Massive Brawl During Pacers/Detroit Game

TheWanderer · Post by **TheWanderer** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 12:52 pm

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Players and fans exchanged punches in the stands near the end of a Pacers-Pistons game in one of the worst brawls in NBA history. The mayhem left several people injured and prompted a police investigation.

Indiana's Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson charged into the crowd and fought with fans in the final minute of Friday night's game, forcing an early end to the Pacers' 97-82 victory.

"I felt like I was fighting for my life out there," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "I'm sorry the game had to end this way."

Officials stopped the game with 45.9 seconds remaining after pushing and shoving between the teams spilled into the stands once fans started throwing things at the players near the scorer's table.

About three hours following the startling finish, Auburn Hills police walked out of a television trailer with videotapes gathered from media outlets. Officers interviewed witnesses at the arena in suburban Detroit and planned to talk to the players involved.

"We'll put it all together, take it to the Oakland County Prosecutors Office and have them review it and they'll decide if there are any charges," Auburn Hills Deputy Chief Jim Mynsberge said. "I hope we can do it before Thanksgiving."

One of the half-dozen people treated for injuries at The Palace was taken to a hospital by ambulance and another sought treatment, police said.

"At this time, we don't have any indication of major injuries, Mynsberge said.

Detroit's Larry Brown, who started coaching in 1972 after his playing career ended, said it was the ugliest thing he had seen as a coach or player.

Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations, added: "There's no place in the game for what went on with this incident. It was just an ugly scene."

After several minutes of players fighting with fans in the stands, a chair, beer, ice and popcorn were thrown at the Pacers as they made their way to the locker room.

The melee started when Detroit's Ben Wallace went in for a layup and was fouled hard by Artest from behind, and escalated when Artest stormed into the stands after being hit by a full cup. After being fouled, Wallace wheeled around and pushed Artest in the face. The benches emptied and punches were thrown.

As the players continued shoving each other near center court and coaches tried to restore order, Artest sprawled out on his back on the scorer's table, looking relaxed.

Just when it appeared tempers died down, Artest was struck by a cup thrown from the stands and jumped up and charged into the stands, throwing punches as he climbed over seats.

"He was on top of me, pummeling me," fan Mike Ryan of Clarkston said. "He asked me, `Did you do it? I said, `No, man. No!"'

Jackson joined Artest in the melee and threw punches at fans, who punched back at them.

Security personnel and ushers tried to break it up. Former Pistons player Rick Mahorn, who was seated courtside as a Detroit radio analyst, tried to stop the brawl in the stands. Detroit's Rasheed Wallace and Indiana's David Harrison were also in or near the stands trying to break up the fights.

Later, a man in a Pistons jersey approached Artest on the court, shouting at him. Artest punched him in the face, knocking him to the floor. Teammate Jermaine O'Neal stepped in and punched another man who joined the scrum.

"The NBA is withholding comment until it can review the incident," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.

Players from both teams left the arena without comment.

Quentin Richardson of the Phoenix Suns watched the brawl on TV.

"I have never seen a fight like that in a game since I was in high school," he said. "Man, there are going to be some lawsuits. You don't think some of those fans aren't going to want some NBA money?"

Police prevented reporters from crossing the loading dock to get to Indiana's locker room or the area where the Pacers' bus was located.

"I'm just embarrassed for our league and disappointed for our young people to see that," Brown said.

Artest has been involved in some bizarre situations and has been suspended frequently, but his latest antics topped them all.

Earlier this month, he was benched for two games for asking Carlisle for time off because of a busy schedule that included promoting a soon-to-be released rap album.

Artest also destroyed TV monitors at Madison Square Garden two years ago and missed the team flight to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals at Detroit last season.

Before the game was stopped, Artest had quite a game and the Pacers were dominating the defending NBA champions in their first meeting since the Eastern Conference finals.

Artest scored 17 of his 24 points in the first quarter and the Pacers led by 20 in the second. Detroit used a 9-0 outburst early in the fourth quarter to close within 82-77, but couldn't get closer.

