Pacers–Pistons brawl

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Indiana Pacers at Detroit Pistons

1 2 3 4 Total Indiana 34 25 21 17 97 Detroit 27 16 23 16 82
Date	November 19, 2004
Arena	The Palace of Auburn Hills
City	Auburn Hills, Michigan
Attendance	22,076

The Pacers–Pistons brawl (colloquially known as The Malice at the Palace) was an altercation that occurred in a National Basketball Association game between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers on November 19, 2004 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. With less than a minute before the game was officially over, the fighting began on the court and then extended into the stands after a plastic cup with beer was thrown at then-Pacer player Ron Artest.

The repercussions led to nine players being suspended without pay for a total of 146 games, which led to $10 million in salary being lost by the players. Five players were also charged with assault, and all five were eventually sentenced to a year on probation and community service. Five fans were also legally charged, and John Green, who threw the cup at Artest, received a lifetime ban from attending Pistons games. The fight also led the NBA to mandate increased security presence between players and fans, and to ban the sale of alcohol after the third quarter.

[edit] Before the brawl

The meeting between the two teams was a rematch of the previous season's heated Eastern Conference Finals, which the Pistons won in six games en route to their first NBA title since the days of the "Bad Boys" of the late 80s and early 90s.^[1] Because of this, the game received much hype from the media and fans. Having won two games in a row already, the Pacers came into the game with a 6–2 record, while the Pistons, the defending champions, began their season 4–3.

The game was, like many previous meetings between the two teams, dominated by defense. The Pacers got off to a quick start, opening up a 20-point lead with seven minutes to go before halftime. The Pistons managed to cut into the lead, trailing by 16 points by halftime. The Pistons opened the third quarter with a 9–2 run, but the Pacers ended it with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and a layup from Jamaal Tinsley heading into the fourth quarter. Richard Hamilton and Lindsey Hunter started the last quarter with consecutive three point field goals, as the Pistons cut into the lead again. But Stephen Jackson's back to back field goals pushed the lead back to 93–79 with 3:52 remaining, putting the Pistons away.^[2] Despite the lopsided score near the end of the game, most key players on both teams remained in the game.^[3]

The Pacers were led by the 24 point effort of Ron Artest, who scored 17 in the first quarter. Jermaine O'Neal scored a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Tinsley had 13 points, eight assists and a career-high eight steals. Hamilton led the Pistons with 20 points. Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace both recorded a double-double. Despite being outrebounded by the Pistons, the Pacers managed to shoot .414 from the field.^[4]

[edit] Altercation

Ron Artest charging into the stands, about to punch the man (in the black shirt) who he believed threw the cup at him.

The brawl began with 45.9 seconds remaining in the game, when Indiana led the game 97–82. Piston center/forward Ben Wallace was fouled by Pacer forward Ron Artest from behind during a layup attempt. Wallace responded by shoving Artest in the face, which led to a physical confrontation between several players from both teams.^[5] During the argument, Artest laid down on the scorer's table while putting on a headset speaking with Mark Boyle on the local radio. He also taunted Wallace which led Wallace to throw an armband at him. A spectator, John Green, then threw a cup of beer at Artest while he was lying on the table, which hit Artest in the chest.^[5]

Artest responded by running into the stands and shoving the man he mistakenly believed was responsible. Artest's teammate Stephen Jackson also ran into the stands shortly after and threw punches at fans.^[5] Another melee started when Artest was confronted on the court by two fans, Alvin "A.J." Shackleford and Charlie Haddad. Artest punched Shackleford and knocked over Haddad in the process. Jermaine O'Neal intervened by slide-punching Haddad in the jaw as he was recovering from the first fall.^[5]

The remaining seconds of the game were called off and the Pacers were awarded the 97–82 win.^[3] More debris was thrown at Pacer players and other personnel as they were escorted from the court. No players from either team spoke to the media before leaving the arena. Nine spectators were injured, and two were taken to the hospital.^[6] No players reported injuries due to the incident.

