Oklahoma City guard James Harden holds his head after taking an elbow from Ron Artest in Sunday's game at Staples Center. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Goodbye, Metta World Peace. Hello, Ron Artest. All the hard work that Metta World Peace has done to rehabilitate his NBA career took an ugly turn Sunday night. With one malicious swing of his left elbow, the fun-loving World Peace channeled his alter ego — crazy Ron Artest.

For a brief moment, Metta declared war on World Peace when he clocked Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden on the side of the head. Harden fell to the floor holding his head and stayed down for several minutes before going to the locker room to get checked. He tried to return, but Thunder officials advised him to sit out the second half as a precaution and get more treatment on his concussion.

Were Artest’s actions premeditated? That’s a question NBA officials will have to examine when they decide on the severity of the punishment.

Remember this, Harden was the one who got into Kobe Bryant’s face and did a little too much celebrating against the Lakers in Oklahoma City earlier this season so there’s a little bit of a history between Harden and the Lakers. In addition, Artest was elbowed inadvertently on the nose by Thunder forward Serge Ibaka early in the first quarter so Artest was like a wounded animal looking for some payback.

The flagrant foul was shades of the old Ron Artest, a player who once destroyed a TV monitor out of frustration and was the instigator in the infamous 2004 Palace brawl in Detroit that resulted in an 86-game suspension for the former Pacer. It will be very difficult for the league to ignore Artest’s past behavior, which lead many to believe and assume that this incident will cost the Lakers and Artest multiple games.

“It’s not a basketball play, man. It’s unfortunate he hit James like that,” said Kevin Durant, who had to restrain teammates Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka from engaging with the fired up Artest, who was in a boxing position near halfcourt ready to rumble in case any of the Thunder players were crazy enough to throw down with him.

After a cooling-off period, a more peaceful Artest — realizing he could be facing a multiple-game suspension and a hefty fine — was apologetic.

“During that play, I just dunked on Durant and Ibaka. It just got real emotional and excited,” Artest told reporters. “It was unfortunate that James got hit. It was an unintentional elbow. I hope he’s OK. The Thunder are playing for a championship this year, so I really hope that he’s OK. I apologize to the Thunder and to James Harden.”

Lakers legend Magic Johnson questioned why Artest needed to throw a “cheap shot” especially when he was playing well at the time (12 points) and the Lakers were rolling after trimming the lead to 48-47 with 1:37 left in the second quarter.

“You didn’t need that elbow to the head of James Harden,” Johnson said during the ABC halftime show. “I’m sitting here as a former Laker and just really disheartening for me because last year [Andrew] Bynum takes out [J.J.] Barea now this.”

Johnson added, “It was definitely intentional. You don’t go up to a man’s head without it being intentional. I love Ron Artest, but he’s gotta get suspended. This is not how the Lakers should be playing. I like physical basketball, but I don’t like cheap shots. And that was a cheap shot.”

NBA TV studio analyst Brent Barry says it’s a foregone conclusion Artest will get suspended, it’ll just be a matter of how many games he’ll miss. “As much as it’s nice to hear Metta apologize it still doesn’t make up for what he did to James Harden. This was a violent hit to the head,” Barry said.

His brother, Jon, voiced his opinion as well, and he didn’t pull any punches (no pun intended).

“You’re talking about reputation here,” Jon Barry said. “You’re talking about Ron Artest, not Metta Weird Peace. That’s the guy we’re talking about. Your reputation precedes itself.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

As for the actual celebrity game, there were few REAL celebs in the game with the exception of my man Chris Tucker, Michael Rapapport and Common, who has some game. They should seriously get rid of the Globetrotters for some female celebs. I’d invite Megan Fox and Jessica Alba next year!

Prior to the game, Shaquille O’Neal told ESPN’s Stuart Scott that he would donated $5,000 to charity if Mavericks owner Mark Cuban can make a 3-point shot during the celebrity game. Stu Scott wasn’t about to be upstaged by The Diesel as he matched called Shaq’s $5,000 and raised it to $10,000. Stu Scott must be well paid by the Worldwide Leader. Cuban wasn’t able to come through, and Shaq and Scott were able to keep their wallets intact.

Speaking of Shaq, he said that it was “nice to see Rick Fox and Robert Horry,” two of his former teammates in L.A. But then Shaq said he hadn’t see Fox in 10 years. Memo to Shaq, Fox was your Lakers teammate during the 2004 NBA Finals. Obviously, old age has corrupted The Diesel’s memory bank.