Pistons/pacers Game

[Scully77]

WHAT A FIGHT. THERE WAS NO NEED FROM FANS THROWING STUFF AT THE PLAYERS. THE INCIDENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT BETWEEN THE PLAYERS. HEY IF YOUR A FAN AND YOU THREW SOMETHING THAT HIT A PLAYER AND THEY CAME AFTER YOU, YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVE. I THINK THAT PISTONS FANS ARE JUST SORE BECAUSE THEY LOST. :mad2:

[kmesh]

I was just coming on to talk about that too! I just watched the slow mo version of the whole thing. Unbelievable! One old lady was under a pile of people, kids were crying, faces bloodied, I've never seen such a thing. I do agree, the fan should not have thrown the cup, but CONTROL YOURSELF!!! To run up in the stands and clock him-that was wrong!! And people thought the little blurb at the beginning of Monday night football was bad?!?!?!?

[amyann16]

I couldn't believe this when I first watched it. I think I watched the replay about 10 times on ESPN last night. Did you see the chair being thrown? And the idiots that ran onto the court to confront the players? Blame can be put all around on this situation. Ben Wallace shouldn't have pushed Artest like that....the idiot fan shouldn't have thrown the bottle at Artest...Artest definitely shouldn't have charged the fan after the bottle was thrown. But I have to say, out of all that happened, the saddest scene was seeing the coaches and other players have to guard their heads as they went to their locker room because the fans were pelting them with beer and anything else they could find. I realize emotions are high in games like this, but give me a break!

I hope the police find all they need from the ESPN film and arrest all that were involved. It'll be interesting to see what the NBA and the player's union iron out as a final punishment for the players involved.

[Merana123]

Wow! I'm sure hockey fans will appreciate it (I'm just kidding - don't get mad hockey fans!) I think maybe the NBA needs to start testing for steroids. Looked like an old fashioned case of "Roid Rage" to me! UGH! :worry:

[Karen_246]

Updated - (way to hurt your own team)

NBA Suspends Three Pacers, One Piston Indefinitely
Indiana's Artest, O'Neal, Jackson, Detroit's Wallace All Suspended
By CHRIS SHERIDAN, AP Sports

NEW YORK (Nov. 20) -- The NBA suspended Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson of Indiana and Ben Wallace of Detroit on Saturday for taking part in one of the ugliest brawls in U.S. sports history.

The suspensions were indefinite, and the league was still investigating Friday night's melee involving fans, which commissioner David Stern called "shocking, repulsive and inexcusable -- a humiliation for everyone associated with the NBA."

The league 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 -- all of whom threw punches at fans during the fight at the end of Friday night's nationally televised Pacers-Pistons game -- were to begin serving their suspensions Saturday night, when the Pacers played a home game against Orlando.

Wallace's suspension will begin with the Pistons' next home game, Sunday night against the Charlotte Bobcats. Pistons spokesman Tom Wilson said Saturday the team plans to use "playoff-level security" starting with that game, doubling the number of armed police and increasing arena security by about 25 percent, though he couldn't say how many police and security that would be.

"Our investigation is ongoing, and I expect it to be completed by tomorrow evening," Stern said in his statement.

The brawl was shocking, with Artest and Jackson bolting into the stands near center court and throwing punches at fans after debris was thrown at the players. Later, fans who came onto the court were punched in the face by Artest and O'Neal.

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 melee broke out, the referees called off the remainder of the game.

"This demonstrates why our players must not enter the stands, whatever the provocation or poisonous behavior of people attending the games," Stern said.

[Redwings]

I live in the detroit metro area and I was not aware of the brawl until I saw the morning news. I really am really disappointed that this had to happen and especially that it happened in the Detroit area. Detroit already has a bad rep in the nations eye and this certainly did not help at all. Artest should get the biggest suspension. Wallace should get 10 games. Artest maybe should get 20-30 games. Boy do I miss the NHL and the Redwings. Thanks for letting me put in my 2 cents.

[jessgirl242002]

I was watching Sportscenter this morning and they were talking about that and they showed the whole thing. I was sooooo shocked! I couldn't believe it. The saddest part was when they showed these two little boys in the audience holding each other and the one little boy was just bawling his eyes out. Some role models these "PROFESSIONAL" athletes were behaving like, huh? :mad2:

[sseads]

I was watching Sportscenter this morning and they were talking about that and they showed the whole thing. I was sooooo shocked! I couldn't believe it. The saddest part was when they showed these two little boys in the audience holding each other and the one little boy was just bawling his eyes out. Some role models these "PROFESSIONAL" athletes were behaving like, huh? :mad2:

Those little boys that were crying weren't regular fans, they were piston darvin ham's sons. They probably just didn't want their dad to get hurt. I think most other boys wouldn't be as upset. My little brother thought it was awesome lol

[drunknmunkie8302]

They're looking for a man who threw a chair during the incident, it hit a 60 some year old man. CNN was talking about it earlier and they showed the man who threw the chair and said to call the 1-800 if you know who it is. :worry: I think the incident was pretty bad for both the fans and the players.

