Pacers-Pistons Brawl, Sentences.

[John-John Joe]

I think he could do with some self control help, but I don't think he's dumb. I even half feel sorry for him considering he showed poise with ben wallace. If he retaliated to wallace, its feasable to say this whole mess wouldnt have happened.

Oh yeah, almost forgot about this statement. Don't be too quick to give Ronald the Humanitarian award just yet.

My theory on that one? Ron Ron doing his best Dennis Rodman impression (#91) was baiting Ben Wallace into doing something. No the foul wasn't flagrant nor did Ben have ANY RIGHT to put his hands on him, let's just make that clear from jump.....

But at that juncture of the game there was NO reason to foul Ben that hard if at all, the game was already decided. Ron might be dumb but he sure as hell is as slick as they come. He made sure that his foul wasn't flagrant but was hard enough to annoy in hopes of getting Ben riled up, his plan worked to perfection. (I understand that this is pure speculation and assumption on my part, bear with me.)

So trust me, when he backed up to the scorers table ( I understand that it was with the ref's help but he obviously wasn't angry or ready to fight in the slightest) and laid down he wasn't showing restraint. He was sitting back and admiring his work, hence all the clowning he was doing. He was enjoying the show, produced and directed by the man himself, a masterpiece if you will.

Rodman used to do shit like that all the time to Zo, remember? And Karl Malone as well along with a host of others. And we all know Dennis is a dumb-dumb, but like Ron, he's from the hood and has street smarts.

We have to remember the history of Ron and this team. Before that game, the lasttime they'd met was game 6 of the ECF when Ron delivered a cheapshot to Rip's face, a punch right to the face in the fourth quarter with about a minute left. Remember? I knew Ron was a wild boy but he almost got knocked off of my top 5 favorite players list for that one, that wasn't cool especially considering that Rip was wearing that mask for his broken nose and all. Very poor sportsmanship on his part......

Then there's the beef between him and Ben about the DPOY, a lot has been said by both when the other won and there is a lot of bad blood. Ron thinks he's slick but I'm hip to the game. You should have heard him on NYC's radio station Hot 97 after the debacle, there wasn't the slightest bit of contrition on his part. When the ignorant ass DJ's gave him props for beating up fans, he laughed and responded: "You know how I get down fam, I'm holding this shit down for QB son, word up." Let's just say that he truly thinks his actions were validated right? Wouldn't he still lament (this was the day he found out his punishment) about not being able to play ball? Not Ron, he was full of jokes and laughter all throughout.

[Andrew]

I heard on Sportscenter today that the Pistons have taken steps to ban the fans who have been charged from future events at the Palace, which seems perfectly reasonable to me. As much as the players should be held accountable for their actions, the fans who displayed the worst behaviour should be punished as well. While cooler heads might have been in order as far as the players are concerned, the fact that the fans were behaving poorly and committing acts that would normally call for immediate ejection (throwing items onto the court, leaving the stands to enter the playing arena) shouldn't go unnoticed. I'm glad that it didn't.

That was one of the things that bothered me with Stern's intial statement. While reprimanding Artest and co was an obvious outcome of the incident, he didn't really acknowledge the fans' involvement or how much they were at fault. He seemed to be saying "Our players behaved in a dispicable manner...oh, and a couple of fans were a bit naughty too."

I know that has a lot to do with the fact he has a lot more power when it comes to dealing with NBA players rather than NBA fans, but I feel that he should have made a bigger deal about pursuing punishment for the fans once they were identified. Much was said about players going into the stands, but not enough was said about the line that fans mustn't cross either.

The gap between the league administration and the players seems to be growing wider, with another lockout looming on the horizon. I think that another lockout will hurt the league's reputation just as much as the Pacers/Pistons incident, perhaps even more so. I'm glad that Stern is leaning towards (or already has agreed to, depending on who you ask) allowing an appeal to the suspensions. For him to say "Shut up and take your medicine" would do nothing for the already shaky relationship with the player's association.

[Jeffx]

Andrew, you know David Stern has always been about image. Mainstream America is already down on the NBA. Stern doesn't want it to get any worse. He's let it be known that HE'S in control, and his players will behave or else. And he's right - these young cats better realize where their bread is buttered, and who's paying to see them. But I also agree with you - not enough is being said about these lowlifes who go to games, get drunk and out of control.

[Sweetlou]

First off I can say that for ONCE I am truly glad that the Pistons DON'T actually play in Detroit. I get so tired of the city getting a black eye when some drunken idiot from the 'burbs decides to clown to the point of making a national news incident.

There was no excuse for what the fans did. None! There was even less excuse for the Pacers in the stands. Artest attacked an innocent man, trampled one who was just doing his job and through it all, the fool who threw the cup was the one punching HIM in the stands.

None of that should have happened. If Artest wanted to fight that night then he should have went up against Big Ben and taken his butt whipping like the man he ain't. At least he would still be getting them checks this year. For that matter some of his teammates' checks would be right too.

And if I am not mistaken, it was not a cup of beer but a cup of ice that was thrown.