? 
 
PULL MY FINGER!!

Artest: San Antonio was inhospitable