On November 19, 2004, Malice at the Palace, the most infamous brawl in NBA history, took place.
With less than a minute left in the game, a fight broke out on the court between several players. After the fight was broken up, a fan threw a drink from the stands at Pacers player Ron Artest while he was lying on the scorer’s table. Artest then entered the crowd and sparked a massive brawl between players and fans that stretched onto the court.
After the game, the NBA suspended nine players for a total of 146Â games, which led to $11Â million in salary being lost by the players. Five players were also charged with assault, and eventually sentenced to a year of probation and community service. Five fans also faced criminal charges and were banned from attending Pistons home games for life.
Now, while being a guest on The Hoop Chat with Emily Austin, Sandiford-Artest reflected on the infamous brawl.
“I feel like Malice would’ve happened anyway. Even if I was calm, or whatever the case may be, I was calm. I was actually breathing on that table, kind of going through some real-time meditation. You couldn’t prepare for someone to hit you, so that would’ve probably happened regardless… It was a red cup of beer. I don’t even know what’s going through my mind because it happened so quickly. It was like half a second where I got up. I was like, ‘No way nobody just hit me’. I was furious, as you could see.”
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