And going even farther back, if the fan hadn't thrown a beer onto the court, the whole situation wouldn't have happened. Why would you blame the person that responded rather than the person that instigated?
Just because he's rich and he's in the NBA doesn't mean he has to sit there and let people throw shit at him.

 

Here's an example. Two brothers get in a fight. The younger one keeps bugging the older one, and then the older one slugs the younger one. The younger one runs to mommy and says "he hit me!" What does mom say? Does she tell the older brother, "good job, your brother really deserved it"? No, she tells the younger brother to quit bugging his older brother, and she tells the older brother to not hit his younger brother. If the older brother is smart, he soon realizes that if his younger brother is being a pain in the ass then he's going to get in trouble for slugging him. Then the younger brother gives up on bugging the older brother because he can't get a reaction anymore.

Besides, the fans aren't employees of the NBA. It's not like the NBA can suspend the fans from playing basketball in the NBA.

 

The players get paid so much, they shouldn't have a problem with a little humble pie once in a while. That would be the professional thing to do... to just let it be known that they are unphased by morons who had too many drinks. No matter what happens, if you get mad and show it by doing the wrong thing, some people are going to think less of you for what ever happened, or laugh at you.
Sure it isn't cool to look like you got punked in the spotlight, but I think it's different if you just carry on and appear stong and mature.

 

Bad analogy. Why would the NBA player have to be the big brother in the situation (and even if they were, younger siblings deserves beatings sometimes). They're equals, and IMO, if somebody is stupid enough to throw a beer at another person, he deserves whatever beatdown he receives.
and no, they don't have to suspend the fans, they can ban the asshole that threw the beer, and just not punish the players, because those idiots deserved it.

They get paid a lot of money to play basketball, not to put up with peoples' crap. And yeah, it might be the smarter thing to just carry on and act like it doesn't phase you, but when you're already pissed and somebody just antagonizes you, sometimes you just don't think of the smart thing to do. You can't blame a guy for getting violent for that, it's a natural reaction.

 

great article by steve kerr-
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

 

Wallace can be blamed for instigating the riot, let me set it up for you

Pistons fans are bitter because the team was down by 15 late and had played shitty
Wallace overreacts to a normal foul
Fans adrenaline goes thru the roof as soon as the shove occurred causing hatred towards Artest
Wallace thru a towel at Artest while he was laying on the scorers table
Fans start throwing items after seening wallace throw the towel
All hell breaks loose.

And there is no reason that professional athletes should have to take the BS from fans. Professional athletes arent some freaks in a circus who are to be abused as seen fit by fans. They are there to perform the game not dodge bottles and cups.
How would you all react if you were at your place of work and people just started throwing soda, bottles and chairs at you?

 

:cry:
cry all you want, it all started with ben wallace.

 

:werd:

 

Quit defending your idiot team.

 

why do they bring so much emotion and drama onto the court, just play the damn game...