Tempers flared and players were pushed over the edge in the Pacers-Pistons game last night. The game turned into a riot with the fans participating and reaching new lows. I watched a good portion of that game and here’s how I see it.
First off the background: the Pistons beat the Pacers in what was arguably the most physical playoff series last spring; it was definitely the lowest scoring playoff series since the inception of the shot clock in 1955. Tempers were always flaring during that series. Indiana, as do most teams in the playoffs, tended to run a slowdown style while still looking for the fast break. Detroit was more than reminiscent of the “Bad Boys” Pistons of the 80’s and 90’s, only playing more physical and having less offensive talent than their heralded predecessors. In this game, the Pacers were handing the Pistons a loss; not just any loss, but a humiliating loss. The score at the time of this incident was 97-82, and it hadn’t been that close in a while. The game was physical from the outset because I don’t think Detroit knows any other way to play; Indiana wasn’t backing down or being intimidated and neither the Pistons nor their fans liked it.
Next, the incident that sparked the entire thing: Ben Wallace (Pistons center) received a pass in the lane and was fouled hard and pushed in the process by Ron Artest (Pacers forward). While Wallace never hit the floor, he was quite angry at Artest and came at him and shoved him about 10 feet. Yeah, Wallace IS that strong. Artest got up and basically walked away. He was assessed a foul and went over to the scorer’s table. Now I will be the first to admit that Ron Artest has some kind of chemical imbalance in his brain. He does the goofiest things on the floor sometimes and off the floor a lot of the time. However, in this instance he kept his cool. He walked away from Wallace’s taunts (Wallace was assessed a technical foul). He then laid down on the scorer’s table (strange, yes, but not out of the ordinary for Artest). Then some fan threw a drink at him, cup and all. The cup hit him in the head and splattered all over him. Artest went berserk and went after the fan. Rick Mahorn (one of the original “Bad Boys” now a radio commentator for the Pistons) did the smart thing and stepped in to help break up the fight. Then another fan punched Artest from his blind side. Next Pacers Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson stepped in to help their teammate (who was hopelessly outnumbered by the fans who were all throwing stuff at Artest by this time, the nearest fans punching and kicking him) and immediately were set upon by the fans. Jackson took a couple of punches to the head and O’Neal was sucker punched a couple of times as well.
The game was called at this point (45 seconds left in the game) and an attempt at creating order was made. But the fans would have none of it. They continued to throw anything and everything at the Pacer bench and at the Pacer players and staff as they retreated to the locker rooms (escorted by security). One particularly stupid fan threw his/her folding chair at Jermaine O’Neal as he was being escorted off and took out one of the security personnel. Even Larry Brown, the Piston’s coach, couldn’t help. He pleaded with the crowd to calm down, but to no avail; he ended up tossing the microphone to the announcer in disgust. From what I saw all of the Pacers were in a rainstorm of drinks, popcorn, nacho chips, and anything else the fans could lay their hands on.
The end result: Ron Artest, Ben Wallace, Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson have been suspended indefinitely by the league, pending investigation of the incident. It looks as though the players are going to bear the brunt of this one. Heck, the league front office has issued a statement apologizing to the fans for what happened. APOLOGIZING TO THE FANS? Gimme a break!
My opinion: the fans need to rein it in. After the initial incident between Artest and Wallace, tempers cooled down in a few seconds. While there are players who don’t like other players in the league, each player respects the other and Wallace and Artest are no different here. It picked up when a fan threw their drink (cup and all) at Artest. It was later followed by a number of things thrown at the Pacer players. What is it with some fans who think they can do ANYTHING they want because they paid admission? Don’t get me wrong, what the players who went into the stands did was not right; however, no player would have gone into the stands if the fans had maintained decorum. What bugs me most is that the league is blaming the players for this!
I look at it like this: if someone came in to your place of work and threw drinks and food (and eventually a folding chair) at you, would you sit there and take it? Would you walk away? I didn’t think so. While it IS just a game, it is these guys’ jobs. People watch them and cheer/jeer them all the time; they are second and third guessed in the media and on sports talk radio all the time - that goes with the job. I DON’T think that having things thrown at you by the crowd is a part of the job description for a professional athlete. I also don’t think that throwing your drink/food/chair at an opposing team member shows that you support your team. While I believe that the four players in question should be fined and suspended some amount of games not to exceed 10, I also believe that certain fans NEED to be brought up on assault charges - ESPECIALLY the one who threw the chair.
