Artest gone for the season

[slinslin]

Al McCoy just said that Stern announced in New Jersey that Artest is likely suspended for the remainder of the year?

 

[arthurracoon]

Press Confrence is at 4:20.

McCoy says that they have been indicated that Artest is out for the season.

 

[Chaplin]

Artest: out for season
Stephen Jackson: 30 Games
Jermaine O'Neal: 25 Games
Ben Wallace: 6 Games
Anthony Johnson: 5 Games

4 other players have received 1-game suspensions

 

[Chaplin]

t appears the Indiana Pacers will pay a heavy price for Friday's embarrassing melee.

Ron Artest has been suspended for the season, while teammates Stephen Jackson received a 30-game suspension, and Jermaine O'Neal, a 25-game suspension, ESPN.com's Marc Stein and Insider Chad Ford have learned.

"The penalties issued today deal only with one aspect of this incident -- that of player misconduct. The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the professionalism and self control that should rarely be accepted from NBA players," commissioner David Stern said in a statement Sunday.

The Detroit Pistons will be without Ben Wallace for six games.

Indiana's Anthony Johnson also received a five-game suspension.

Eldon Campbell, Chauncey Billups and Derrick Coleman, as the Pacers' Reggie Miller each received 1-game suspensions and $35,000 fines for leaving the bench following the initial altercation between Wallace and Artest.

"We must ... not allow our sport to be debased by what seems to be declining expectations for behavior by fans and athletes alike," Stern said in the statement.

Artest, O'Neal and Jackson -- who all threw punches at spectators in the stands or on the court at the end of the nationally televised Pacers-Pistons game -- began serving suspensions Saturday night when the league handed down indefinite bans until specific number of games could be decided upon.

The brawl was particularly violent, with Artest and Jackson bolting into the stands near center court and throwing punches at fans after debris was tossed at the players.

Later, fans who came onto the court were punched in the face by Artest and O'Neal.

Wallace began the fracas by delivering a hard, two-handed shove to Artest after Wallace was fouled on a drive to the basket with 45.9 seconds remaining. After the fight ended, the referees called off the remainder of the game. Pacers players were pelted with drinks, popcorn and other debris as they rushed to the locker room. The initial skirmish wasn't all that bad, with Artest retreating to the scorer's table and lying atop it after Wallace sent him reeling backward.

But when a fan tossed a cup at Artest, he stormed into the stands, throwing punches as he climbed over seats.

"He was on top of me, pummeling me," fan Mike Ryan of Clarkston said. "He asked me, 'Did you do it? I said, 'No, man. No!"'

Jackson joined Artest and threw punches at fans, who punched back. At one point, a chair was tossed into the fray.

Security personnel and ushers tried to break it up. Former Pistons player Rick Mahorn, who was seated courtside as a Detroit radio analyst, also stepped in.

Artest was benched for two games this month for asking Pacers coach Rick Carlisle for time off because of a busy schedule that included promoting a rap album.

Artest was suspended twice by the NBA last season, once for leaving the bench during a fracas at a Pacers-Celtics playoff game; the other for elbowing Portland's Derek Anderson. During the 2002-03 season, Artest was suspended five times by the NBA and once by the Pacers for a total of 12 games.

Artest also once grabbed a television camera and smashed it to the ground after a loss to the Knicks two years ago.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

 

[King A]

still the pacers are screwed...

 

[AmareFan]

bye, bye Indiana....

 

[Chaplin]

The Maloofs must be saying, "Thank God we didn't trade for Artest, thank God we didn't trade for Artest!"

 

[arthurracoon]

still the pacers are screwed...

oh yea

 

[O]

He'll have plenty of time to promote his CD now.

 

[thirty-two]

Have fun with your rap album Artest

 

[thirty-two]

He'll have plenty of time to promote his CD now.

lol crap you beat me by like 4 seconds!

 

[arthurracoon]

He'll have plenty of time to promote his CD now.

 

[George O'Brien]

I can't remember anything like this. Based on early season play, I had the Pacers penciled in as the team to beat in the East. Considering the erratic play of the Pistons so far, it is beginning to look like the Heat have backed into projected top seed. Who'd a thunk.

My only concern with this is that it may encourage some idiot fans to duplicate the effort. "Start a riot and end your rival's season".

 

[sunsfn]

Wallace should have gotten more than 6 games. As far as I am concerned, he started the whole thing instead of just going to the line and shooting his free throws. It is baloney to say he should have retaliated like he did against Artest, I personally do not like Artest, but he fouled Wallace and it was not a flagrant foul. I read where some said Artest should not have fouled Wallace at all with the game under control with the Pacers winning, but that is not the way players play the game especially defensive players like Artest.

I agree with the suspension to Artest for going in the stands etc. and for the other suspensions, but Wallace got off too easy!!!!

 

[arthurracoon]

My only concern with this is that it may encourage some idiot fans to duplicate the effort. "Start a riot and end your rival's season".

In that case, the players must run off the court. Maybe the national media will call you a sissy, however, that way you dont get suspended w/o pay, and screw your team.

 

[slinslin]

I think it is a joke that Artest got the most severe suspension.

Ben Wallace should have gotten way more.

In the Suns-Clips game Simmons fouled Amare harder than what Artest did and the Suns were up 10 and nothing happened out of that of course.

 

[NickelBack]

Artest: out for season
Stephen Jackson: 30 Games
Jermaine O'Neal: 25 Games

I think the NBA is sending the correct signal here to its palyers.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Artest got to much. I was hoping for near 30 for each. Artest doesn't deserve more than Jackson IMO.

 

[NickelBack]

Artest doesn't deserve more than Jackson IMO.

You could make the case for Jackson being gone for the year as well.

 

[George O'Brien]

You could make the case for Jackson being gone for the year as well.

Probably. Artest was hurt by his history of bad behavior.

 

[arthurracoon]

Probably. Artest was hurt by his history of bad behavior.

Stern said that past behavior did factor in a bit.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

See, I actually think Jackson and Artest could have reversed penalties.

Sure Artest was the first one in the stands, but he had a reason to go in (although not a very good one).

Jackson went in just to join a fight, and possibly connected more punches.

 

[carey]

Keep in mind that we probably haven't seen ALL of what happened. The league has access to more tape than what is shown all over ESPN and other news stations. There could be more to this than we have seen or read about.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Artest is lucky he gets to come back next season. What if he would have killed that fan? Would he have gotten a bigger suspension. Maybe next time.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

The league has access to more tape than what is shown all over ESPN and other news stations. There could be more to this than we have seen or read about.

I got access to all (or I assume all) of the NBA exclusive tape (through work). There really wasn't much more than was shown on ESPN