All right, for those of you who say that Artest should not have fouled Wallace hard to begin with, I will say this.
1.) The foul was hard and probably not needed, but it was not a flagrant foul, it was a typical NBA foul.
2.) The play before (after finally getting a chance to see the entire game over) Ron Artest was fouled pretty hard by Wallace(with no call by the officials)...Again not flagrant and certainly the only thing you can argue there is why was the foul not called, again typical of NBA. So that doesn\'t matter either.
3.) Wallace says that he wouldn\'t foul someone like that when the game is over... well he did, the play before.
Now onto the actual incident, had any one of these things not happened, there would be a different story to tell.
Artest got punked by Wallace (NBA Automatic Suspension for at least 1 game maybe more depending on severity of situation, in which he kept coming and would nt back down so it probably would;ve been a 3-5 game suspension).
Artest then backs away, trying to keep a cool head. Monday Morning QB tells us, he should not have laid on the table. Thats Artest being Artest, think Charles Barkley. He was keeping his mind off of fighting Wallace by having fun on the table. Maybe he shouldn;t have and in retrospect he shouldn\'t have been there. Change that, maybe the outcome changes.
Stephen Jackson, for whatever reason, decides he is going to continue bickering with Wallace and shouting comments his way. Thats just dumb, incident over, but Jackson incites Wallace.
Wallace comes over to the scorers table and tosses a towel at Artest, again nothing major, but just enough to put something in some dumbass fans mind that "Hey I can do that too".
Dumbass fan (ONE DUMBASS FAN, not entire city of Detroit or Auburn Hills). throws a plastic cup at Artest. It did have stuff in it, and it hit him right on or next to the face. change that, Wallace ad maybe Stephen Jackson come out with a suspension or fine, Artest gets away Scot Free.
Artest charges the stands, he just sealed his fate. I like Artest, I have gotten to know Artest on a more personal level and he is one of the nicest guys off the court you will ever meet, as is Ben Wallace, but on the court these guys are fierce competitors and Artest has a switch that I don\'t know why but he can\'t turn off on the court. Do I think the suspension us too much, yes I do, do I think he did deserve something and that something being VERY harsh, yes I do.
Stephen Jackson, he should have more games than Artest, he went in and went to fight, he had no intentions of stopping anything.
Ben Wallace\'s brother was the guy in the Grey shirt with a Credential hanging around his neck, pounding down Fred Jones of the Pacers, who was trying to just be a peacemaker and get Artest and Jackson out of the stands.
Then dumbass Piston fan starts hitting Artest upside the head, what an idiot.
Now Jackson and Artest did get what they probably deserved. I wish it would be slightly reversed with Jackson and Artest, but that being said I don\'t understand the ONeal punishment.
A game to 5 for punching a fan on the court, ONeal never made it into the stands. Once someone is on the court, then they are asking for it, Monica Seles please stand up and tell us why...
Reggie Miller, Anthony Johnson, Chauncy Billups and the other few players on Detroit that got a suspension, I don\'t understand why they did. Its stupid, most of them were trying to be peacemakers.
I guess we\'ll see if the fans get a fair punishment or not. The organization should be held accountable for its fans, it is in other leagues, should be here as well.
Brad
