On November 19th, 2004, a fight erupted in the final minute of a lopsided Pacers-Pistons game, and escalated into one of the ugliest scenes in modern NBA history.
Ben Wallace took issue with a foul from Ron Artest, now Metta World Peace, and responded with a hard shove to Artest’s chest. Moments later, just as the teams seemed to be separating, a fan launched a cup of beer toward the group of players, which hit Artest in the chest. Artest then jumped into the stands and attacked a fan, and other Pacers jumped over seats to back him up. In all, the resulting suspensions cost the involved players a total of 146 games, led by Artest, who was suspended for the remainder of the season.
15 years later, Reggie Miller – who did not play for the Pacers that night but earned a 1-game suspension for entering the stands – recapped the chaos during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show. Miller said that the Pacers weren’t concerned for their safety leaving the arena that night, but there was talk of “assassins” when Indiana returned later in the season. That game was delayed after multiple bomb threats were called into the Palace.
“When we played them again and had to come to the Palace, that’s when the issues of safety [arose], because people were calling in bomb threats. There were supposed to be hitmen and assassins, it was, like, crazy. We had to stay on the bus – I’m not kidding you – two hours, we couldn’t even go into the Palace the next time we came to play the Pistons because there were so many bomb scares. The police presence was unbelievable.”
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