Friday, November 19, 2004

Games: 19th November 2004

WOAH!!!
Talk about a fighting finish! The intense rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, which was exacerbated during last season's Eastern Conference Finals, reached a boiling point today, when Detroit hosted Indiana at The Palace, Auburn Hills, Michigan. Both teams took the court while the booing and jeering of the crowd filled the arena. And that was only the beginning. The Detroit "fans" soon got ruly, throwing things at the players - verbal abuse, and even objects such as water bottles. Eventually it got so bad, that the players and fans actually came to blows with each other. Notably, Ron Artest, known as much for his off court conduct as for his on-court, landed a punch on a fan who decided to pick a fight with him. But enough from me, I'll let you read the whole story for yourself, straight from the NBA site.

"Stephen Jackson made quite a first impression on the overheated rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons. Jackson delivered knockout punches of all kinds as the Pacers brawled with fans in the stands and on the court after a 97-82 victory over the Pistons, a game that was called with 45 seconds to play. In one of the craziest melees in NBA history, Jackson, Ron Artest and Jermaine O'Neal all delivered haymakers to unruly Pistons fans, who showed the worst side of their behavior by throwing everything from plastic bottles to chairs at members of the Pacers. The Pacers fought back - literally. Several went into the stands to accost fans who had thrown things. Jackson climbed into the seats and landed a roundhouse right that floored a fan who had thrown a plastic beer bottle at Artest, hitting him in the face. Fans continued to throw things and verbally accost members of the Pacers. Several came onto the court and one took a fighting stance against Artest, who dropped him with a punch. O'Neal ran over and floored another fan with a righthanded blow. Fighting with each other minutes earlier, the Pacers and Pistons quickly teamed up to fight off the fans. Referees called the game, which forced the Pacers to make their way through a gauntlet of angry fans who continued to throw objects despite pleas from Pistons coach Larry Brown. Players and team officials were showered with beer, soda and popcorn. Acquired in the offseason, Jackson is new to this rivalry, which peaked with the Pistons defeating the Pacers in six physical games in last season's Eastern Conference finals. He scored 13 points, including a dagger 3-pointer and dunk less than 40 seconds apart that ended a rally by the Pistons and gave the Pacers a 93-79 lead with 3:52 to play."
Quite the game, I imagine! Beer, soda and popcorn?! Come on guys, is that how you treat the hometown heroes?!


Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, and Detroit's Ben Wallace, before the game got called.


Ron Artest in the middle of the brawl.


Indiana coach Rick Carlisle, and ref keep Indiana's Ron Artest and Detroit's Ben Wallace apart during the fight.

In other news...
Lakers lost to the Suns today...Amare Stoudamire is really hitting his stride in his third year! 33 points and 14 rebounds! wooo! Kobe Bryant had a triple-double: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists. Too bad they couldn't make use of that! Final score: 107-102.

Shaq's Miami Heat went up against the Jazz. Some great plays, particularly some at-the-line heroics from Dwayne Wade, who had a career high 39 points! Shaq had 22 points, 11 rebounds, and was only 2-10 from the line.


Dwayne Wade celebrating after his game-winning shot.

Melo's Nuggets were 99-81 against the Chicago Bulls.
Mavericks 103-101 against the Knicks.
Spurs 92-84 against the Celts.

That's it for today!
Gayatri.

2 Comments:

Blogger CJ said...

That fight was unbelievable! I think the fans were at fault. When there are thousands of irate fans and roughly 30 players between the two teams you gotta stand up for yourself. The fans need to have more respect for the players. Artest was out of line to enter the crowd, but objects should never have been thrown. But it was cool to watch!

November 22, 2004 at 12:12 AM  
Blogger CJ said...

That fight was unbelievable! I think the fans were at fault. When there are thousands of irate fans and roughly 30 players between the two teams you gotta stand up for yourself. The fans need to have more respect for the players. Artest was out of line to enter the crowd, but objects should never have been thrown. But it was cool to watch!

November 22, 2004 at 12:12 AM  

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