[edit] Charges

[edit] Suspensions

On November 20, 2004, the NBA suspended Artest, Jackson, O'Neal, and Wallace indefinitely until the lengths of their suspensions were officially decided,^[6] saying that their actions were "shocking, repulsive and inexcusable".^[7] The following day, the NBA announced that nine players would be suspended for a total of what eventually became 146 games—137 games for Pacers players and 9 games for Pistons players.^[8] David Harrison was also seen fighting with fans, but the NBA stated that he wouldn't be suspended because "the incident occurred as the players were attempting to leave the floor."^[8] Artest was given the longest suspension, as he was suspended for the remainder of the 2004–05 NBA season, a suspension which eventually totaled 86 games (73 regular season games plus 13 subsequent playoff games), the longest suspension ever levied for a fight during an NBA game.^[8] The players suspended also lost nearly $10 million in salary due to the suspensions, and Artest alone lost almost $5 million.^[9]

In the week following the announcement of the suspensions, the players' union appealed the suspensions of Artest, Jackson, and O'Neal, saying they thought that David Stern had "exceeded his authority".^[8] A federal arbitrator upheld the full length of all suspensions, except that of O'Neal's, which was reduced to 15 games.^[10] However, the NBA appealed the decision of the arbitrator to reduce O'Neal's suspension in federal court, and on December 24, a judge issued a temporary injunction allowing O'Neal to play, until a full hearing was held on the NBA's appeal.^[11]

O'Neal played in two more games before the NBA's case was brought before the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York on December 30. The NBA argued that under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Commissioner David Stern had absolute authority to pass out suspensions and hear appeals for all on-court incidents. But the judge ruled that because O'Neal's behavior was an off-court incident, arbitration was allowed under the CBA, and thus the arbitrator was within his rights to reduce the suspension.^[12] Despite O'Neal's successful appeal, no further appeals were made to reduce Artest's and Jackson's suspensions.

[edit] Legal charges

On November 30, eleven days after the brawl, John Green and Charlie Haddad were banned indefinitely from attending any events at venues owned by Palace Sports and Entertainment (the owner of the Pistons), and had their season tickets revoked.^[13] Green had several previous criminal convictions, including counterfeiting, carrying a concealed weapon, felony assault and three drunken driving convictions,^[14] and he was on court-ordered probation from a DUI conviction at the time of the brawl.^[15]

On December 8, 2004 five Indiana players and five fans (John Green, William Paulson, John Ackerman, Bryant Jackson and David Wallace, the brother of Ben Wallace) were formally charged for assault and battery; Jermaine O'Neal and spectator John Green, who county prosecutor David Gorcyca said "single-handedly incited" the brawl by throwing a cup of liquid at Artest,^[16] were charged with two counts, and Artest, David Harrison, Stephen Jackson, and Anthony Johnson were charged with one count each. Three fans, including David Wallace, received one count of the same charge, two fans (Charlie Haddad and A.J. Shackleford) who entered the court during the fight were charged with trespassing, and Bryant Jackson, who had prior criminal convictions, was charged with a felony assault for throwing a chair.^[17] All of the fans involved were banned from attending Pistons games.^[18]

On March 29, 2005, Bryant Jackson pleaded no contest to a felony assault charge for throwing the chair, and on May 3, 2005, he was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $6,000 in restitution.^[19] David Wallace was also convicted, and sentenced to one year of probation and community service for punching Pacer guard Fred Jones from behind.^[9]

All five players who were legally charged pleaded no contest to the charges. On September 23, 2005, after pleading no contest to their assault charges, Artest, O'Neal and Jackson were all sentenced to one year on probation, 60 hours of community service, and a $250 fine.^[20] A week later, Harrison received the same sentence,^[21] and on October 7, 2005, Johnson, the last player to be charged, also received the same sentence.^[22]

On March 27, 2006 a jury found Green guilty on one count of assault and battery for punching Artest in the stands, but acquitted him of an assault charge for throwing the cup. On May 1, 2006, Green was sentenced, and received 30 days in jail and two years' probation.^[23] On November 7, 2006, the Pistons issued a letter to Green informing him that he was banned for life from attending any Pistons home games.^[24]

[edit] Aftermath

[edit] Public reaction

Several NBA players and coaches said the brawl was the worst fight they had ever seen,^[25] and 83% of fans who voted in a SportsNation poll on ESPN.com said that the fight was the "ugliest incident of fan-player violence" they had seen.^[26]

