Biggest fight in NBA history
Collected by Kent Hill



Last Saturday night, November 20, a huge fight broke out during the last minute of the game between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers. In what turned out to be the largest and most dangerous brawl in the history of the NBA, players actually entered the stands and began fighting with on looking fans.

The fight started after Ron Artest of the Pacers was pushed in the face by Ben Wallace of the Pistons. However, Artest did not react physically, he simply left the court and laid down on a table as to not get in trouble. Soon after a fan from the audience yelled derogatory names at him and hit Artest with a cup of beer. Artest exploded in a fit of rage charging into the audience punching fans wildly. Teammate Stephen Jackson followed behind Artest and together they tore through the sea of chaos fighting with the mob(成群的暴徒) of on lookers.

After that the fight escalated rapidly and dangerously as players from both teams left the benches to join in on the violence. Soon there were cups and plastic bottles flying through the air from every direction the crowd got involved.

After about five minutes the action was simmering down(冷静) but as the Pacer's were returning to their locker room beer, ice, popcorn, plastic cups and even a chair rained down onto their heads from the stands above.

"It's the ugliest thing I've seen as a coach or player," said Pistons coach Larry Brown, who was in the middle of the confrontation, trying to break it up.

This is not the first time Artest has had problems in the NBA however. Two years ago in an opposing teams arena he destroyed some television monitors after becoming upset and losing his temper. However, the punishment for this most recent misconduct tops it all.

Artest has been suspended for the rest of the remaining season without pay. This suspension(中止), which totals 73 games, is going to cost him a total of over US $5 million. Teammates Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal were suspended for 30 and 25 games respectively. Also Wallace of the Pistons, who is being charged with starting the fight by pushing Artest, was only sentenced to a six game ban.

This punishment seems a little harsh to many people but the reason behind the strict penalty lies with the NBA commisioner David Stern. Stern wanted to make a point that there are some types of behavior that cannot be tolerated in the sporting arena and one of those things is fighting with fans. He admitted however, that he was harder on Artest than the other players due to his past problems with lack of self-control.

Overall, the fight last Saturday was a catastrophe(灾难) for the image of the players and teams involved, as well as that of the entire NBA. Perhaps in retrospect of this disgraceful occurance the world's view of the American sporting community has been scarred forever.

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