Posted on 11/21/2004 4:05:38 PM PST by El Conservador
NEW YORK (AP) -- Ron Artest was suspended for the rest of the season Sunday as the NBA came down hard on three members of the Indiana Pacers for fighting with fans when a melee broke out at the end of a game against the Detroit Pistons.
Overall, nine players from the teams were banned for more than 140 games, including some of the harshest penalties the league ever issued. Artest is the first player to be suspended for nearly an entire season for a fight during a game.
``The message the league sent was so powerful to players that they'll never do that again,'' Pistons CEO Tom Wilson said.
Indiana's Stephen Jackson was suspended for 30 games and Jermaine O'Neal for 25. Detroit's Ben Wallace -- whose shove of Artest after a foul led to the 5-minute fracas -- drew a six-game ban, while Pacers guard Anthony Johnson got five games.
``I'm sick about that for Indiana. I'm devastated for them,'' Pistons coach Larry Brown said. ``And we lost our heart and soul.''
Four players were suspended for a game apiece: Indiana's Reggie Miller, and Detroit's Chauncey Billups, Elden Campbell and Derrick Coleman.
All of the suspensions are without pay.
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 Friday night -- began serving their suspensions Saturday. Indiana, limited to just six players because of the suspensions and injuries, dropped an 86-83 decision to Orlando.
``The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the professionalism and self-control that should fairly be expected from NBA players,'' NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement, adding that the league must not ``allow our sport to be debased by what seem to be declining expectations.''
The NBA also has to ``redefine the bounds of acceptable conduct for fans attending our games and resolve to permanently exclude those who overstep those bounds,'' Stern said.
He added that security procedures in all NBA arenas will be reviewed and rules need to be added to prevent a repeat of what happened at Auburn Hills, Mich., on Friday.
For Sunday night's home game against the Charlotte Bobcats -- Detroit's first outing since the melee -- the Pistons doubled the number of armed police to about 20 in the arena and increased other arena security personnel by about 25 percent.
When some spectators lined up to take pictures with Pistons guard Lindsey Hunter on the court before the game, two police officers stood just a few feet away.
The brawl was particularly violent, with Artest and Jackson bolting into the stands near center court and throwing punches at fans after debris was tossed at the players.
Later, fans who came onto the court were punched in the face by Artest and O'Neal.
Nine people were treated for injuries, and police are investigating possible criminal charges.
Wallace began the fracas by delivering a hard, two-handed shove to Artest after Wallace was fouled on a drive to the basket with 45.9 seconds remaining. After the fight ended, the referees called off the rest of the game.
The initial skirmish wasn't all that bad, with Artest retreating to the scorer's table and lying atop it after Wallace sent him reeling backward. But when a fan tossed a cup at Artest, he stormed into the stands, throwing punches as he climbed over seats.
Jackson joined Artest and threw punches at fans, who punched back. At one point, a chair was tossed into the fray.
The most recent example of an NBA player going into the stands and punching a fan came in February 1995, when Vernon Maxwell of the Houston Rockets pummeled a spectator in Portland. The league suspended him for 10 games and fined him $20,000.
Among the harshest non-drug-related penalties in NBA history was a one-year suspension of Latrell Sprewell -- later reduced to 68 games -- for choking Golden State Warriors coach P.J. Carlesimo at practice.
Kermit Washington of the Los Angeles Lakers drew a 60-day (26-game) suspension in 1977 for a punch that broke the jaw of the Houston Rockets' Rudy Tomjanovich during a game, while Dennis Rodman was suspended 11 games for kicking a courtside cameraman in the groin and six games for head-butting a referee.
Artest was benched for two games this month for asking Pacers coach Rick Carlisle for time off because of a busy schedule that included promoting a rap album.
Artest was suspended twice by the NBA last season, once for leaving the bench during a fracas at a Pacers-Celtics playoff game; the other for elbowing Portland's Derek Anderson. During the 2002-03 season, Artest was suspended five times by the NBA and once by the Pacers for a total of 12 games.
Artest also once grabbed a television camera and smashed it to the ground after a loss to the Knicks two years ago.
Updated on Sunday, Nov 21, 2004 6:42 pm EST
Exceeded the professionalism and self control???
You would think the comment would be that they did not meet the standards.....
What did Reggie Miller do? I saw him trying to stop the fray and not participating in it.
I never compared Wallace to Bryant. Furthermore, far as I'm concerned, the Detriot fans started the fight and thereby negates the fact that folks are blaming Artest for the whole thing. If it was me, I'd go into the stands swinging as well if I was threatened first.
