Mass Brawl Ends With Mass Suspensions

The NBA has never seen anything like it. It made Eric Cantona's flying kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan look like a minor disagreement. When two of the league's top stars invaded the stands to punch and kick their way through fans, leaving nine people requiring treatment for injuries, unprecedented disciplinary action was required. A total suspension of 143 games spread between nine players was fair enough.

The incident happened on Friday night, when the Indiana Pacers travelled to world champions and Eastern Conference Central rivals Detroit Pistons. With the Pacers leading 97-82 going into the last minute, Indiana's Ron Artest unnecessarily pushed Detroit's Ben Wallace in the back as he went for a lay-up. When Wallace retaliated with a full-on, two-fisted punch in Artest's face, all hell broke loose.

The 10 players on court, the replacements, coaches and security officials all became embroiled in a vicious brawl which took five minutes to calm down. Artest, resting on the scorer's table, was then hit by a beer bottle thrown from the crowd, and proceeded to charge into the stands to find the guilty party.

Seeing his 6ft 7in team-mate take on this solitary mission, Stephen Jackson followed Artest, and the two traded punches with a posse of home fans. Eventually police dragged them back onto the court, only to be met by an invasion from angered supporters. Further fighting ensued, with Pacers superstar Jermaine O'Neal particularly aggressive in handing out right hooks amid a torrent of flying beer vessels, popcorn and, more seriously, chairs. Young fans were televised crying at what they were witnessing.

The NBA's commissioner David Stern branded the scenes "shocking, repulsive and inexcusable" before imposing bans which American basketball has never seen before. Artest was suspended for the rest of the season - 74 games - while Jackson received a 30-game ban and Jermaine O'Neal will be out of action for 25 games. Wallace escaped relatively lightly with a six-game suspension, while two more Pacers and three more Pistons also suffered disciplinary action of one sort or another.

"The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the professionalism and self-control that should fairly be expected from NBA players," Stern said. "The line is drawn, and my guess is that won't happen again - certainly not by anybody who wants to be associated with our league."

The players' union has vowed to fight the suspensions as they believe they are out of keeping with previous punishments for similar offences. In 1995, Houston Rockets' Vernon Maxwell was banned for just 10 games and fined $20,000 for attacking a Portland fan. The heaviest ban handed out for an on-court offence was Kermit Washington's 26-game suspension for punching a player in 1977.

The union is particularly aggrieved that the suspensions are without pay, which for Artest amounts to losing approximately $5m in salary, while O'Neal's $14.8m salary will be down by a quarter.

The league is unlikely to budge on this matter as it is determined to lay down a precedent for any future misdemeanours. Stern revealed that Artest's punishment was particularly strong because of his long history of misbehaviour. Two seasons ago he missed a total of 12 games for various offences, while last year he was suspended for elbowing Portland's Derek Anderson. At the start of this season he was benched by the Pacers after he requested time off to recover from promoting a rap album. Now he will have all the time he needs.