Basketball: Pistons - Pacers Brawl !!!!!

What a brawl I just witnessed.

It ended up in the stands with Artest and his teammates fighting with the fans.

Crazy.


:angry-smiley-034:

[Edited on 11-19-2004 by ProudAmerican]

BTW...........


Those Pistons fans are punks!!

Some of the worst fan behavior I've EVER witnessed, and I'm from Philly.

Artest fouled Ben Wallace a bit hard and Wallace took offense and pushed Artest in the head. It wasn't that bad a foul but they are two very intense players. Both teams did some pushing and shoving, nothing too bad, it happens often in the NBA. Artest figured he'd stay out of it and he laid down on the scorer's table.

Just when things seemed to be getting under control, some idiot throws a cup of beer and hits Artest in the face. That was it, Artest flew into the stands and went after the fan. Steven Jackson jumped in and exchanged punches with more than one fan. Several other Pacers players jumped into the stands and some were fighting and some were trying to break it up. The whole time this is going on, other fans are throwing beer after beer and bottles and whatever else they could find. A few Pistons including Rasheed Wallace ended up in the stands trying to break things up as well. As each Pacer left the floor they were pelted with beer and soda, especially Artest and Jermaine O" Neal. You have to see the video to realize the amount of stuff thrown at these players. Those fans should be embarrased, damn cowards.

Well it was exciting anyway. I'm glad I ended up sitting in on Friday night and watching the NBA. It should be interesting to see how the league handles this. I really hope some of those fans were spotted and arrested, there is NO place for that in sports.

One of the refs got hit above his right eye with a bottle. I'm disgusted right now.

Big Ben Wallace and Artest in the beginning.




Jermaine O'Neal dropped this idiot when he confronted him on the court.





[Edited on 11-20-2004 by ProudAmerican]

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Fists were flying. So were cups, plastic bottles and even a chair in one of the ugliest NBA brawls ever -- and Indiana's Ron Artest was right in the middle of it.

Artest and Stephen Jackson charged into the stands and fought with fans in the final minute of their game against the Detroit Pistons on Friday night, and the brawl forced an early end to the Pacers' 97-82 win.

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

"It's the ugliest thing I've seen as a coach or player,'' said Pistons coach Larry Brown, who was in the middle of the confrontation, trying to break it up.

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 in one of the scariest brawls in an NBA game.

"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.''

The Palace announcer said the game was being stopped and pleaded with fans not to throw things.

It all 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 had died down, Artest was struck by a cup and beverage thrown from the stands. He jumped up, and charged into the stands, throwing punches as he climbed over seats.

Fans were punching back, and Jackson and another teammate joined Artest in the melee.

Security personnel and ushers tried to break up the fighting. 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. Both were trying to break up the fights.

Later, a man in a Pistons jersey approached Artest on the court with fists raised, shouting at him. Artest punched him in the face, knocking the man to the floor before leaving the court. Artest was pulled away, and the fan charged back. Jermaine O'Neal stepped in and punched the man.

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

"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.

sports.yahoo.com...;_ylc=X3o'___'BpYTg2ZTBwBF9TAzk1ODYxOTQ4BHNlYwN0bQ--?gid=2004111908&prov=ap


I just saw on SportsCenter that there are officers in the TV trucks reviewing the tapes and plan on making arrests.

They just showed the tape again on ESPN and slowed it down and showed different angles. That was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen, chairs flying, several sucker punches from "fans" from behind on Artest and Jones. They showed kids crying in the stands and an old woman upside down under a seat. That was an absolute disgrace. It truly is a sad day in sports.

holy #, one of the most shocking things in recent sports history happens and I have to go out on a date >_

Guess who is gonna get the most # out of what happened?
no it certainly won't be them lovely Piston fans
it will be Mr Artest and you know why because of his reputation
when i first saw the incident i thought yeah look at Artest keeping out of the melee maybe he is learning not to get involved
then that fan throws a missile at him and hits him in the face you tell me how you would react especially as he was trying to keep out of it (maybe he should of not of dropped that prick who came onto the court)

AWESOME!! Nothing like a good old fashioned Royal Rumble breaking out in the middle of the game to make things exciting.

[Edited on 20-11-2004 by Ocelot]

First, lost all respect for pistons fans, a bunch of punks is what everybody is saying.

Second, O'Neal dropped that guy on the court, that guy shouldnt have been on the court, and caught himself in a bad place and got dropped like a bad habit.

take 1 part idiot, add 1 part lack of security, + 4 parts alchahol, shake in a intense, emotional game and what do you get????

