The brawl that changed everything

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The cup of liquid flew out of the stands at the Palace of Auburn Hills and splattered on Ron Artest, prompting the ugliest melee ever seen on an NBA court and sending the Indiana Pacers into full crisis mode.

They had to get the players, coaches and staff safely out of the visitor's locker room, make sure the Pacers who threw punches at Detroit Pistons fans would be allowed to get on the team plane and out of town without the threat of arrest, and contact lawyers before the inevitable phone call from the commissioner.

And that was only the first 24 hours.

Damage control was just beginning.

"They were very aware they had a big hole to dig out of," current NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, then President of NBA Entertainment, said of the Pacers. "They committed enormous additional resources to doing that. I think there is no magic formula for undoing the kind of damage that the brawl did.

"In part, there were concrete steps they could take but I think there was also a realization that a certain amount of time needed to go by, almost as in any mourning process before people were ready to turn the corner."

Indiana Pacers' Ron Artest is restrained by Austin Croshere before being escorted off the court following their fight with the Detroit Pistons and fans Friday, Nov. 19, 2004, in Auburn Hills, Mich. NBA commissioner David Stern suspended Artest for the remainder of this season, Sunday Nov. 21, 2004, and disciplined eight other members of the Pacers and Pistons, sending a strong message that the league won't tolerate the type of unprecedented violence displayed Friday night. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)(Photo: DUANE BURLESON, AP)

 

The brawl on Nov. 19, 2004 — the 10-year anniversary is Wednesday — was a free-for-all when several players crossed the line and went into the stands. Though it was provoked by the act of the cup-hurling fan, David Stern, then the NBA commissioner, dropped the hammer on the Pacers. In all, nine players from both teams were suspended for a total of 146 games. But the Pacers absorbed the biggest blow with Artest being exiled for the rest of the 2004-05 season and four others also receiving suspensions — Stephen Jackson (30 games), Jermaine O'Neal (25, later reduced to 15), Anthony Johnson (five) and Reggie Miller (one).

But this crisis did not only touch down in the Heartland. In the New York City offices of the NBA, the brawl sparked change as senior executive team members began plans to reform the sale of alcohol late in games, broaden in-arena and team security and implement a new fan code of conduct.

As the league evolved, so did the post-brawl Pacers. Slowly, the Pacers, a proud and respected institution in the NBA, peeled off the Band-Aid, making tough decisions and sweeping changes. Though a string of embarrassing behavior by a handful of players also factored into the transformation, the brawl sparked it all.

"It was a devastating time in the franchise's history," a source close to the Pacers front office told The Star. "All of that combined really got the franchise where they needed to re-invent and rebuild themselves."

INDYSTAR

Timeline of the Pacers-Pistons fans brawl

 

MOVING PAST THE BRAWL

A decade has passed. However, any mention of "The Brawl'" — two words so innocuous in other circles, but in Indianapolis, still a fire-starter of emotions — does not play well here.

As the 10-year anniversary of the incident drew closer, team officials declined interview requests. Rick Fuson, president and chief operating officer of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, released a statement that read in part: "In the aftermath we repeatedly expressed our regret and disappointment but after a number of years came to a collective decision that we would be moving on. Therefore, we will not comment further and instead continue to focus on the positive accomplishments of the team and the franchise on and off the court."

The Star also reached out to but did not get responses from several former Pacers, including Artest (now known as Metta World Peace and playing in China) and Jackson. O'Neal replied to an interview request via text message, stating that he would "respectfully decline" and had "NO interest in talking about anything that has to do with the brawl or anything thing (sic) that's associated with it! Life has moved on and so have I." Miller and Johnson also declined to comment.

The widespread refusal to remember that Friday night in Detroit is understandable. After all, the Pacers were fresh from a year when they had the best regular-season record in the NBA and played six games deep into the Eastern Conference finals. Then at the start of the 2004-05 season, the Pacers jumped to a 6-2 start (and would beat the defending NBA champion Pistons by 15 points in the game halted by the brawl). They were the early favorite — a young and talented core jelling into a powerhouse — until the brawl happened.

Indiana Pacers' Stephen Jackson (1) is escorted off the court by following their fight with the Detroit Pistons and fans Friday, Nov. 19, 2004, in Auburn Hills, Mich. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)(Photo: DUANE BURLESON, AP)

 

"You never know what's going to happen but we knew we were good. We knew we had a chance to be awfully good that year," said the source. "I thought that team could've won a championship."

Instead, the Pacers finished the year 44-38. It would be the franchise's last season over .500 until 2011-12.

After the suspensions were announced, team owner Herb Simon called the commissioner's ruling "unprecedented and inappropriate." There was also a sense that security at the Palace of Auburn Hills was profoundly inadequate and that the situation wouldn't have gotten out of hand had the arena been better staffed. However, the self-pity and second-guessing could not last; the organization had a major image problem on its hands.

Three days after the brawl, the Pacers called a news conference and CEO Donnie Walsh apologized for the team's "part in it." During that time, the Pacers brought in professionals experienced in navigating crisis situations and reached out to national firms for advice. Members of the executive staff met with focus groups to better gauge the team's position in the community.

The Pacers knew they could not rebuild credibility overnight, so they took the small steps in turning a nightmare into a positive. Three months after the image-damaging brawl, the team announced plans to donate $2.4 million in suspended-player salaries to local children's charities.