In the post-game commentary on ESPN's NBA Shootaround, ESPN studio analysts laid the blame on the Pistons fans. John Saunders of ESPN referred to the fans as "a bunch of punks",^[27] and Tim Legler said that "the fans crossed the line."^[28] Stephen A. Smith stated that "some of them (fans) should be arrested as far as I'm concerned."^[29] Their commentary prompted ESPN vice president Mark Shapiro to place calls to host John Saunders, as well as analysts Tim Legler, Stephen A. Smith, and Greg Anthony. Shapiro felt their commentary was biased. The following Tuesday, Shapiro stated "I wish the studio hadn't laid the blame solely on the backs of the fans Friday night".^[30] Radio host Rush Limbaugh also called Detroit "New Fallujah", after the Iraqi city,^[31]

Although a significant portion of media criticism was directed at the Pistons fans, only 46% of the voters in the ESPN SportsNation poll believed that the fans were to blame for incident.^[26] Others commentators said that Artest and the other players involved were to blame.^[6][32][33]

[edit] Events after the brawl

The Pacers and Pistons played for the first time after the brawl on December 25 at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Pistons won 98–93 without any incidents. Neither Artest nor Jackson played, due to their suspensions; O'Neal played after the arbitrator reduced his suspension to 15 games.^[34] Three months later, on February 17, 2005, the NBA imposed new security guidelines for all NBA arenas. The new policies included a size limit of 700 mL (24 ounces) for alcohol purchases and a hard cap of two alcoholic beverage purchases for any individual person, as well as a ban of alcohol sales after the end of the third quarter.^[35] They also later ordered that each team put at least three security guards between the players and the fans.^[9]

On March 25, 2005, the Pacers played at The Palace for the first time since the brawl. The game was delayed 90 minutes after a series of bomb threats were aimed at the Pacers locker room, but the game eventually started after no explosives were found.^[36] Two of the key figures in the original incident missed the game, as Artest was still suspended and O'Neal had an injured shoulder. In the game, the Pacers stopped the Pistons' twelve game winning streak with a 94–81 win.^[36]

A year after the brawl, Ron Artest was traded to the Sacramento Kings.

In the playoffs, Detroit entered as the second seed of the Eastern Conference, and Indiana as the sixth. After the Pistons defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in five games,^[37] and the Pacers upset the third seed Boston Celtics in seven games,^[38] the two teams met in the second round. Although the Pacers went ahead two games to one,^[39] the Pistons clinched the series in six games with three straight wins.^[40] After eliminating Indiana, Detroit advanced to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games.^[41]

After serving his required suspension of the rest of the 2004–05 season, Ron Artest returned to the Pacers at the beginning of the 2005–06 season. But after playing only sixteen games, he demanded to be traded, and the Pacers put him on the injured list.^[42] The then-general manager of the Pacers Donnie Walsh said that Artest's demands were "the last straw",^[42] and after more than a month of inactivity, Indiana traded Artest to the Sacramento Kings for Peja Stojaković.^[43] Artest faced Ben Wallace for the first time after the fight in November 2006, and finally made his return to Detroit on January 2007. During the Kings' 91–74 loss to the Pistons, Artest was booed constantly, but there were no unusual incidents.^[44]

As of the 2008–09 season, none of the nine players that were suspended after the brawl are still with their original team. Five players—Billups, Artest, Jackson, O'Neal and Johnson—were traded to other teams,^{[43][45][46][47]} three players—Miller, Campbell, and Coleman—have retired,^[48][49][50] and one player—Wallace—signed with another team as a free agent.^[51] The Pistons have advanced to four straight Eastern Conference finals since the brawl, and six straight overall, making them the first team since the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s to advance to six straight conference finals^[52] though they have only won the championship once in that streak. However, after losing to the Pistons in the 2005 playoffs, the Pacers have not finished above .500, and they have finished out of the playoffs in the last three seasons.^[53]

[edit] See also

• National Basketball Association criticisms and controversies
• List of violent spectator incidents in sports
• Knicks–Nuggets brawl
• Sparks–Shock brawl

[edit] References