Whatever. I don;t care how much money they make. Their not getting paid to let drunken fans throw crap at them. People were throwing chairs, bottles, and ice.
Personally I am not gonna get blinded because some clown wanted to thow something at me. I would have retaliated. So would a lot of people.
Blinded by a water bottle? Well you are as dumb as Artest then! You would give up a million dollars (and you can bet that is what Artest will lose in salary-10 game suspension minimum) to get back at some guy who threw a water bottle at you?
Bad decision! Your Fired!
Then you should be thrown out of the NBA. At what point does the word "professional" kick in here? Artest obviously wasn't hurt by the plastic cup. He took off after the schmo who threw it likely because he was angry at Ben Wallace but was too scared to confront someone as big as a tree.
Believe what you want but the melee and the danger did not begin until Artest leaped into the stands.