who was responsible?

[adcmarti]

Fans :cool: .

[lotus22]

Ben Wallace started it all. He pushed artest and he didn't need to start that.

So what if he made a hard foul. Take it like a man.

[Stinky Newb]

Ben Wallace cant take a foul. Hes a ****ing baby..he should of never pushed Artest like that.

[Death By Sexy]

artest and wallace. it takes 2 to tango and an angry mob to follow. those fans were out of control. increased security might have helped. just one bad situation.

i support the nba's decision with the suspensions that were handed down. i also think that some of the fans should be charged after an investigation by the police.

[blackflash]

sorry didnt mean to post twice :blush:

[blackflash]

i think 72 games was too harsh and I think some people might agree with me

and how much did they give to wallace? 9 games or something? :angry:

[CraigMack]

85 Artest / 15 Fans

Sure as hell was funny watching Stephen Jackson destroying people right and left tho, eh?

Also did anyone notice how Pro-Players the whole ESPN crew was after the fight too? Almost comical

[Tarrmachine]

Wallace lit the fire.

Artest stoked it with gasoline.

And David Stern ****ed on the fire.

[aem4162]

both. the players are a bunch of jerks who think they can say or do anything they want and the fans are a bunch of jerks who think they can act like idiots because they paid big bucks for the tickets

[cmove]

The "fans"

[edbro]

The players have to be held to a much higher standard. They are the stars. They are the ones the fans paid to see. They are getting millions of dollars to be there.

I'm not saying that the fans weren't idiots, they were. But, the players must be held to a higher standard.

[EzeWong]

Defintely the fans.

Artest went overboard, but in a case like this I wouldn't blame him. Self-Control is a virtue, but after a display of disrespect like that, you wouldn't be human if you didn't stand up for yourself.

His anger was totally justifiable. I would call it self defense of dignity in that case.

IF you took this senario outside the context of basketball you would side with artest.

If you were walking on street, and given a similar senario where just after you were bralwing, a fan of your opponenet throws a drink at you, you have every right to get up in his face.

Just because he is a basketball player doenst mean he can't stand up for himself or he should restrain his anger.

The fans are just A$$ hats

[theprotege]

plain and simple ... fans

if i was artest i probably woulnd't have jumped in the stands after the guy, but i would have been livid. now if he threw a second beer .. that would have been his ass.

the blame can go both ways, but its more the fans fault for instigation with all things considered. I like beer just as much as homer simpson, but there needs to be a line drawn at sporting events and other social events where too many people drink too much or have their brains/emotions altered because of alcohol.

Now if I was Mr. Stern, I would have pulled a FIFI and banned all fans from the next x amount of games for both teams in addition to banning the players and specific fans (when caught). I like the FIFI you wanna **** up, fine, i'll hit you in the pocket book moves ... the states needs a little bit of that action as well.

[doubledragonxz]

I dont see this as simple as some try to put it, Artest gives a hard foul on Wallace who in rage reacts violently, probably those two had something going on during the game.

Now everything goes "normal" but then Artest goes to the scorers table and rests there, why? why there? you go to the bench or something, but in an act of provocation Artest thinks he can mock the whole Arena, after all they are definately going to win.

The angry fans, knowing this showboat is acting cocky, start reacting to this behavior and someone thinks he deserves a cup in the face, Artest felt the aggression was too much and starts going loco...everything else is consequence of this...

So, all in all, the combined acts of Wallace, Artest and the dumb fan have the blame.

20% Wallace, 40% Artest, 40% that Fan.

[Hills420]

The NHL... if there wasn't a lockout all of the Detroit fans would of been at the Wings game instead :)

Detroit is Hockey Town, USA!!

[episode]

No matter whos responsible, the fault is on Artest. There is no reason for him to go into the stands. They have fans yelling and screaming, and throwing things happens all the time. (Happened twice in this years Red Sox/Yankees series) and the players there are smart enough not to go into the stands and let security handle it.

[Con]

Ben Wallace he's the one that choke Ron Artest. Which made Ron Artest snap.

[blackflash]

Well the crowd(not all of them) were acting like brats, they were throwing stuff at the people that werent even involved so theres no excuse for throwing coke and popcorn on people like reggie miller and the ushers

[Ayepecks]

There is not ONE PERSON, or even ONE GROUP (except everyone at the palace) to blame for the situation. Where's my "they're all to blame" option?

[finality]

Wallace started it by overreacting... Had he not flipped out there would have been no problem.

[L3thal Veteran]

Had Artest punched him back, it would've saved the brawl in the stands if you think about it.

[Toastyone]

OMG it was Jlo!!!!! :laugh:

I don?t really think it is one person?s fault, everybody should have just not lost their temper, Ben should not have gone crazy about the foul, Ron should not have going nuts with the fans, the the fans should have just controlled themselves instead of acting like animals.