[Paul H]

Was Ben Wallace in the wrong? Absolutely, but even the NBA said in the head of the moment, especially in a rivalry as heated as this one, these things happen. Are a handfull of Detroit fans also to blame? No doubt, but don't go blaming Detroit fans in general. It's a shame that 100 or 200 fans in an arena of more than 22,000 can spoil some peoples' views of Detroit sports fans. But before I start, let me just say that I don't condone anything on the Detroit side of things.

The thing that I find kind of strange is that most of the national media left out the fact that Ron Artest was laying on the scorers' table with his legs spread toward the pistons with his hands cupped behind his head and a sly grin on his face. He even took a headset and started doing a radio interview....and this was before the game was even called! The game was technically still going on. I don't buy it for a second when people say that Artest removed himself from the altercation and someone just randomly threw a beer at him as he was sitting there being a little angel. He was doing his fair share of provoking. I saw that Shaq said that he would jump up into the stands too, but do you think that Shaq has the disregard for professionalism to lay down on the scorers' table? (even though it might not hold him anyways!)

I was proud of Rasheed Wallace for being one of the men trying and break this whole thing up, rather than provoke it. He has come a long way since his days in Atlanta and Portland.

Also, you can see former Bad Boy and current Pistons radio broadcaster Rick Mahorn in the stands trying to break things up as well.

I also heard that a majority of the fans involved were identified by Auburn Hills police, and Palace security has been stepped up to what they call playoff level for the rest of the season.

I just want to say, don't judge almost 5 million people (most of whome are Detroit sports fans) in Metro Detroit by 100 or so drunk guys at one Pistons game.