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Pistons to host Pacers, months after brawl
It'll be just another game, the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers insist, when they play Friday night. The last time they met — exactly 18 weeks ago — at The Palace, one of the worst brawls in U.S. sports history broke out, and the ugly spectacle transcended sports.
"After all the consequences that were paid by players and fans, I don't expect to see anybody acting up," Detroit's Antonio McDyess said.
Indiana's Ron Artest was suspended by commissioner David Stern for the season for his role in the fracas, which started on the court before spilling into the crowd and back onto the court. Indiana's Stephen Jackson was suspended for 30 games and Jermaine O'Neal for 15, and his comeback was derailed by a shoulder injury expected to keep him out for the rest of the regular season.
Detroit's Ben Wallace was suspended for six games, and one of his brothers was among the spectators charged with playing a part in the brawl.
In total, five Pacers and eight fans have been charged in the brawl.
The next court date in the case is not until April 8, but the players facing charges may take a detour Friday to the Auburn Hills Police Department for mandatory fingerprinting. Lt. James Manning said Thursday that the department was trying to arrange for them to come in, but nothing had been scheduled yet.
Another fan, Bryant Jackson, is charged with felonious assault for allegedly tossing a chair toward the Pacers as they were leaving the court. He is expected in court for a pretrial hearing on Tuesday.
Last week, three other fans were sentenced to probation and community service for walking onto the court and throwing objects.
"Because of you, this community has received an undeserved, unjust, big black eye that still leaves us smarting," District Judge Lisa Asadoorian said. "You will forever be known — as has been put to me so often — as 'one of those idiots at The Palace.'"
Artest, Jackson, O'Neal, Johnson and the Pacers organization are all facing lawsuits from fans. An usher filed a lawsuit against O'Neal and Indiana's Jamaal Tinsley and Green.
The brawl even inspired an episode last month of NBC-TV's fictional "Law & Order."
The Pistons plan to have "playoff-type security" on hand for the game Friday night, meaning they'll have about 20 police officers and about 25 percent more unarmed security personnel in the arena.
"Because it's the first time the Pacers will be back, everybody is going to be watching, so we don't want one fan to ruin it for everybody," Pistons spokesman Matt Dobek said.
The NBA playoffs start April 23. If they started now, Detroit (42-25) would play Indiana (34-33) in the first round, one season after the Pistons beat the Pacers in the conference finals before winning the title.
Since the brawl, Detroit has played at Indiana on Dec. 25 and Jan. 27.
"If that Christmas game was at Detroit, it probably would have been a big deal," Indiana's Austin Croshere said. "We've got our own problems to worry about right now. We're battling for a playoff spot." Larry Brown hasn't coached the Pistons since March 13 because he needed a procedure related to the hip surgery that caused him to miss six games in November. "I'm doing OK, but I still don't know when I'll be back," Brown said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. The brawl started with just 45.9 seconds left in the game, with Indiana leading 98-82, when Artest fouled Wallace. Wallace then delivered a hard, two-handed shove to Artest's chin, which led to pushing and shoving with several players near midcourt and Artest lying on his back on the scorer's table. Just when the situation seemed to calm down, Artest was hit with a cup and he stormed into the stands to pounce on the fan he thought hurled the object at him. The scene wrapped up when Tinsley unsuccessfully tried to go back on the court, wielding a dust pan over his head, as his teammates headed to their locker room. Though the melee seemed to last a long time, the whole series of events lasted just five minutes. "Yeah, but five minutes in a blender is a long time," said Jerry Hendon, director of Pistons security.
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