Detroit/Indy

I agree that Artest sould have let the proper authorities handle the fan. At the same time his behavior and (any fan throwing things) is chicken s***t. What did Artest do to this fan to justify his behavior? I'm pretty sure this drunk idiot wouldn't have the balls to do this alone on the street with Artest. I'm sorry but you have to draw the line when it comes to fan behavior and in the heat of the moment I don't blame Artest for reacting the way he did. This fan had other ways to voice his displeasure.

Oh Absolutley, I agree 100%. That fan is the biggest chicken sh*t in the world, so is any other fan that started throwing punches, throwing food, liquid, cloths, chairs whatever. Theres all those freaking kids there, they showed a old woman who got knocked on the ground, they are all a bunch of jackasses. That being said, Artest sunk down to their level when he ran into the stands, in my opinion.

You just can't jump in to the stands like Artest did, no matther what.

Did anyone see that little kid in the stands right next to where Artest jumped on that guy? The little kid looked horrified.

I'd like to see Artest face a very lengthy suspension. The guy is a jackass.

artest is definately a jackass, but people know he's not the most stable person, so why tempt fatee by throwing shit at him? those fans were way beyond stupid or rude... you should NEVER jump into the stands, but he was still probably pissed off from the on-court issues, and once he walks away (finally) to chill out, some asshole starts throwing stuff (and i'm sure he was verbally taunted by "fans" the whole time), so i can see someone known as a hothead reacting in such a way... its a horrible situation though.

What an ugly mess. Artest should know better than to go in the stands and do that altough it is hard to say that I dont blame him. I think I rembember one situation where someone through something and he was caught by people sitting around him. It sure was a mess watching the Pacers go in the locker room with all the fans lined up to throw stuff at them. What class on there part. As much as the players should be punished the fans should also and I am not just talking about 2 or 3 there should be no less than 20 even though doubtful. You can bet there will be plenty of lawsuits involved.

Artest just got punched in the face and was trying to restrain himself and someone throws some sort of cup full of something on him. This is 100% the fan's fault, they need to be fined and barred from seeing any future Pistons games.

Artest is known for being unstable. It took a lot for him to just walk away from ben Wallace. He does the right thing, goes and lies on the scoring table in agonizing pain, then some jackass throws something on him. I think this one is all on the fans, and I hope artest punched him once for me!

He does the right thing, goes and lies on the scoring table in agonizing pain, then some jackass throws something on him. I think this one is all on the fans, and I hope artest punched him once for me!

In agonizing pain? Wasent he doing an interview with the Indian Pacers radio network? That was pretty ignorant on his part, personally thought. I dont think you can put it all on the fans, but you cant put it all on Artest either. Pretty much all parties involved deserve a substansial amount blame. I do question how Artest can walk away calmly from big Ben Wallace after he shoved him in the face, but when the short, skinny fan threw somthing at him, he came running for a fight. Just my opnion though, everyone is entitled to theirs.

You just can't jump in to the stands like Artest did, no matther what.

Did anyone see that little kid in the stands right next to where Artest jumped on that guy? The little kid looked horrified.

I'd like to see Artest face a very lengthy suspension. The guy is a jackass.

I think the video will show clearly that it was that "innocent" little kid that threw the cup at Artest

Seriously though...I know a lot of people are saying that Artest shouldn't have rushed the stands but I really believe that once that first cup was thrown at Artest sh*t was gonna escalate regardless. If he didn't react I think, and again this is just my gut feeling, that the fans would have thought "hey Artest isn't doing anything, he's free game, let's keep throwing things at him and other Pacers"

Either way I wouldn't be surprised if we're looking at all these guys being out through 2004

this could really kill the pacer's on-court season in a big way... the thing i don't get is why ben got so pissed off to begin with... he's usually held up as what's right in the nba and that foul wasn't flagrant or anything... and especially against a meathead like artest, there was no way anything good was going to come out of that. The ref should have IMMEDIATELY kicked both players (err, i mean all three) out of the game, i mean zero seconds pass, they're both gone. Though it would have been hard to do, in hindsight I think that would have been the only thing to stop the escalation once ben started shoving...

I agree that guy. I dont think you can really blame Ben Wallace for what happend with the fans, but I blame him more than Artest for the initial confrentation. The foul was proboly unessacary, but I dont think it was that hard.

Violence should stay in the crowd, just like it does at soccer games. :D