It's a oral history of what happened at the Palace on that day. Probably one of the best articles I've read in a while. Really makes you think. My respect for Jermaine O'Neal increased and Ron Artest decreased. An event that truly changed the NBA. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7612311/view/full/an-oral-history-malice-palace It is a long, serious read but I do recommend it. That's basically the intro. I do agree with this - I do agree with this. Because know a lotta people in Jermaine O'Neal's position who would do the exact same thing for their teammates. The fans don't get nearly as much blame for what happened. And it reminded me about how much of a clueless idiot Ron Artest is.
The best part of that night that everyone seems to miss is Fred Jackson disappearing... then he comes out of the locker room with a shovel. You barely get to see it on TV, its just a blip, but its priceless.
I blame the entire thing on Ben Wallace and the Detroit fans The foul wasn't even that hard to be honest, there's no reason for Wallace to act the way he did. Artest backed off when confronted and laid on the scorer's table to calm himself, Wallace repeated tried to charge the huddle to start more shet with Artest even though Artest didn't even retaliate the initial push.
Thanks for sharing. Did you get an advance copy? How the hell did you read it in less than a whole day?
Could be in the GARM too : Apparently the fan JO nearly killed was looking to get paid. JO and Stephen Jackson come across good in this, IMO.
Wasn't it Jamaal Tinsley with a dustpan thing? 8:25-8:46 mark. NBA removes all instances of this video from YouTube, but it is available on Google Video. <embed id=VideoPlayback src=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-169695640295285298&hl=en&fs=true style=width:500px;height:408px allowFullScreen=true allowScriptAccess=always type=application/x-shockwave-flash> </embed>
Especially JO at the end. He seems so genuine about it (one of the reasons I wouldn't mind getting him if it meant giving up an 09er.)
To this day, I still have no problem with what any of the Pacers did. They should have had police assistance in beating all that unruly Detroit scum ass.
As bad as that whole episode was, and what might be considered the encapsulation of the post-Jordan era flameout... it was pretty tame compared to a soccer or hockey riot, which I'm glad for.
This article is a work of art. I'm still reading it. BTW, this part about that fan messing with Yao got me a bit heated Here's a better quality video <object width="450" height="370"><param name="movie" value="http://www.liveleak.com/e/c22_1269743628"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.liveleak.com/e/c22_1269743628" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" width="450" height="370"></embed></object>
Bingo. Tinsley with the Dustpan -- its like playing a game of Clue! And I said Fred Jackson when I meant Fred Jones, and even then I'd be wrong.
IMO, this brawl is why the Pistons won the championship and the Pacers lost. Pacers had a really good team that year, and looking at how much of an anomaly that season was, it's not a stretch to say that if Artest isn't gone, they could go all the way.
Angel: The only time I felt I was about to get hurt was when a policeman popped his pepper spray container and started shaking it up. Reggie Miller was pleading with him, "Please don't. My suit costs x-hundred dollars."
They did, and the Spurs won in 7 games. Pacers had what it took to match up against the Spurs. Ron Artest won DPOY just a season before, he would have been troublesome for Ginobl and O'Neal would match up against Duncan. That was Reggie's last and one of the best chances for him to win a ring.
yeah, it was so randomly thrown in there, too. Though I think his strategy made sense giving the situation. It wasn't like a bomb counting down. There were no guns being fired. Chill out, relax, don't get involved, and you'll be fine. I like it!
