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Banned for 72 games
From correspondents in New York
November 22, 2004
INDIANA Pacers forward Ron Artest was banned for 72 matches today.
Artest will miss the remainder of the National Basketball Association season, the longest non-drug suspension in league history, commissioner David Stern said today.
Artest was banned for sparking a melee in which Pacers players traded punches with Detroit Pistons supporters in the stands and on the court on Saturday.
The league also announced that Artest's Indiana team-mate, Stephen Jackson, will be suspended for 30 games and Pacers standout Jermaine O'Neal for 20 after they followed Artest into the stands.
Jackson and O'Neal landed solid punches to spectators, O'Neal knocking one man to the court, while Artest punched out another fan when confronted on the court.
Injured Indiana guard Anthony Johnson was suspended five games for his actions.
Four other players received automatic one-game bans for leaving the bench.
Detroit's Ben Wallace, whose shove of Artest in retailiation to a hard foul by the Pacers star, received a six-game suspension that begins with today's game in Charlotte.
After Artest was shoved, he lay on the scorer's table where a spectator hurled a drink that hit him in the head. Artest rose and ran into the stands to confront the fan and bedlam ensued.
Artest's suspension technically will be 73 games because he missed the Pacers' home loss to Orlando, while on an indefinite suspension as league officials investigated the riot, which could still see criminal charges filed.
The previous record length for an NBA suspension unrelated to drugs came in 1997 when Latrell Sprewell was banished for 68 games for choking coach P.J. Carlesimo.
"The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the professionalism and self-control that should fairly be expected from NBA players," Stern said in a statement.
"We must affirm that the NBA will strive to exemplify the best that can be offered by professional sports, and not allow our sport to be debased by what seems to be declining expectations for behavior of fans and athletes alike."
The brawl halted Indiana's victory with 45.9 seconds remaining as players were escorted into their locker rooms by guards while being pelted with plastic bottles, drink cups and other garbage.
Agence France-Presse
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,11460433-23210,00.html
From correspondents in New York
November 22, 2004
INDIANA Pacers forward Ron Artest was banned for 72 matches today.
Artest will miss the remainder of the National Basketball Association season, the longest non-drug suspension in league history, commissioner David Stern said today.
Artest was banned for sparking a melee in which Pacers players traded punches with Detroit Pistons supporters in the stands and on the court on Saturday.
The league also announced that Artest's Indiana team-mate, Stephen Jackson, will be suspended for 30 games and Pacers standout Jermaine O'Neal for 20 after they followed Artest into the stands.
Jackson and O'Neal landed solid punches to spectators, O'Neal knocking one man to the court, while Artest punched out another fan when confronted on the court.
Injured Indiana guard Anthony Johnson was suspended five games for his actions.
Four other players received automatic one-game bans for leaving the bench.
Detroit's Ben Wallace, whose shove of Artest in retailiation to a hard foul by the Pacers star, received a six-game suspension that begins with today's game in Charlotte.
After Artest was shoved, he lay on the scorer's table where a spectator hurled a drink that hit him in the head. Artest rose and ran into the stands to confront the fan and bedlam ensued.
Artest's suspension technically will be 73 games because he missed the Pacers' home loss to Orlando, while on an indefinite suspension as league officials investigated the riot, which could still see criminal charges filed.
The previous record length for an NBA suspension unrelated to drugs came in 1997 when Latrell Sprewell was banished for 68 games for choking coach P.J. Carlesimo.
"The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the professionalism and self-control that should fairly be expected from NBA players," Stern said in a statement.
"We must affirm that the NBA will strive to exemplify the best that can be offered by professional sports, and not allow our sport to be debased by what seems to be declining expectations for behavior of fans and athletes alike."
The brawl halted Indiana's victory with 45.9 seconds remaining as players were escorted into their locker rooms by guards while being pelted with plastic bottles, drink cups and other garbage.
Agence France-Presse
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,11460433-23210,00.html
