Brawl Perspective from a fan who was at the scene!

[Bricklayer]

There is no sign which says "any player beyond this point may be pummeled at will". A player should be able to walk up to the concession stands if he wanted to without some lard bucket smacking him in the back of the head. The only reason for ANYBODY to hit anybody is if they are doing something aggresive themselves. Jones quite obviously was not -- appears he was trying to restore order.

If said lard bucket had went after Stpehen Jackson after Jackson through that roundhouse, we could at least talk. He'd still be in trouble, but at least then he'd be responding to a troublemaker. As it was, he was jsut a tool ready to hit the first Pacer jersey he saw.

 

[Stojakovic]

There is no sign which says "any player beyond this point may be pummeled at will". A player should be able to walk up to the concession stands if he wanted to with some lard bucket smacking him in the back of the head. The only reason for ANYBODY to hit anybody is if they are doing something aggresive themselves. Jones quite obviously was not -- appears he was trying to restore order.

I don't know how you were able to come to the conclusion that Jones was in there to play peacemaker. All of the videos which I have seen show Jones for an instance. You could just as well argue that he was running to the aid of Artest. Either way, if you're a Pacer you do not go into the stands where the Pistons fans are fighting with your teammates. There are plenty of of people in the arena who were given the job of peacekeeping.

 

[Stojakovic]

As it was, he was jsut a tool ready to hit the first Pacer jersey he saw.

As anybody else in that situation would have done. I wouldn't care whether the Pacers players were coming to give Artest and the fans cookies, I'd still swing at anybody wearing yellow. Many of those fans were down there with friends and relatives, and probably felt threatened when Artest ran into the stands and started swinging at the guy sitting beside them.

 

[Bricklayer]

As anybody else in that situation would have done. I wouldn't care whether the Pacers players were coming to give Artest and the fans cookies, I'd still swing at anybody wearing yellow. Many of those fans were down there with friends and relatives, and probably felt threatened when Artest ran into the stands and started swinging at the guy sitting beside them.

By that logic ALL of the Pacers should have been up there just pummeling any random Pistons fan who got int he way. Who cares whether they actually did anything or not, right? They are the "enemy", and some of the enemy are fighting one of your teammates. Open season on fans.

But of course that's ridiculous. Big Bubba was nowhere near the action. Neither was Jones. He started a fight out of pure malice. Chances are he'll pay with jail time unless reports are right that he might only be 16. Then could well be juvenile hall. And he'll deserve it. Just because a fight is going on in the stands doesn't give you the right to randomly start another one or expand it yourself.

P.S. Jones did not receive a suspension, nor did he turn around and smack the bubba even after the guy repeatedly hit him in the back of his head. He wasn't up there to rumble with anybody.

 

[Stojakovic]

By that logic ALL of the Pacers should have been up there just pummeling any random Pistons fan who got int he way. Who cares whether they actually did anything or not, right? They are the "enemy", and some of the enemy are fighting one of your teammates. Open season on fans.

But of course that's ridiculous. Big Bubba was nowhere near the action. Neither was Jones. He started a fight out of pure malice. Chances are he'll pay with jail time unless reports are right that he might only be 16. Then could well be juvenile hall. And he'll deserve it. Just because a fight is going on in the stands doesn't give you the right to randomly start another one or expand it yourself.

P.S. Jones did not receive a suspension, nor did he turn around and smack the bubba even after the guy repeatedly hit him in the back of his head. He wasn't up there to rumble with anybody.

Huh ? Why would they all be up there pummeling Pistons fans ? The Pistons fans weren't the ones who ran onto the court and started hitting the players (those who did were served correctly). Artest invaded what should be foreign territory to him.

 

[vladetomiller]

On a side note, i dont understand why no one talks about the hard play prior to that foul by artest. On the other end, Artest was going for a layup/dunk and wallace blocked the shot, but to me it looked like a hard foul which sent artest reeling to the post. He fell down got up, ran to the other side and made that foul. It looked like a retaliation to that foul, which offcourse the refs didnt call.

If its the end of game and you are not suppoed to foul cos the game is decided (whatever ethics) then wallace shouldnt have done that on the other end either.

About Artest taunting, i dont think it was taunting, he could have been afraid of wallace to take him on a fight or he was controlling himself from getting into a fight and wanted to just lie down. Either way i didnt see it as taunting. The fan who got punched in the court deserves to be punched, what was he trying to do there