THE MALICE AT THE PALACE
The Pacers leading 97–82 and 45.9 seconds left at the end of regulation, Ben Wallace attempted a layup but was fouled with some force by Ron Artest.
An angry Wallace then pushed Artest, and thus begin an amazing shit-storm that will last for the ages.
A tussle broke out between both teams. After the fight was broken, a fan tossed a beverage from the stands at Artest.
Ron charged into the crowd and launched at a fan. Problem was, it was the wrong fan,.
This ignited a brawl between players and ticket holders that lasted until security could figure out what the hell was going on.
Following the game, the NBA suspended 9 players for a total of 146 games, a total loss of $11 million in salary.
Five NBA players were charged with assault, and sentenced to a year of probation and community service. Five fans also faced criminal charges and were banned from attending Pistons home games for life. The fight also led the NBA to increase security between players and fans and limit the sale of alcohol in games.
We’re not going to go into the large array of lawsuits and public comments that followed this night out in Detroit, we just wanted to keep alive, in the wild, the great vision that resulted from one night in 2004 when me and a mate got very excited at the Detroit vs Indiana end to the world.