The suspensions of Wallace and O'Neal were approrpriate, but Jackson should've been booted for the rest of the year and Artest should've received the rest of this year and ALL of next year.
If you'd go into the stands after getting hit with a paper cup you'd deserve the same fate (and are just as crazy) as Artest. And the nut was swinging a way at a guy who he suspected threatened him (which indeed turned out to be the wrong guy).
His suspension amounts to quite a few dollars lost. ......probably at least a couple million. Worth it? Only if you're insane.
Just looked it up -- $6 million. .....all in an attempt to mend his bruised ego. A lot safer for Artest to go after some little (and innocent) dude in the stands than go after the guy who just kicked the crap out of him a minute earlier (Ben Wallace).
Ben Wallace's brother just died last Monday. I think that may have played a part in his mental state.
Not excusing him but that's the truth.
He is normally a very low-key person.....keeps his nose clean.
Ok, here's my gripe with this- the players get (rightfully) suspended, yet the coward fan who threw the cup of ice will probably whine and cry his way to a multi-million dollar lawsuit settlement. That's the one injustice I see in this situation. The coward fan should be permanently banned from attending all future NBA games.
And to some of the people posting here, this doesn't "only happen in the NBA". Fights and mini-riots can break out at any sporting event nowadays. Remember the father-son duo who charged onto the field and attacked a Kansas City Royals coach last year? Remember the infamous "snowball fight" a few years ago at Giants Stadium, during a NY Giants game, when dozens of fans spent the majority of the game hurling snowballs/iceballs at players on the sidelines? Forget about the NHL- show me one game without a fight or violent hit. And I also remember Tie Domi trying to attack a fan during an NHL game a few years ago. It can happen anywhere, folks.
Not all Democrats are bad. However, you can't vote for even the "good" Democrats because supporting them means supporting the likes of Kennedy and Pelosi.
It is the same way with the NBA. Not all players are gangsta rappers. However, the fact that the league supports and encourages such player images means that supporting the "good" NBA players means that you are supporting the whole rotten mess.
Therefore, the solution is to wash your hands of the whole rotten mess.
It is time for conservatives to face the fact that they must detach themselves from the popular culture -- including most sports (witness last Monday's MNF intro disgrace...).
Artest wanted time off. He got it. Did he engineer this to get time off for his 'rap' career??
The DA will say there's not enough evidence to convict anyone. That's why Lady Justice has her eyes covered. Either that, or they'll say they were all convicted in the court of public opinion & that was enough punishment.
It sends the message that all it takes is one beverage w/wings & the typical gangsta-rap wannabe will take on fans in the proximity of its source.
Only the easily provoked are at risk of your team decimation scenario.
Actually this will be part of the eventual lawsuit settlement w/some of the fans involved. The NBA, Pacer players, Pacer organization, & Piston organization [poor security] will all pay thru the civil suit nose...settling out of court before it gets into the daily press coverage stage.
The NBA, though, will stand firm on a ban of some of these fans.
Whaddya mean? His instant rap rep stock just shot up multiple $ times what he would have made on the court.
Why? It hasn't exactly been a motto of the Indiana elite who've sanctioned the likes of Bobby Knight & Alfred Kinsey. And now you have the Pacer org whining about the suspended games being too stiff when had it been anyone other than an NBA player, they'd been postin' bail. (Nice modeling of responsibility & accountability for our nation's young people).
Nice sanctioning of felonious assault & battery, MI cops & Pacer organization. But, w/ a state that already sanctioned public verbal & physical abuse of players (Knight) & pedophilic sexual abuse of babies/kids (Kinsey), what were we to have expected?
The real tragedy for a lifelong Pacers fan like me is that the Pacers were, for so many years, home to some of the nicest, classiest players in the league. Mark Jackson, Antonio and Dale Davis, Rik Smits, Herb Williams, Clark Kellogg - the list goes on and on. I blame a lot of the current team's attitude on Isiah Thomas. Perennial all-star or not, Thomas has always been a thug (from a team of thugs - Rodman, Mahorn, Aguirre, and freakin' Laimbeer, if you need reminding). And he brought that thugishness to the team when he was the coach. He's the one who wanted to trade Jalen Rose for Ron Artest, and he just about ruined Jermaine O'Neal with his "mentoring."
I liked it better with the Jones brothers, Coooz, Elgin Baylor, Russell, West, Wilt the Stilt, and Heinsoln.
That was basketball.
If he is under contract does he still get paid?
The home boys really are now..
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