Artest suspension (UPDATE: Artest out for the season)

What about "Jermaine said Knock u out" (Featuring LL cool J)

 

Ron Artest will probably try to get a job at BestBuy.

 

of course not why in the world would he attack a fan of his team. The Fans were not agressive against him. It would have been very stupid of him if he attacks a fan who supports him

Wallace was the reason this escalated. He made the crowd even worse, If he had just chilled after lets say half a minute nothing would have happened. He continued to be angry and would not cool down, the crowd reacted to that, IMHO he is the reason this all happened, So for that reason alone he should get a longer penalty. And like i said the punishments are very one sided, the pacers are screwed, and the piston are lucky, and that is unfair, because this is the fault of both teams

 

arno_ed,

Can you name the last time that a riot occured after a retaliatory shove on the court?

Its not reasonable to assume that would cause a riot.

It is reasonable to assume that 3 players charing into the home team's stands and attacking their fans will.

 

Wallace is certainly bigger once you consider his frame, but he's not 6-9 even if you toss in the fro. There's a reason the Wizards tried to make him play as a guard when he came out. Ben Wallace is actually a touch under 6-7.

Evan

 

If anything, Artest--the player known as a cheap shot artist--is the reason this escalated. That punk, as he always does, took an unnecessary flagrant foul. Then he baited Wallace into the attack and followed it up with his best Rodman impression by lying on the scorer's table. Artest is a punk and has been since he was drafted. He was a problem in Chicago and has been a problem in Indy whose behavior just keeps getting worse each year. I hoped he would have been permanently banned from the NBA. The league is better without crap like him, fantasy numbers or not.

 

David Stern is just dumb... what's the message he's sending to fans? Pay for a ticket, get to do whatever you want to the players?!?!

I'm totally on the Pacer's side on this.

Review the whole incident:
1. Big Ben attacked Artest for a hard-foul, no where near a flagrant or anything intentional. Artest tried to be the good guy in all of this by staying out of it, but Ben kept trying to escalate the whole matter.
2. When someone threw the cup of beer at Artest, what was he supposed to do? Scream, "Hey, someone threw a cup of beer at me!"? No one would have done ANYTHING about it... and the guy would have gotten away w/ it easily, later on laughing about it w/ his buddies. I think this has been the 3rd incident where fans have threw something at Artest while on the court, eventually he was going to take matters in his own hands.
3. When Artest charged the crowd, he did NOT throw one punch. Review the tape.
4. While Artest was being held back, another guy threw his drink at him... that's who Stephen Jackson punched (justified).
5. When Artest was back on the court, it looked like he was cooled down and the incident was over, but then another fan is on the court and runs towards Artest. Artest, as well as any other person, would automatically-instantly try to defend himself and assume he's getting attacked.
6. When O'Neal was being held back, trying to get back to the locker room, that's when the fans were at their worst. Throwing chairs, food, drinks at him... that's kicking a man while he's down.

I'm ashamed of being an NBA fan after watching that whole incident.

 

I copy and pasted those from each team website.

 

Their height and weight that is

 

When was the last time you saw a fight between players escalated into a riot? You think Ben intended to incite the crowd into a fight?

Yes.

How would you know?

It's justified to punch a guy much smaller than you because he throws a drink at your friend who is randomly beating up another guy? What society are you living in?

The fan was not running. He was walking. And his hands were not up in a fighting posture.

 

Listed heights are almost always padded.

See:
Olajuwon
Barkley
Rodman
Mourning
Duncan
and darn near the rest of the league, present or past.

 

I say this not defending Artest's actions:

When you watch the video, Artest gets up and heads in the general direction of where the cup came from. The guy he ended up creaming (Mike Ryan - black shirt) was literally bouncing, pointing, running his mouth, and acting as if the whole thing was hilarious. That's what drew Artest to him like a matador's red cape.

The real guy that did was in the blue (Wallace on back) shirt with a hat. Again, if you watch closely, you'll see him actually try to grab Artest as he went by and later suckerpunched him a few times when Artest was being held.

Point being - they weren't really hitting random people. They were absolute idiots, and found a bunch of (somewhat) innocent people, but they weren't trying to pummel the crowd in general.

Finally saw what Anthony Johnson did. He's the mysterious "assistant coach" that popped "Stupid Fan on the Court #2" (Charles Hadad) just before JO came in with his flying punch. He wasn't dressed because he's on the IL with a broken right hand. Interesting note that hasn't been talked about much - Hadad was one of the people that went to the hospital and was taken out of the arena on stretcher. He was literally knocked out by O'Neal.

Evan

 

He didn't intend for the riot to break out... but he was CLEARLY over-reacting on a hard-foul. He could have, should have, just walked back to his bench and none of this would have happened. Now if Artest obviously put a flagrant on ben, then I'd understand.

And you think the people who witnessed it would have quickly pointed out who threw the cup? You can only have stuff thrown at you so many times before you tick.

True... I don't know, but I think most likely that would have happened.

And it's justified to throw a drink in someone's face because he's being held back? How can you say one form of retaliation is ok, but another isn't?

Check the tape again... he did run towards Artest. BTW, Artest just got in a fight w/ fans. Why would you, a fan, walk onto the court and up to Artest now? Ask for an autograph? Why wait for a hit until you get hit?

 

NJRocket and GRENDALl, (and others) you have have only disputed one point I made. (correctly, I must add. I'm not afraid to admit I'm wrong.) Your thoughts on the others?

 

I agree with that too

 

Still only one point.

 

I think the suspensions were too light. I think they should have gone for something harsher on Artest and let it get reduced to a season-long suspension in arbitration. Jackson should have gotten the season off too. Maybe O'Neal too. I don't know what he was thinking with that flying punch.

I'm surprised as all get-out that Rasheed Wallace was present and yet behaved himself.

The funny thing about the debate about how to keep unruly fans from doing stuff like this in the future is that Ron Artest already answered the question. Knowing that a 250 pound athlete might just come after you -- and that security isn't sufficient to keep him from getting at least a couple of licks in -- should be sufficient to deter fans for a little while. Basketball has the distinct advantage in sports that players can quickly and easily get to the seats. So, I think he was wrong in doing it and should be severely punished for it, but he served notice on behalf of the whole league that fans are operating at their own risk when they assault players.

 

And that idiot was the one running into the stands.

How do you know, from what we have all heard he way too busy with the CD he producing. Artest's actions have always been of a thugish nature.

Just look at the track record.

Look at other unstable players, where is Vernon Maxwell today?

 

If I recall correctly, Artest has never been in trouble with the law, or drugs. What is your defenition of "thug"? Someone who cares about his family?

 

Once again, how do you know that?

Would I care about my family if I got into fights at work and put my livelyhood in jeopardy?