With 45 seconds to play out of the final quarter of Friday nights Detroit Pistons v Indiana Pacers game at the Palace of Auburn Hills an altercation between Ben Wallace and Ron Artest on middle court.
Wallace's strike following a verbal exchange at the tail end of a hard faught game which had the Pacers leading 97-82 at the time initiated the emptying of both teams benches.
As the melee was coming under control and teams seperated Artest took time to lay out across the officials bench courtside and attempt to put on a commentators headset, making light of the situation and Wallace's continued attempts to get at him.
The detroit fans also took offence to the Pacers Forward turned R&B star, pelting his position with objects and full cups of beer. At this point Artest, accompanied by Stephen Jackson took to the stands to deal out some of their own justice to the unruly fans, Artest managing to connect with the beer thrower before a scuffle brought them under some control and delivered artest back to the court with a ripped singlet to show for his troubles.
Another fan who ventured onto the court was confronted by the Pacers stars before team officials and security began hurrying them out to the locker rooms. The barrage continued as the game was called over the Palace P.A. system, Jermaine O'Neal was hit with a flying chair before security wrestled him and the rest of the pacers enterage out of harms way.
The NBA wonders why people don't like their product anymore. Thug life, baby. Oh yeh, and the Detroit "fans" suck.
Then on Saturday, Clemson and South Carolina go at it. Wasn't a riot like in Detroit, but still.
Emotions on both sides spun out of control late in the fourth quarter with a sidelines-clearing fight that delayed the game for about 10 minutes before coaches, police and security officers got things under control.
“I got a little scraped up, a couple of scratches,” said Clemson cornerback Justin Miller, who tussled with South Carolina receiver Matthew Thomas. “Once I saw a couple of big guys come by me, I got out of there.”
Holtz and Clemson coach Tommy Bowden both said they would look at tapes of the fight and take possible action. Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips said the ACC would also review the fight to see if penalties had to be handed out.
“You saw it at the basketball game last night,” Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst said, referring to the brawl between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers. “You hate that it happens, but it does sometime.”
Holtz dove into the pile as peacemaker, trying to peel much bigger bodies from the situation. “Hey, he’s our daddy,” guard Jonathan Alston said. “If he was our father, we’d all get beatings” for the fight.
No comments:
Post a Comment