Ben Wallace and his Detroit Pistons teammates are kept apart from Indiana's Ron Artest (right) by Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle and official Tommy Nunez, Jr. on November 19 during their game at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich. -- Allen Einstein / Getty Images
What was written
"He (Ron Artest) has teetered on the wall between sanity and insanity for a while, and Friday he fell on the wrong side. No, not fell. Jumped."
-- Detroit Free Press
"No one was killed. But next time, someone might be."
-- Chicago Sun-Times
"Pistons fans want to lambaste Artest for his hard foul, but these are the same people who defended Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman when they sent folks into orbit."
-- Detroit News
"Let's be very clear about this: The melee was caused by fans, drunken fans, riotous fans."
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Not that anyone will remember, but the Indiana Pacers defeated the defending NBA champions on Nov. 19, 2004. Their 97-82 victory over Detroit at the Palace was suspended with 45.9 seconds left after a brawl between players and fans spilled into the stands and onto the court.
Here is a look at the series of events in the brawl involving the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons and fans in Auburn Hills, Mich. The game was stopped when order could not be quickly restored.
It was, by any measure, one of the most disgraceful moments in the history of the NBA, and one of the worst, and most frightening, in the history of professional sports in America.
