The WORST Night In NBA HISTORY (The Malice At The Palace)

what's up guys Mike here and today we're going to take a look at one of the most controversial moments in NBA history I'm talking of course about the malice at the palace now if you don't know what happened on this night you are in for a surprise because on November 19th 2004 several members of the Indiana Pacers such as Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson ended up going into the stands of an NBA game to fight fans who had taunted them but before we can get to that story we first need to set the stage for what happened on that horrible night November 19th 2004 will forever be remembered as one of if not the worst moments in MBA history the malice at the palace would put a black mark on the National Basketball Association that would take years to recover from it would forever change the careers of Ron artists Stephen Jackson Jermaine O'Neal and it would change the Indiana Pacers from a contender to a team that would spend close to a decade searching for an identity but before the fight before the throne cup before our test laid himself down on the table November 19th 2004 was just a regular season basketball game a game that would feature two teams who were very much in contention to win the NBA championship the Detroit Pistons entered the 2005 NBA season as defending NBA champions the year before they had been a star-studded Los Angeles Lakers team led by for Hall of Famers in a victory that would prove to be monumental in terms of NBA history the Pistons led by Chauncey Billups Rip Hamilton tayshaun Prince Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace are the only team in NBA history to win a championship without a player who was ever a member of the first team all-nba they were a team without a star and they beat a team full of stars a true reminder that basketball is just that a team game and while everyone remembers the 2004 NBA championship win against the Lakers they often forget the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals against the Pacers the Pacers under coach Rick Carlisle had finished the 2004 season with the best record in the NBA winning 61 games with a combination of talent and a rough defensive play style the regular season matchups between the Pacers and the pistons were knock out Affairs filled with bad blood and there was certainly no love lost in their 2004 Eastern Conference Finals matchup the series was physical competitive and featured a signature moment that would foreshadow the future events to come with four minutes left and the score tied in what would be the deciding game six Ron Artest hit rip amel ttan with an elbow to the face this foul was determined to be flagrant and it would not soon be forgotten Ron Artest flagrant foul would later be considered the most important play in the game because the foul lit a fire in the Detroit Pistons which led to them gaining momentum and ultimately the win which meant the Pacers went home without a chance to defend their home court on game set but still they believed they were the better team and were determined to prove themselves to the world and already in the young 2005 NBA season the Pacers had begun to build their case that they were the better team led by Ron Artest and their new addition Stephen Jackson the Pacers begin the season with a 6 and 2 record taking a lead in the standings over the Pistons at 4 and 3 our tests in particular had begun to play at a superstar level already known as one of the best defenders in the league are tested also begun to significantly raise his offensive level of play in the 2004 season he averaged 18 points per game was the Defensive Player of the Year was an all-star and was named all-nba third team in his first six games of the 2005 season Artest was averaging close to 25 points a game to go along with 6 rebounds 3 assists and the best defense in the league this was going to be the season where he took the leap where his name would rise into the discussion of the best players in the NBA and then his temper got the best of him which brings us to November 19th 2004 otherwise known as the malleus at the palace at the time this just looked like another regular season marquee matchup between two premier teams this game was on national television it had star power it had the defending chairs playing a team that desperately wanted to beat them this game should have been one of the great moments to remember in the 2005 season but as we already have seen with the bad blood between these two teams the seats had been planted for absolute disaster but at first this game did not seem like a disaster for the Pacers in fact it seemed like the complete opposite with just 57 seconds left in the game Stephen Jackson knocked down two free throws giving Indiana a 15-point lead over the defending champions the Pacers had dominated the Pistons on their home court sending a message to the NBA that there was a new top dog in town but throughout the game there were clear signs that this was not a friendly matchup on both sides with around seven minutes left Rip Hamilton elbow Jamaal Tinsley in the back and what looked like a flagrant foul sending the Pacers bench into an uproar then with a minute in the half left Wallace knock Ron Artest into the basket support after a block adding more fuel to the fire a fire that would eventually lead to this with under a minute remaining Ben Wallace caught a pass in the post turned and put up a layup in traffic he was fouled by Ron Artest it was a hard foul nothing more but at this stage in the game with the outcome decided Ben Wallace saw the style as unnecessary and so his emotions got the best Wallace hit our test with a hard shove which immediately led to a near brawl both teams emptied their benches in an attempt to separate the two players and at first their efforts seemed to be successful but in an effort to calm down and enraged Ben Wallace no one paid attention to Ron Artest in what can only be considered a strange decision our tests removed himself from the situation by laying down on the scorer's table he was showered down with a collection of booze from Pistons fans this was no problem to Rondo he was a pro he was used to getting booed what he was not used to was getting a cup of beer thrown onto his vase it would come from a Detroit Pistons fan named John Green amidst the commotion of a near brawl between two of the best teams in the NBA Green lobbed a cup of beer in the direction of Ron Artest his throw was a direct hit spilling ice and beer all over our test chest and face immediately he