Remember in case of Artest, angels win fans, but devils win games.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Dan Le Batard

MIAMI _ Ron Artest is making the rounds now on the media rotisserie, skewered as fool and punk as we search for something to feed the insatiable criticism machine in the slow sports weeks after the Super Bowl, but understand this: What is most upsetting to Heat coach Pat Riley about a thug like Artest is that Riley knows, to his bitter dismay, that he doesn't have anything as jagged as Artest on his own softened roster.

You saw that for yourself the other night when Artest got in Riley's face and the first one to come to the coach's aid was not anyone in a Heat uniform but rather suit-clad assistant Keith Askins, who had been demanding through expletives that Artest stop peacock-preening after baskets.

You remember Askins, right? He stayed in the NBA for nine years despite limited skills because he understood that the best way to handle menace of Artest's kind was by heading into the fray chin and chest first. If Eddie Jones, so very skilled, had a little more Askins in him, he'd be a perennial All-Star and Miami wouldn't be in last place.

Riley, incidentally, didn't mind Artest's kind so much when he was dragging the acrobatic NBA into the quicksand by uncaging Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley upon it in a way that resembled a motorcycle gang overrunning the ballet.

Perhaps street-scarred Caron Butler, arrested 15 times before he turned 15, will grow into the kind of leader and leather Riley needs, but a rookie is not supposed to have that role (which is why Jeremy Shockey's transformation of the Giants earned him a Pro Bowl spot even though he caught only two touchdown passes). And, besides, it isn't coincidence that the only game this season when Butler went without a basket was the one in which he was guarded by Artest. The kid isn't ready, yet.

So, anyway, Miami backed down from Artest, and then predictably lost because another Indiana assassin, Reggie Miller, had Artest's back in a way no Miami player had Riley's, and then the questions started afterward about why this crazy Artest was so out of control.