I'm not saying that the Pacers are not at fault for going into the stands and yes they should be punished. But the NBA's rulings are ridiculous!
Artest - Out for the Season - 73 games + playoffs (which will be zero now)
Stephen Jackson - 30 games
Jermaine O'Neal - 25 games
Ben Wallace - 6 games
Anthony Johnson - 5 games
Reggie Miller - 1 game
Chauncey Billups - 1 game
Elden Campbell - 1 game
Derrick Coleman - 1 game
David Stern goes on and on during the press conference about how they needed to come down hard on the "on-court" activity that started this all. Yet he only gives Ben Wallace 6 games??? Give me a break!
I guarantee you if this had happened with the Lakers or Heat, Kobe or Shaq wouldn't have been suspended more than 5 games.
When asked if the Pistons would be held accountable in any way, he said he was not ready to do anything. This was an unprecedented event and will put all organizations on notice going forward. Hmm... so its easy to blame and penalize the players, but not the organization.
Stern commented that O'Neal's punishment would have been harsher had he gotten into the stands. He stated that he tried but was restrained. What Video shows that? He stayed on the court the whole time. Yes he did attack the second fan that came on the court to attack Artest. And yes he was the recipient of most of the beer and the chair that came through the air. Yes he was restrained after the chair came flying... but I would think that would be extrordinary situation.
It's obvious to me that Stern wanted to make a point and used the Pacers to do so. Obviously he didn't feel that Ben Wallace's behavior played much of a role in insighting the fans behavior or Ben would have gotten more than 6 games. He also didn't seem too concerned about the lack of security. Guess that should be expected, because if he did, he would open the league up for lawsuits. That I find very disappointing.
If I were the Pacers, my way of responding to this, would be to not show up in Detroit on March 29th citing a fear for the safety of my players. So you forfeit a game... so what? If the NBA isn't going to do anything about fan provocation I wouldn't feel safe in Detroit.
I guess the thing that bothers me most, is that the Detroit fans ultimately won, as their punk behavior wiped out Detroit's main competitor in the East. And that is just plain wrong!
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5 comments:
yes, it's too bad for the Pacers
However, they knew Artest was a timebomb and chose to keep him. how many times in the past two years have we heard, "one of these days artest is really going to cross the line and we're going to get in trouble". What's that expression "Play with fire and you'll get burnt:
Yes, the penalties seem a bit harsh. but all Artest had to do was walk to the center of the court and sit down. Getting doused with a drink is not the same is being backed into a blind alley by a knife wielding assailant.
Actions do have consequences
I expected Artest would go for the season if not a lifetime ban when he went into the crowd. I actually expected a similar punishment for Jackson. The one that really has me scratching my head is JO. Yes, he decked the guy. But this "fan" was on the court and had just shoved an assistant coach. The "fan" assaulted a co-worker in his office. I can not fault Jermaine for what he did.
An interesting side note. I have five employees that work in Detroit. All five love the Piston-Pacer rivalry and talk smack almost every Monday morning when they talk to me. This morning not one of the five mentioned the brawl. This just showed me that the true fans are passionate, but this was extremely embarrassing to them as well.
As far as Stern, how smug can one man be? The only thing that could have made the 30 minutes of the press conference any more annoying would have been commentary by Bill Walton. Stern said Artest's actions were "unforgivable" and that he was "confident" his rulings would not be overturned. If I was making decisions for the player's union, I would have come unglued. If he is the man who the player's union has to deal with during negotiations, I see why there is always the threat of a strike or a lock-out. How can any one man be so self-rightous.
Steve, thanks for the chance to vent-Mike K
I don't want to sound like a whiny fan, so I'll start by saying yes, Artest & Co. screwed up, and yes, they should be punished.
That being said...how long exactly is Stern going to sit on the larger situation with the fans? Bodily assault without repercussions to the fans? It's got to stop! (I've even heard charges of racial epithets from those fans, which is just unforgivable.)
And it's not just Detroit fans - in fact, the true Detroit fans are, I'm sure, pissed at those "fans" who were involved in this. This could happen anywhere. The fact that a fan could get close enough to lob a beer at a player, in an enclosed arena can that can erupt pretty quickly into violence, seems to have escaped Stern. This isn't just a matter of Ron Artest's hurt ego - it's a matter of safety, for the players AND fellow fans.
All I'm hearing from Stern at this point is "maybe" he'll consider some alcohol sale restrictions. And...??? What about banning the most blatant fan aggressors in this incident from future games? What about fining the Detroit organization for lack of security? What about assault charges, for pete's sake? I think Steve's right that Artest's reputation has trumped any objective analysis of the situation.
Also - what did Reggie have to do with all this? Why is he suspended for a game?
Great points Anna. According to Stern in his press conference, Reggie was suspended for the one game because he left the bench area during the original players only part of the fight.
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