The Pacers weren't alone in attempting to re-brand. In New York City, another image makeover was under way.

'A VERY SIGNIFICANT RESPONSE'

That Friday night in November, Silver, who oversaw broadcast and media relationships, was watching the Pacers-Pistons game alone in his New York City apartment. The events that night sparked a very long weekend for him.

After gathering videotapes from television trucks, transporting them to New York and setting up the Sunday night news conference at Madison Square Garden where Stern would deliver the judgment, Silver joined several other senior executives in the league office to form a group to address the problems that led to the brawl.

Months later, the league established arena guidelines for security personnel. In the past, the NBA had hired some police and even former Secret Service agents as security, but the brawl led to teams bringing in more experienced personnel. In 2007, the Pacers hired former FBI agent John Gray to lead team security. Gray was one of three agents who brought down Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber.

"We always had league security deployed at every (arena)," Silver said, "but there were many lessons learned from this incident, so we enhanced the security at every (game) and that included enhancing some of the background of some of the security people as well. …There was a major upgrade after this incident, across the board."

BKN-BRAWL -- Pacers' player Jermaine O'Neal looks to one of his attorneys during pretrial hearings regarding the Indiana Pacers' players involved in the brawl at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Nov. 19. Photos taken at 52nd District Court in Rochester Hills, Mich. on January 25, 2005. (Gannett News Service, Robin Buckson/The Detroit News)(Photo: ROBIN BUCKSON, GNS)

The NBA also revised arena guidelines that restricted "the size (24 ounces) and number (two) of alcoholic beverages sold per individual customer" and also banned the sale of alcohol during the fourth quarter. In addition, the NBA defined a nine-point code of conduct for fans that still is displayed throughout arenas and announced before games.

"This was certainly one of the most difficult events that we encountered," said Russ Granik, the former NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer. "We had never seen anything like this. We realized immediately that it's going to have a very large impact on the league and it would require a very significant response. I don't think there was any doubt about that."

In 2005, the league started NBA Cares, an outreach initiative, and also mandated a dress code requiring players to wear "business casual" attire whenever engaged in team or league business. Though Silver and Granik deny that the creation of NBA Cares and the dress code happened as a direct result of the brawl, the brawl did add to a growing image problem the league was battling.

"It wasn't just the brawl but there was a generalization being made often by the public and sometimes by the media … that our players were thugs," Silver said. "It was a malicious and unfair stereotype about a group of 450 men.

"The great deeds of hundreds of players were being overshadowed by acts of a very few," Silver continued. We just had to accept the responsibility that we were not doing a good enough job telling the positive stories about our players and we needed a platform to do that, and that led to the launch of NBA Cares."

CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

In the years following the brawl, the battle against the public's indifference raged on as the Pacers sought to regain a once-passionate fan base. During that time, the team responded by changing the faces of the franchise.

In December 2005, Artest demanded a trade and soon got one. In October 2006, Jackson faced felony and misdemeanor charges after firing a gun outside a strip club and was traded near the first of the year. The team asked point guard Jamaal Tinsley not to show up in 2008. And earlier that same summer, the Pacers dealt O'Neal to Toronto.

The moves — the team brought in more character but less talent — led to five straight losing seasons and fans stopped filling the then-Conseco Fieldhouse. From an average of 16,994 fans per game in 2004-05, 17th in the league, Pacers attendance dipped to 12,221 in 2008, last in the NBA.

But the O'Neal trade returned Roy Hibbert. In 2010, the Pacers found Paul George in the draft. A year later on draft night, they traded for a point guard, George Hill. Finally, they found their rock, David West, through free agency.

AUBURN HILLS, MI - NOVEMBER 19: Ron Artest #91 of the Indiana Pacers is escorted out of the Palace by Chuck Person following a melee on November 19, 2004 during their game against the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, in Auburn Hills, Michigan. (Photo by Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ron Artest;Chuck Person(Photo: Getty Images, Getty Images)

 

The necessary roster decisions, as painful as they might have been, led to the reshaping of the Pacers and appearances in the Eastern Conference finals the past two seasons.

Also, 10 years later, the NBA has not experienced another event as devastating as the brawl — a credit to the league's response.

"Out of a horrible incident like this," said Stu Jackson, former NBA Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations, "some positive changes came about. As bad as the incident was, it was also an opportunity to define who we were as a league, as teams and players, and make a statement that this type of incident wouldn't be tolerated. I think all we could expect of ourselves at the time was that we address the situation appropriately and move forward."

So, after that cup, those blows and finally, the hammer of judgment, both the Pacers and the NBA emerged better than before the brawl. Even now, their decisions and changes can still be felt 10 years later.

"I'd say we began after the brawl monitoring in a very analytical way fan perception of our players and our game. And in the 10 years since then, we've seen a marked change in perception, to the positive, of our players by our fans and by the public," Silver said. "The end result is, jump ahead to 2014 and our players are held in high esteem by the public and the NBA's never been at a better time in its history in terms of its popularity. So it's a great case study on turnaround over 10 years."

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2014/11/15/10-year-anniversary-of-the-pacers-pistons-brawl/19041361/

Edited November 16, 2014 by OliviaPope40