[BroncosMom]

My husband is a huge Pacers fan so we had the game on here and I just happened to hear it break out while I was sweeping and ran in. Although I do believe that Artest should not have ran in the stands, I think his punishment was rather severe. And he looked like a moron on the Today show promoting his lame cd. I think if the league really gave a hoot about punishing these players they would have issued anger management therapy or something along that line in conjunction with the suspensions. I think they had to make a rush decision to appease the public that were outraged and in turn made the wrong decision as far as the accurate punishment.

Julie

[tommy]

in my opinion artest, jackson and the rest of the players got what they deserved suspensions --- there was no need for any of them to go into the crowd :smile9:

[amyann16]

in my opinion artest, jackson and the rest of the players got what they deserved suspensions --- there was no need for any of them to go into the crowd :smile9:

I agree.. Also, does anyone else seem to think the timing of this all is a bit suspicious? 2 weeks ago Artest wanted time off so he could promote his new CD, and now the weekend before the CD was to be released this occurs? All the media attention, he pimps his new CD in his Matt Lauer interview yesterday....He certainly wouldn't have gotten this opportunity without the incident on Friday.

I'm not saying Artest orchastrated the cup being thrown, etc....but maybe he knew (or was told by an agent) that doing something to get some attention the week before the release of the CD would create some extra Buzz that wouldn't hurt his CD sales. Artest doesn't seem to have his act completely together, or all the marbles in his head, so I can easily see him not thinking about the other possible ramifications, ie: fans suing, etc.

Could be completely unrelated, just seems coincidental...

[murphs5150]

in my opinion artest, jackson and the rest of the players got what they deserved suspensions --- there was no need for any of them to go into the crowd :smile9:
The only one I dont agree with is O'neal. He didnt go into the stands. He did try but fell down and didnt make it back to the stands. He got his punishment for punching the goofy fan in the detroit jersey walking on the court. That guy got what he deserved. There's a major brawl going on the stands, people are drunk, from the look of it nobody really knew where security was, I probably would have done the same thing. You see the goof balls sometimes in football or baseball games that make it out onto the field that get clobbered by the players. This is no different. I'm guessing that O'neal will get it down to 5 games.

[murphs5150]

I agree.. Also, does anyone else seem to think the timing of this all is a bit suspicious? 2 weeks ago Artest wanted time off so he could promote his new CD, and now the weekend before the CD was to be released this occurs? All the media attention, he pimps his new CD in his Matt Lauer interview yesterday....He certainly wouldn't have gotten this opportunity without the incident on Friday.

I'm not saying Artest orchastrated the cup being thrown, etc....but maybe he knew (or was told by an agent) that doing something to get some attention the week before the release of the CD would create some extra Buzz that wouldn't hurt his CD sales. Artest doesn't seem to have his act completely together, or all the marbles in his head, so I can easily see him not thinking about the other possible ramifications, ie: fans suing, etc.

Could be completely unrelated, just seems coincidental...
No way. Too much money to loose. I think with this he's loosing 5 million this year and now has the new tag of being the new improved Dennis Rodman. Teams are not going to be shelling out the big bucks for this guy because they have no idea if he's going to want to show up for work or get suspended. He now is a major risk. He's a great player but he has no clue on whats going on. I think his big problem was when he fired his regular basketball manager a couple years ago and now is being represented by people in the music industry.

[amyann16]

No way. Too much money to loose. I think with this he's loosing 5 million this year and now has the new tag of being the new improved Dennis Rodman. Teams are not going to be shelling out the big bucks for this guy because they have no idea if he's going to want to show up for work or get suspended. He now is a major risk. He's a great player but he has no clue on whats going on. I think his big problem was when he fired his regular basketball manager a couple years ago and now is being represented by people in the music industry.

I guess my point was that I'm not sure he quite sees the whole picture anyway....when you hear him talk, it seems like he is all over the place and is missing the point of the situation. I'm not sure he would have comprehended all he could have lost, or have predicted that he would be suspended for the whole season. Or maybe he doesn't care? Maybe it was supposed to start as a minor shoving match and got completely out of hand? (just speculating here) He obviously doesn't place basketball in the priority of his life right now, to ask for time off to promote the CD....

As far as other teams paying for him, I have to disagree... I think the argument can be made that he is one of the top 10 current NBA players, and as time goes on, our society is sooo quick to forget the magnitude of events like this. All he would need is another scandal to surface for his controversy flame to dim. Look at how huge the T.O. and Desperate Housewives thing was last week, and now it is gone...

Like I said before, my whole "coincidence or not" theory is purely an interesting thought to consider.....