Justice in the NBA?

The Arbitrator reviewing the suspensions from the Pacers/Pistons fans brawl has reduced Jermaine O'Neal's sentence by 10 games. That means he can come back this weekend (unless the NBA successfully appeals in Federal court). I would have liked to see all of the suspensions reduced, except maybe Stephen Jackson; that dude is nuts. I mean it seemed like even before Artest had grabbed the horrified, bespectacled, tremendously unlucky bystander he randomly selected for beer-toss punishment, Jackson was already two rows deeper into the crowd throwing full punches at anything that moved. And what exactly was he reacting to? Not clear. It seems he just saw his homie run into the crowd and was elated at the opportunity to mix it up with the dregs of Detroit. Cute. I would have banned him for the whole season and let wild-eyed Ron back onto the court sometime in early February, but perhaps I'm a softy for former Bulls.

Read the Sportsguy's take on the initial fracas here.

favorite quote:

...If you scrolled through the lineups of all 30 teams before the season, then asked yourself, "What pair of teammates would be the most likely candidates to start a fight in the stands, eventually leading to the ugliest sequence in NBA history?", the heavy favorites would have been Artest and Jackson in Indiana, with Zach Randolph and Ruben Patterson a distant second in Portland. Those are the facts. That might have been a shocking night, but at no point did anyone who follows the NBA on a regular basis say to themselves, "I can't believe Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson are taking on Row 3 in the Palace right now!"