Please let someone come into the stands in Atlanta...my knife will be the first thing going in their throat. Artest is a f*ckin' lunatic and may be mildly retarded. I wish every fan would have rushed the court. Screw an athelete coming into the stands. The fans should have torn them limb from limb. Sure the guy that threw the beer first was wrong...but artest running into the stands and passing every person over 6' tall to get to the smallest white guy with glasses in the stands he could find to try to punch...that is pure p*ssy....go attack the biggest guy tough guy..not some 5'4" 120lbs guy with glasses....i say much props to detroits fans, just they didn't go far enough...It would have looked like Fallujah if this would have happened in Atlanta..

Maybe he will have that time off now to rest and promote his SORRY ASS RAP ALBUM....yeah..shaq can rap too...right....

My question is: if 20,000 people are in a stadium...and something happens on the court...what is to prevent 1% of that 20,000 from rushing the court and killing the team or guy? absolutely nothing.....funny, in europe, you have to keep the fans from fighting each other..in the US they have to keep the 10 million dollar a year crybabies from attacking the people that pay their salary. I say piss on all pro-sports....I shall only watch curling from now on.

Well i just watched the video of it and whatever player it was landed a peach of a punch and laid this guy out...

Not that i'm saying that whatever happened was right but once the fans step on the court or touch a player then all bets are off. It every man for himself and they have the right to protect themselves. Man if i was that player the fans all would have been taking chair shots to the head....


If anyone wants to see the video heres the download for it.

Just right click and save as.

BRAWL: Click here!

well, everyone has an opinion, so here is mine. to be quite honest, in the beginning, it was pretty much ben wallace's fault. i realize that the foul was slightly hard, but there are much harder fouls in the nba, and wallace should not have come back and hit artest in the face. well, pushed him in the face, sorry. it should have all been able to end right there, but for some reason wallace flipped out. that's what started it.

as for the actual fight. for one of the first times, EVER, artest was trying NOT to get involved. if that retarded fan hadn't of thrown something at him, he wouldn't have done anything. maybe he should have just gone straight to the locker room, but at that point in time, i would assume they were planning to finish the game. whatever moron fan threw something at him is a retard.

now as for the action the nba has to take, i have to say that they have to suspend ben wallace, ron artest, and stephen jackson. while i understand what they did, going into the stands is just something that shouldn't be done, so i think the nba has to suspend them. a fine should probably come out too. as for the fans, i wish there was a good way to punish the city of detroit, but i haven't really figured out a good way of going about that. the fans need to be arrested and charged with assault. any of the fans involved need to go on detroit ticket probation, and not be allowed back in the stadium for a long long time.

as for some final thoughts. artest, jackson, and o'neal all got some AWESOME punches in on some fans. that was awesome. there was also a cop who was threatening to pepper spray ron artest, which is completely retarded. he should be pepper spraying the retarded fans who are pouring their beer out on jermaine oneal's head while he was leaving. if i was jermaine oneal i would have been insanely pissed. and i don't know if you guys saw one of the pacers players at the end, i believe it was jones or tinsley, but they ran back out with a dustpan type thing, to defend oneal, but thank goodness he didn't get any swings in, because that would have been bad news. as for the fans, of all the teams in the nba to choose to attack, i certainly wouldn't choose the pacers OR the pistons. they got some friggin killers on those teams. yipes!

and as for sportkensington i do'nt agree with you at all, and thank goodness it wasn't in atlanta. i can't believe you would say something like that. you can't stab a professional athlete, what is wrong with you? i really hope that was just some stupid drunken anger coming out, because there is no reason you should be pulling a knife on a pro athlete, or even having a knife with you in the stadium. you need to stay away from pro basketball. heck, you need to stay away from everything. you are a scary scary person, and you're a much bigger lunatic than you claim artest to be.

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.''

Yahoo - Link

Originally posted by sportkensington
Please let someone come into the stands in Atlanta...my knife will be the first thing going in their throat.

That's just a ridiculous and immature statement.

it's retarded people like you that caused this mess.

i didn't know how to reply to kensingtons post...thanks guys, you said it all for me

So far the NBA has just ruled Pacers players Artest, O'Neal, and S Jackson and the Pistons Ben Wallace are suspended indefinitely pending the investigation. It should be interesting to see the final decision, I think the league will make an example out of this unfortunately to show that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. The suspensions will probably be lengthy, maybe even more than 10 games but we'll have to wait and see.