RealGM

Jermaine O'Neal doesn't say much but does make a mention of it being in the works during a interview with Charlie Clifford.

I might have to watch it, but there is a part of me that has difficulty remembering those troubled times. I'm really glad the organization has made some headway in the eyes of the public, but it's still not a good thing to be remembered for.

Nope. Saw it happen live and lived through this forum during that. Only time I’ve ever seen RealGM lock whole forums.

I still believe David $tern had an agenda at the time to do anything in his power to prevent a Pacers/Spurs final in the wake of the Shaq/Kobe breakup.

Now into my 30's, I'll never let that one go for as long as I live.

HurricaneDij25 wrote:I still believe David $tern had an agenda at the time to do anything in his power to prevent a Pacers/Spurs final in the wake of the Shaq/Kobe breakup.

Now into my 30's, I'll never let that one go for as long as I live.

I haven't heard that one.

I've always penciled it in as David Stern taking the harshest action (for PR reasons) against those that did the worst looking things on television, with almost no punishment for those that caused or exacerbated the entire incident.

I'd have felt better about the entire incident if the Pistons would've had to play a home game in an empty stadium for one game as a punishment of the actions of the fans and failure of security that night.

Scoot McGroot wrote:Nope. Saw it happen live and lived through this forum during that. Only time I’ve ever seen RealGM lock whole forums.

I'm indifferent. I'm not sure what i would do. But at that time i was posting on basketballboards.net, i dont think they're active anymore and things were wild in there too. I remember they were suspending people left and right.

As for the game, I didn't even watch it live. I was a college student and if i recall that was a Friday night. Obviously there wasn't really smartphones at the time and somehow preparing for a college party i heard there was an incident at the Pacers game. We turned to ESPNews and it was on breaking news. I literally sat there all night, skipped the party, and just watched the coverage. I want to say espn was live until like 2 or 3 am. I remember telling my friends this would be the end of the Pacers as i knew them, it would destroy them. I was somewhat right, but anyways, think it will always be a nightmare looking back on it until the Pacers win a championship.

What a rivalry that was though between the Pacers and the Pistons.

Scoot McGroot wrote:

HurricaneDij25 wrote:I still believe David $tern had an agenda at the time to do anything in his power to prevent a Pacers/Spurs final in the wake of the Shaq/Kobe breakup.

Now into my 30's, I'll never let that one go for as long as I live.

I haven't heard that one.

I've always penciled it in as David Stern taking the harshest action (for PR reasons) against those that did the worst looking things on television, with almost no punishment for those that caused or exacerbated the entire incident.

I'd have felt better about the entire incident if the Pistons would've had to play a home game in an empty stadium for one game as a punishment of the actions of the fans and failure of security that night.

My overall point here is that anyone who argues that $tern handed Artest the season-long suspension "to set a precedent to protect the integrity of the game" can spare me the BS. Because $tern never gave two shts about the integrity of the game, he only cared about the $$$$.

There's going to come a day where I'll grow some balls and wear my Artest #23 jersey to a game in Detroit.