I'd consider letting O'Neil & Jackson back in after this season ends.
Wallace ought to get a 5-7 game sit-down for his part in the initial fight.
Double-barrelled Mega-PING! to both lists! If you want on, FReepmail me!
Posted on 11/20/2004 2:20:17 PM PST by RayChuang88
NEW YORK (AP) - Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson of Indiana and Ben Wallace of Detroit were suspended indefinitely by the NBA on Saturday for taking part in one of the ugliest brawls in U.S. sports history, a fight with fans that commissioner David Stern called "shocking, repulsive and inexcusable."
League officials were examining video tapes of Friday night's melee and interviewing witnesses. The NBA issued a statement saying it was reviewing rules and security procedures "so that fans can continue to attend our games unthreatened by events such as the ones that occurred last night."
Artest, O'Neal and Jackson - who all threw punches at fans in the stands or on the court at the end of the nationally televised Pacers-Pistons game - were to begin serving their suspensions Saturday night, when Indiana hosted Orlando.
Wallace's suspension will begin with the Pistons' next game, at home Sunday night against the Charlotte Bobcats.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.myway.com ...
When someone throws stuff at you, that is assult and provocation. I don't care if they are fans. Some of them asked for it.
Artest, O'Neil and Jackson should be gone through the All-Star break, at a minimum. If Stern had a pair, he'd suspend them for the season.
I'd consider letting O'Neil & Jackson back in after this season ends.
Wallace ought to get a 5-7 game sit-down for his part in the initial fight.
Double-barrelled Mega-PING! to both lists! If you want on, FReepmail me!
The length of suspensions on this will show whether the NBA continues to market itself as an "athletic league," or whether they admit it's just professional wresting with basketballs as props.
Oh well, sh*t happens sometimes.
How did Artest instigate this?
Arioch7 out.
That is, "wrestling."
Film, pics anywhere?
Here's the timeline (as noted on my site this evening):
Timeline of the NBA's "Big Brawl" last night
Jackie Chan was nowhere to be found, but finally, we have found a fully sorted-out timeline of last night's game-ending brawl between the Pistons, the Pacers and the fans at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The brawl began with 45.9 ticks on the clock as Indiana's Ron Artest blatantly fouled Detroit's Ben Wallace hard as Wallace was going up for a layup. Indiana was ahead 97-82. Or in other words, there was no way Detroit could even consider winning.
The melee escalated from there.
Pistons coach Larry Brown took the mike and attempted to quell the disturbance, but tossed the mike down in disgust after it became obvious that the fans were in no mood to be placated.
- Wallace wheels around and delivers a hard, two-handed shove to Artest's chin, which leads to pushing and shoving with several players near midcourt.
- Artest lies on the scorer's table with his hands behind his head, looking relaxed. Wallace tries to get at Artest, but is held back by teammates and coaches.
- As players shout at each other, Wallace throws a wristband toward Artest, who stands up briefly before lying back down on the scorer's table.
- An unidentified fan near midcourt hits Artest in the face with a cup filled with ice and a beverage.
- Artest storms into the stands and attacks a fan, who he thinks hurled the cup at him.
- Indiana's Stephen Jackson joins his teammate in the seats and starts throwing punches.
- David Harrison, Eddie Gill and Fred Jones of the Pacers, Detroit's Rasheed Wallace and former Piston Rick Mahorn try to break up the fight between Pacers and fans, who land their share of punches.
- Back on the court near Indiana's bench, Artest punches a fan wearing a Pistons jersey who walked toward him. After another fan tries to tackle Artest and as he tries to stand up, Jermaine O'Neal runs toward him and lands a vicious right hand on his face.
- Pacers players and coaches leave the floor and are showered with beer, popcorn and assorted debris, including a folding chair.
- Indiana's Jamaal Tinsley tries to go back on the court, holding a metal dust pan over his head before he is turned back to the locker room.
Players from both teams left the arena without commenting to the press, but both coaches gave their two cents about the ugly incident, both calling it "unbelievable."
Swap the order on the teams - Detroit was ahead.
We saw this on ESPN while buying lunch at Subway today. There were two construction workers in line with us, and I told them I'd much rather have my sons grow up to be construction workers than professional "athletes"!
I don't know... players should never hit fans but the fans looked moonbat crazy to me.
So you think this is a problem with the players?
Arioch7 out.
Artest already has a reputation of being a potentially violent loose cannon (far worse than anything Dennis Rodman did by any stretch), but I don't think anyone could have forseen this.
Artest instigated this, and I don't think the League can turn a blind eye to his antics any longer.
The fans added to an already volatile situation, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some criminal charges come out of this one.
All the fans involved need to be charged and given jail time. Let them pay for their actions just like the players have to.
Ron Artest asked for a month off this season to promote his new rap album. Let's hope he gets plenty of additional time to pursue his other endeavours, which apparently matter more to him these days.
This is a situation where the actions on neither side - players or fans - were particularly admirable. Artest will rightly be hit the hardest in view of his past infractions. If the articles are accurate it sounds like Artest charged into the stands swinging his fists without knowing exactly who had threw something at him. That's indefensible no matter the provocation.
It looked to me like the guy pushed him hard and Artest just went to the corner (So to speak.)
However, I don't watch much basketball. I have heard sports radio talk about his antics but it didn't seem that bad to me. The way they described him it was horrible but I figured that was just sports radio.
Arioch7 out.
Why am I not surprised?
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