The Malice at the Palace was a dark time in NBA history. The Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers met up for a regular-season game in Detroit in 2004. Ron Artest fouled Ben Wallace hard after he went up for an easy layup. Wallace didn’t take that lightly and pushed Artest. That started a scuffle and Artest took refuge where the media was on the sidelines.
While Artest was laying down next to the media a fan threw a beer at him. That’s when he snapped and went into the stands. After Artest did that an all-out brawl ensued between the Pacers players and the Detroit fans. Today marks the 15th anniversary of the Malice at the Palace.
The results of that historic brawl were some of the toughest suspensions that the NBA ever laid down. The NBA suspended Artest for the rest of the season. The league wasn’t done with the Pacers though. To add to the brutal suspensions the NBA suspended Stephen Jackson 30 games and Jermaine O’ Neal 25 games. As a result, nine players were suspended for a total of 140 games.
