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Reggie is going to have to be the glue to hold the team together right now. This will be a huge test for the Pacers, it will be interesting to see how they handle it
I wonder if reggie miller will demand to be traded
I would understand
Reggie is going to have to be the glue to hold the team together right now. This will be a huge test for the Pacers, it will be interesting to see how they handle it
Artest made a choice to go into the stands. He is responsible for his actions.
one suspensions
do the team have to pay the players and then then the players pay the nba?
does the nba get all money?
do the pacers not have to give any money to these players now
basically saving their owner milliions?
I know the players do not get the money. This is a stu.pid question but I would like to know for sure who gets the money.
Did Artest even go after the right guy?
Jax got off WAY too easy and pisses me off.
CNN said police should have criminal charges ready by Thanksgiving.
The "fans" that got smacked!!
yep pacers may get lucky to even have oneal, jackson and ron back next year.
alll three could go to jail
that is true.....doubtful but true.
where would the criminal charges take place?? Detroit I guess. If they spend jail time, would it be in Detroit?
I think these guys will be lucky to avoid jail time. The charges would be filed in Auburn Hills and prosecuted there.
Good luck, Pacers, at getting an acquittal in that community.
good question...probably. Although if it went to trial...which I highly doubt....they would have to move it from Detroit to get a fair shake.
kobe avoided jail time
these players should
but these players got caught with on film and a police men and other eyewittnesses say oneal do what he did
enough for gulity charges
I would imagine they settle out of court though
Artest will get off by reason of insanity. JO'Neal and Jack should do time for stupidity.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Indiana Pacers were frightened when spectators began hurling chairs, drinks, and ice at them in one of the most violent exchanges between players and fans in U.S. sports history.
"It was a scary situation," center David Harrison said. "It's literally being in a riot."
Ron Artest was suspended for the rest of the season Sunday, Stephen Jackson for 30 games, Jermaine O'Neal for 25, Ben Wallace for six, Anthony Johnson for five, and four players for one game apiece for their roles in Friday night's brawl at Detroit.
After avoiding an on-court fight with Wallace late in the game, Artest bolted to the stands, where he was hit by a cup thrown by a fan. Jackson and O'Neal also punched fans, who showered the Pacers with debris as they left the court.
"I don't know what the regulations are for these types of things, but maybe they need to be looked at more closely," Austin Croshere said after the six healthy and eligible Pacers lost to Orlando 86-83 on Saturday night. "You've seen it in baseball ... it seems to be happening more and more."
Artest apologized on Sunday. He said he respected David Stern, but called the suspension unfair.
"It is very important to me that people understand that I didn't mean for the situation to turn out like it did," Artest said in a statement.
O'Neal's agent, Arn Tellem, called his client's suspension an "outrageous decision" that singled out O'Neal in an "in an arbitrary and capricious way" and vowed to contest it.
Harrison was hit several times in the stands while trying to break up the mayhem. He said Artest responded instinctively.
"If someone is throwing something at you with intent to harm you, you're going to defend yourself," he said. "It doesn't matter if the person is a fan or whatever. I just wonder what would happen if we went to where they work and harassed them for 48 minutes to an hour and then threw a beer at them when they were trying to leave. We'd go to jail."
Harrison worried the severity of the punishment would overshadow the fans' culpability.
"A message is going to be sent to the players, but around the league, I don't know how you send a message to the fans," Harrison said Saturday. "That's going to be the only travesty about this situation."
Things were just as scary as the Pacers left the Palace.
"There was a time at the bus where they were telling us to turn off the lights because they were afraid people would shoot at our bus," Harrison said.
Harrison dismissed the notion that because the players are paid handsomely they should be able to deal with such situations.
"We endured the verbal abuse, did we not?" he said. "We do not get paid millions of dollars to get stuff thrown at us. Nobody gets paid to money to get stuff thrown at you unless you're a circus clown sitting in a booth. That's not our job.
"I don't care how much money I'm getting paid. If you're trying to harm me, and I'm in a position to defend myself, I'm going to defend myself."
Croshere said he kept waiting for security and the officials to step in.
"I think that the number of problems over the years is very low, so it would be easy to say this is an isolated incident," Croshere said. "I think when the stuff started being thrown, it would seem like security at some point would have to step in and take control of the situation."
Scot Pollard, a former member of the Pistons, was horrified.
"I just watched with disgust," he said. "I'm just glad I can tell my kids I didn't participate. The lack of security. The way we acted. The way they acted. There were a lot of poor decisions made in the heat of battle. It was just ugly. And I hope it never happens again."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...SECTION=SPORTS
Jermaines right hook "singled out" that fan that was on the floor.
Also Stern mentioned that Jermaine tried to go into the stands and fight but that he was held back. Otherwise he would have received even a longer suspension if he made it in there.
NBA Commissioner David Stern's statement on suspensions
November 21, 2004
NBA Commissioner David Stern's statement accompanying the announcement of suspensions for Friday night's Pacers-Pistons brawl:
``The penalties issued today deal only with one aspect of this incident -- that of player misconduct. The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the professionalism and self-control that should fairly be expected from NBA players. We must affirm that the NBA will strive to exemplify the best that can be offered by professional sports, and not allow our sport to be debased by what seem to be declining expectations for behavior of fans and athletes alike.
``There are other issues that the NBA must urgently focus on at this time. First, we must redefine the bounds of acceptable conduct for fans attending our games and resolve to permanently exclude those who overstep those bounds. Participants in and around the court must be assured complete protection from unacceptable fan behavior. Second, we must re-examine the adequacy of our current security procedures in Detroit and our other 28 arenas. The actions at Friday's game, though unprecedented, must now be factored into all efforts to guarantee the well-being of our fans. Third, we must develop and implement new NBA rules to assure that the unavoidable confrontations likely to occur in the heat of compe ion are not allowed to escalate to the level we witnessed on Friday even prior to the egregious behavior by individuals in the stands.''
This is great news, but they still need to do something to punish the offending fans.
Second, we must re-examine the adequacy of our current security procedures in Detroit and our other 28 arenas
*cough*29others*cough*
Lakers/Clippers share the Staples Center.
Yeah, I forgot about that. I was just proud of myself for remembering there were 30 teams now.
Walllace should get a much hifher penalty in my opinion. the thing really started when wallace throw his towel in Artest. Then the fans followed his example - threw the beer.
Also i think the Pistons organisation and theris fans should be punished severly, ban a few games in theri home arena. I support thath to send a clear warning message to the fans all over NBA. What if the beer was a knife or smth. It ahppened...rememeber Monika Seles?
"There was a time at the bus where they were telling us to turn off the lights because they were afraid people would shoot at our bus," Harrison said.
Wallace should have gotten more games. He started the whole thing and kept going at Artest, even throwing a towel at him. He further escalated and prolonged it. Had he just walked away after he got the T, this whole fan thing would not have happpened. Had a fan gotten killed, the blood would have been on Wallace's hands as much as anyones.
Great idea addidas. Maybe I can buy a couple of bums tickets to a Lakers game in LA, have them toss a couple of beers on the floor get Staples shut down and get Nicholson and all those other sorry ass Lakers fans banned from a few games.
Playoffs would be good but Lakers won't be there.
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