The Fire Inside

In the off-season Noah read the book Sacred Hoops, by fellow free-spirit Phil Jackson. Then he watched a replay of Game 7 of the NBA Finals and kept his eyes fixed on Ron Artest. "You have to look at his face in that game, his demeanor," Noah says. "There were a couple of times early on when he went to the basket and clearly got fouled and it wasn't called. He didn't even look at the ref. This is Ron Artest, and he didn't look at the ref. He was so caught up in the game and so focused on winning. I believe Phil Jackson took that man to the next level that night. And then after the game, Ron Artest became Ron Artest again."