According to later investigative reports, there were only three police officers at the scene at the Auburn Hills Palace Arena that night to maintain order. The Pistons and Pacers deployed their entire crews to barely pull the players off the stand. As soon as the players returned to the court, an aggressive fan took the opportunity to sneak up onto the court and chase after them to fight the Pacers players.

"Some of the fans ran up to the pitch and yelled as they went, 'I've got to punch this,' 'I've got to punch that,' and when they approached the player, they realized, 'I can't even reach his face.'" Pacers center Scot Pollard recalled.

During the standoff, Xiao O's knocked down an incoming Pistons fan on the court, and the Pistons fan, Charlie Haddad, had threatened Yao Ming on the sidelines, according to a later report by the Detroit News. This undoubtedly infuriated the emotions of the Pistons fans at the scene even more. The Pacers' coaching staff began to realize that they had to get the players off the court and back to the locker room right away, and assistant coach Chuck Person was the first to escort Artest out, and at the entrance of the tunnel, the Pistons fans' debris rained down like a torrential rain, and both of them were wet.

At the same time, the police who came out to maintain order on the field took out the pepper sprayers commonly used for the rioting crowd, whether it was the players or the fans, it was sprayed correctly. Reggie Miller, who was still playing for the Pacers at the time, but couldn't go into battle in a suit that night, begged the police: "Don't spray me, my suit is hundreds of dollars for me!" ”

"Ten minutes before the incident, we couldn't see the police at all, and all of a sudden, they were pointing at us with pepper sprayers." Xiao Ao said.

Pistons player Darvin Ham asked his wife to watch the game on the sidelines with his two precious sons that day, and when they saw this scene, they were directly scared and cried.

"My youngest son, Donovan, was only 4 years old, and he was crying when he saw all this, and his older brother was not much older, and he took his brother in his arm and patted him on the head to comfort him," Ham recalled. In addition to him, I also saw a lot of frightened looks on the faces of children. ”

The Pacers players and coach ran back to the locker room in the "rain of bullets" from the fans, and coach Rick Carlisle wanted to calm down the players.

"When we were pretty much calmed down, Ron asked, 'Jack, do you think we're in big trouble?' Stephen Jackson recalled, "Tinsley burst out laughing, 'Ron, are you kidding?' Troublesome? It's a blessing that we can continue to play in this league! It was only then that I realized that Ron had completely lost his mind in the previous period. ”

Artest's trouble was imminent, because of the alleged attack on fans and brawls, the police on the scene were ready to arrest him and take him back to the police station to deal with it, Pacers assistant coach Kevin O'Neal (Kevin O'Neal) had an idea, put Artai on the team bus in advance, and ignored the police no matter how they called. The Pacers eventually left the arena and flew back to Indianapolis on a charter flight overnight.

The severity of the punishment is unprecedented

The next day was Saturday, and crisis PR could not wait. Stern issued a scathing statement through the league early in the morning: "Last night's events were shocking, disgusting, and no excuses, and a disgrace to everyone associated with the NBA!" Our investigation is ongoing and is expected to be completed tomorrow night. ”

"There were a lot of factors that contributed to this brawl, if Artest didn't foul Ben Wallace, if Ben Wallace didn't overreact, if the referee on duty didn't take control of the situation right away, if Artest didn't lie down on the record table, if that fan didn't throw that beer...... This series of events, as long as any one of them had not happened, this brawl could have been avoided," Stern still recalls 10 years later, "and it happened, the players lost control, the fans lost control, the referee couldn't control the situation, and the security could have done better, which is really terrible!" ”

Even more terrifying was yet to come, 48 hours after the brawl, that weekend, the Auburn Hills Palace fight became the focus of media attention in the United States and around the world, and NBA players instantly equated with villains and hooligans.

"I think the media has misrepresented this incident," Davon Ham said, "and out-of-control NBA players have made headlines, we have become 'mad blacks,' and fan behavior has been ignored intentionally or unintentionally." I know the fans talk a lot about our players' shots or dribbles, but I've also heard them curse at our wives and kids, throw things over our heads, and do things that go beyond the boundary, and that's the world we live in. ”

Despite all the grievances of the players, Stern knows better than anyone that there is only one solution left for him: severe punishment. "I listened to a lot of people about this punishment, but I knew it was a decision I had to make." Stern said.

Nine players, including Artai and Big Ben, were suspended, bringing the total number of bans to 146 games, which is the largest non-drug-related ticket issued by the NBA to date, and all players who have been fined have lost a total of about $10 million in wages.

The worst was Artest, who was disqualified from all games that season, with 73 regular season games and 13 playoffs for a total of 86 games, and a direct salary loss of nearly $5 million.

"I started to think that Ron was going to be suspended for 10 games," Larry Bird said, "and a lot of people made bad decisions that night, and Ron and the Pacers took full responsibility." ”

There are also those who don't think so, like Stephen Jackson.

"I really think Stern is a light penalty, he could have kicked us all out of the league easily, of course that's just my opinion," said Jackson, who is suspended for 30 games, "It's cruel to give up $3 million, but if I can stay in this league, I'd rather give up that 3 million, I don't want to run out of balls." ”

Artest, Jackson, O'O, Anthony Johnson and David Harrison were taken to court along with fans for the beatings, and the five ended up not in jail but were sentenced to community service, and the fan named Green, who threw beer at Atay, became the only one involved in prison and served 30 days in prison.

The biggest victim of this brawl was actually the Pacers, a team that was expected to help Reggie Miller achieve his championship dream at the end of his career.

"That Pacers team never recovered, and it had a big impact on our team," Pistons coach Brown said, "and not just those two teams, but the image of the league as a whole, and it took years for the NBA to get back on track." ”

In the aftermath of the brawl, Stern realized that adjustments had to be made immediately, and he quickly summarized three new rules for the team: 1. Players must never enter the spectators, and any problems must be resolved through security first, 2. Fans must be responsible for their words and actions, and cannot do whatever they want in NBA arenas just because they have bought a ticket, and BA will review the security plans of all arenas, and teams must make adjustments as requested.

In just three months, the NBA, under Stern's leadership, developed a detailed code of conduct for fans, which regulates how fans behave in NBA arenas. There are two most important ones: 1. The maximum capacity of alcoholic beverages sold to fans in the stadium cannot exceed 710 ml, and each person is only allowed to buy a maximum of two glasses, and after the third quarter of the game, the stadium is not allowed to sell alcoholic beverages to fans; 2. Arrange at least three professional security guards between the players and spectators of each team, and set up assistance at the entrance of the passage in the stadium.

Fans who have the opportunity to watch games in NBA arenas in the future may wish to pay attention to the fact that before each game, the stadium radio will read out the content of the fan code of conduct one by one, and the staff wearing black suits and police uniforms facing the audience on the court are the security guards of the NBA arena and feel their dedication.

"We have to protect the best seats in the NBA arena," Stern said, "and that's the sideline seats, and that's where our players and fans feel comfortable and happy, and anyone who tries to break this has to be punished severely!" ”

In Xiao Ao's view, the Auburn Hills palace brawl incident has another impact.

"To be honest, I think that's why the league started introducing a dress code [in 2005-06], because all of a sudden the NBA was 'out of control'! I watched the commentators, the so-called pundits commenting on TV, that the NBA is so hip-hop, and it has shocked me that an NBA commentator would say something like this, does the music you like determine what kind of person you are? Not long after the brawl, the dress code came! ”

(Li Shuangfu)