Indiana's next game is Saturday night at home against Orlando, and Detroit hosts Charlotte on Sunday.

Article here

I saw a video of this, and it's crazy. If I was one of those fans in the stands, I would've kicked Artest in the face and nuts. What an idiot.

that_guy · Post by **that_guy** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 3:27 pm

I saw it earlier, and I have to agree with what the basketball player did to an extent. If you have a full cup of beer thrown at you, are you just going to stand there and take it. It doesn't matter if you have money or not, there is only so much a person can take, and a full cup of beer thrown at me is one that I can't take. I mean come on, I could have drank it. The player did take it to excess though.

weeperofsouls · Post by **weeperofsouls** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 5:36 pm

hey, it couldve been worse.

couldve been a soccer game.

goatdan · Post by **goatdan** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 6:11 pm

As a big basketball fan, I find this act interesting, but not completely unexpected. Hell, it happened in baseball with a chair this year too.

The problem is that none of these sports has the balls to actually stand up to the player and the fans and do something about it. The player that threw a chair into the stands in MLB should've been kicked out of the league. Artest and Jackson should be kicked out of the league.

These leagues make such a huge deal about making the game family friendly, but they are going to allow their players to get away with this stuff -- even if it is a 20 game suspension, it isn't enough.

And you're right -- the fans were acting completely inapproiately by throwing things at the players, but in that case it is the player's responsibility to leave. Hell, I worked at an amusement park and we told our employees that if you were suddenly getting abused, leave the situation if you have to and the park would happily press charges on your assilant -- but if you throw one punch back at them, you not just lose your job but the park will press charges against you.

The NBA should kick out and prosecute both of those morons. Period.

I wonder what would happen if the exact same incident happened at an NFL game. Something tells me the league would kick those players out. Stern has no balls to back up his claims of being fan friendly.

TheWanderer · Post by **TheWanderer** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 6:55 pm

I think the fans are definately to blame as well, no doubt. Still, Artest is crazy, and an idiot to boot. He's demonstrated this over and over again. He just ran up into the stands punching everyone he saw--not discrimanating to as who actually was throwing crap at him.

In any event, both sides (the fans and the players) should be ashamed of themselves, and how they acted. It's sports, for god's sake.

that_guy · Post by **that_guy** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 7:11 pm

the players are suspended indefinently

that_guy · Post by **that_guy** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 7:52 pm

Did anyone see the college football game between Clemson and South Carolina game? They also went at it, and it took the coaches and security about 10 minutes to break it up. They were talking about how the basketball thing happened yesterday, and this today, and how what happens in the professional teams encourages them to do these kind of things.

Storminator16 · Post by **Storminator16** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 7:57 pm

TheWanderer wrote:IStill, Artest is crazy, and an idiot to boot. He's demonstrated this over and over again.

Agreed, Artest is one crazy mofo. The thing that really surprised me: NBA players know how to fight. Dispell 27 years of disbelief on my behalf.

Dude, I have mad respect for the Detroit fans. The ones who were throwing shit were cowards, but the ones who were down there getting there bell rung....wow, they have stones for balls going out there like that.

Will's top plays:
- that one guy who was holding Artest, but punching him at the same time. Now that was great.
- that one guy who walked up to Artest like he was going to get him some. Yeah, he got some.....he got a Artest knuckle sandwich in his grill. Did he stop? No, he took a couple more.

Dude, as much as some of these fans will sue (yeah, that Jackson guy will lose a lot of money in all this for the sucker punching and the chair he threw) but you have to believe Artest and the Pacer organization will be suing some of the fans, and I hope they win. Shit like this must never happen again.

EDIT: It's kind of silly for David Stern to suspend Ben Wallace in all of this. Yeah, he went after Artest initially but he had nothing to do with the fans losing their friggin' minds. At least suspend him for 3 games but no indefinitely like the Pacers players were. Unreal.

Go Bobcats! They may be losing games, but at least they got blown out once