sprang to action ready to punish the man responsible see this Pacers radio play-by-play man Mark Boyle attempted to stop it but our test was six-foot-seven 250 pounds of pure muscle he trampled overboiled fracturing five of Boyle's vertebrae in his attempts to get into the stands and in an attempt to back up his teammate Stephen Jackson followed the two players were in the area of the thrown Cup in an instant but in the confusion Artest grabbed the wrong fan a man named Michael Ryan and threw him to the ground our tests rocked Ryan back and forth screaming at him did you do it as Ryan tried desperately to tell him that he had made a mistake as this happened John Green the man who actually threw the cup attempted to put Ron Artest in a headlock this led to another fan throwing a cup of beer at our test at close range spraying beer all over Stephen Jackson Jackson responded to this by throwing a haymaker at the fan who threw the beers hit and then continued to try to punch him as several players fans and security tried to defuse the situation this mayhem unraveled to EGH live national television audience with Bill Walton putting everyone's thoughts into words saying simply this is a disgrace finally a combination of people grabbed our tests leading him down to the core and while the situation in the stands was clearly an issue things were no better on the actual court it was so chaotic Tinh fact that two Pistons fans made their way onto the court to approach our test AJ Shackleford and Charlie Haddad got in our tests way as he was led to the Pacers locker room almost instantly a screaming Shackleford was punched by our tests in the face the punch immediately knocked him down and he brought his friend dad down with him what happened next almost brought this horrible situation to an even worse level walking near our tests Jermaine O'Neal saw the two fans and decided to take action O'Neal attempted to land a running knock out punch directly out of dad's face but slipped in his attempted action and thank God he did because if this punch had landed it would have caused serious potentially life-threatening damage luckily for everyone involved his punch was off the mark just glancing the side of Haddad's face this would be the last of the Pacers players despicable actions of the night but they still had to be led into the locker room as they were practically carried into the tunnel the Pistons fans continue to show no mercy to their enemies disgusted by the actions of the opposing team the fans continued to rain down cups of beer on the Pacers players and staff with Mike Breen saying what a disgraceful sign by the Pistons fans here it was clear that this was a dangerous situation for all involved with rick carlisle later saying I felt like I was fighting for my life out there finally finally things calm down and the players made it into the locker room without further incident but it was clear that several players reprehensible actions needed to be dealt with and the aftermath of the mouse at the pass would alter the course of NBA history forever the very next day David Stern released a statement saying the events at last night's game were shocking repulsive and in excusive he would go on to promise an investigation and made it clear that the punishment would be severe and they were Ron Artest was suspended for the remainder of the NBA season without pay he would take the biggest financial hit of all involved losing over five million dollars and to this day his 86 game suspension which includes playoff games is the longest non drug-related suspension in NBA history as for the other players Stephen Jackson received a 30 game suspension Jermaine O'Neal got 15 games and Ben Wallace was suspended for six games several other players were also suspended in the aftermath and the situation was serious enough to be taken to court the players in the incident got off with only fines and community service agreements while John Green was charged with 30 days of jail time for throwing the cup that started the zone and while all this was clearly bigger than basketball the mouth of the house did have a huge impact on the NBA and the Pacers as a whole remember after November 19th the Pacers now stood at 7 and 2 they had just couldn't Vincent Lee beat their biggest rival and shown the world that they were the team in the Eastern Conference this season but now with their star player suspended for the whole year their title hopes were ruined Indiana would go on to have a decent season put again were knocked out of the playoffs by Detroit creating a Finals matchup between the Pistons and the Spurs that may never have happened if Ron Artest did not go into those stands and speaking of Ron Artest his career would never be the same the next season he demanded a trade and ended up on the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento our test was solid but he never quite reached the superstar level that it looks like he was headed for in Indiana which raises a great NBA what if how good would Ron Artest have been if he could just control his temper and as for the Pacers the loss of our test led to a severe drop of town in their overall franchise their team had lost not only their best player but their heart and their soul and it showed as Indiana would not become a serious championship contender again until 2013 and thank you for watching guys I hope you liked this video on the mouse at the pass to all my current subscribers I just want to say thank you thank you for supporting me thank you for watching my videos thank you for everything and if you haven't subscribed and you like the NBA I make videos like this I do what if videos I do a whole bunch here basically if you like basketball I think you'll love this channel and I'd love to have you subscribe and one more quick note guys do you like this t-shirt it says threes / twos it's simple math I don't know my friend made it I thought it might be cool so tell me in the comments what you think and as always my dudes have an awesome day and cue them

Channel: Mike Korzemba

Views: 3,876,481

Rating: 4.8501363 out of 5

Keywords: malice at the palace, ron artest fighting a fan, nba, ron artest fight, malice at the palice, indiana pacers fighting fans, mike korzemba, indiana pacers detroit pistons malice at the palace, indiana pacers, detroit pistons, ron artest punch, ron artest fight highlights, best nba fights, greatest nba fights, nba history, mike korz, nba what if, nba conspiracy, nba conspiracies

Id: C8VYYLO6z6w

Length: 12min 1sec (721 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 13 2016