Legler: Fans are to blame for Pacers-Pistons melee

[Evilmav2]

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Fans are to blame for Pacers-Pistons melee

By Tim Legler
ESPN Insider

I was in a state of shock as I watched this horrific altercation unfold as I sat in the NBA Shootaround studio. I can honestly say I've never seen anything of this magnitude in basketball.

Initially I didn't understand why this turned into the spectacle that it turned into until I saw the numerous replays. Though I can't justify or defend the actions of the Pacers, I can put myself into the mindsets of Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Fred Jones and Jermaine O'Neal. I understand what they were going through after an emotional on-court fight. These players were already emotionally charged and then they were faced with the unfathomable and truly indefensible actions of the fans.

I blame the fans for the escalation of this incident because this all started with Ben Wallace's overreaction to Artest's hard foul of him. Wallace wasn't reacting to the foul but rather to the fact that the Pacers were beating him up all game and Artest had the nerve to foul him with less than a minute remaining. They were more physical and had taken the game right to him and he reacted by shoving Artest in the face.

Artest reacted to that shove to the face exactly the way you'd want a player to -- he walked away and didn't respond. He's a lightning rod for the Pistons because he's had a number of flagrant fouls in the past and was involved in a flagrant foul with the Pistons during last season's playoffs when he elbowed Richard Hamilton in the face.

That said, players overreacting is something that happens all the time. It's not a surprise to see players get heated and respond wrongly and badly to a situation. What was surprising and a complete overreaction was the fan's reaction to the situation. Usually the players, coaches and referees are able to sort out and deal with the situation. Tonight was different because the fans crossed the line.

A fan made himself part of the altercation and that's why the reaction was so ugly. Once again, I'm not justifying the players' actions. In the end I feel sorry for the children who were at the game and had to witness this unfortunate situation, and I'm sorry for the children who will watch this terrible incident on the news and will be afraid to go to a sporting venue in the future. I know if my daughter saw this or were close to the situation she'd be terrified and would be scared to go to another sporting event.

There's no doubt that suspensions will come down for this horrible incident. Wallace is going to get at least two games for the initial shove and Artest is going to get some games for going into the stands and grabbing a fan. But Jackson is probably going to get the biggest suspension because he threw the first punch in the stands at a fan, which triggered the aftermath of the initial altercation.

I believe the on-court fighting between fans and players shouldn't result in punishment for players. The punches that Artest and O'Neal threw at fans on the court should be exempt from suspension because all bets should be off when a fan comes onto the court and goes after a player. When fans go after a player and threaten him physically, they deserve what they get.

Artest will probably receive the brunt of the media condemnation from this situation because he's a lightning rod for controversy and that's not fair. It's not fair because he's not truly at fault for what happened and his responsibility will be extrapolated because of last week's controversy, which was finally starting to die down.

This fight will obviously take the Pacers-Pistons rivalry to the next level. And neither team will truly miss its suspended players because they are both built for April, May and June and will see each other in the Eastern Conference finals.

Tim Legler, an NBA analyst for ESPN and former NBA three-point champion, is a regular contributor to Insider.

[dude1394]

I heard this crock of crud talking on espn I think.. So this person would physically attack the wrong guy for someone throwing a drink in his face. Maybe he should be put in the suspension list as well. Stupid jocks.

[MavKikiNYC]

He was a better player than he is a commentator.

[PepperTheMavsFan41]

And he was a Spare in the NBA ^^^

Oh lord hes absolutly terrible on espn.

[Murphy3]

Any media member that believed that what the players did was justified should be fired.

[Dirkenstien]

Rediculous. Artest was doing everything perfectly all the way up to the point where he decided to go haywire and take on the fans. Everyone who was involved is at fault. It cannot be blamed on just the fans or just the players.

[Mavs4skin]

wrongly and badly