SOCIAL media and basketball culture pages went gaga over the LeBron James-Isaiah Stewart incident in the Los Angeles Lakers-Detroit Pistons game in Detroit last Monday.
Incurring only the second ejection of his 18-year-old, 1,318-regular games career, King James was cited for “unnecessary and excessive contact above the shoulder” with Detroit center Stewart, who came out of the experience with blood dripping from above his right eye.
James was assessed with a Flagrant 2 for hitting Stewart solid in the face after much gnawing and jawing under the basket. Prior to that contact Stewart had been called for a foul on James, suggesting that hostilities had escalated enough to result in such an affectionate gesture from The King.
Blood ran down the big man’s face. This must have enraged him, causing him to react like a gored bull. The 20-year-old center had to be repeatedly restrained by teammates, officials and coaching staff as he time and again tried to make a run for James, knocking down some of those who stood in his path. He was a raging bull, indeed.
“His eye got cracked all the way open,” Pistons coach Dwayne Casey explained. “He was upset for a reason.”
Like James, Stewart was ejected after the incident. Not only that, he was suspended for two games. Reason for his suspension? “Escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively” pursuing the object of his ill-placed affection: James. James was suspended for one game for “recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation.” Both of them will serve their suspensions without pay.
Money-wise, the experience was just as bad. James must pay a $284,000 fine out of his salary. Stewart’s fine is $45,000. This is also James’s first time to miss a game due to suspension.
Blockbuster event that it was because of the magnitude of at least one of the protagonists, the James-Stewart affair was by no means the most scandalous of on-court fights ever to happen in the National Basketball Association. The “Ang Pinaka” title must still go to that Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons game also in November but in 2004 when all hell broke loose in what the Associated Press called “the most infamous brawl in National Basketball Association [NBA] history.”
Netflix is showing the event in one episode of its Untold docuseries called “Malice in the Palace.” The chaotic visual images of players running into the stands and fans pouring on court in a melee of the first order is still fresh in the memory, but they’re made even more graphic by fresh footages that relive the moment.
The one hour-eight minute-long documentary tells the story of the Pacers-Pistons brawl from a fresh viewpoint, showing that the blame for the incident does not actually lie on the players but more on the fans.
It started with just 45.9 seconds remaining in the game clock, Indiana up 97-82. Pistons center Ben Wallace was fouled from behind by Pacer Ron Artest, who slapped him across the back of the head. Wallace immediately returned the favor, shoving Artest in the face with both hands.
A scuffle ensued, but both players were eventually separated and officials met to assess guilt and responsibilities. Meanwhile Ron Artest cooly spread his hunky figure on the officials’ table. While thus calmly situated, Wallace threw a towel at him. Artest reacted, but was held back by coaches. Then a fan named John Green threw a plastic cup of Diet Coke at Artest, hitting him in the chest. That was when the pandemonium began. The iconic images of players in the stands and fans in the court happened as a result and for a while painted the NBA as “a league of thugs.”
The Untold documentary retells the story, sets up the scenario, provides the context, explains the motivations and allocates the degrees of guilt that the entire cast of characters share. In the end, Detroit prosecutors who heard the case placed the blame on the fans.
The incident, alas, caused the Pacers the 2004-05 NBA championship which they were just 45.9 seconds short of winning. If there’s anything positive that came out of the incident at all, it would probably have to be that Ron Artest came out of his long suspension with a new, diplomatic name: Metta World Peace.
To be honest, we probably thought of that November night in Detroit 17 years ago when l’affaire James-Stewart happened last November 23 (Manila time). Thank God coaches, players, officials and the crowd itself held their horses, used good reason and behaved as they should, thus isolating the action to just the two protagonists.
Still, buttons get pushed, tempers flare and the unexpected happens not just in the NBA but everywhere there’s a lot of passion and testosterone involved. Or have we forgotten the Wynne Arboleda incident in 2009 when Arboleda attacked a fan who was cursing the Burger King player from the stands?
Many a brawl and player incursions into fan territory have happened as well in the collegiate leagues. Who can forget that pre-season free for all in Davao between Aldin Ayo’s La Salle Green Archers and Nash Racela’s Far Eastern University Tamaraws in 2017? Or that San Beda-Letran post-championship game fight in 2007 when Letran players charged up the stands to get at spectators?
Anyway, back to that James-Stewart brouhaha. Here’s Reggie Miller’s takeaway from that encounter, said in a tweet: “Isaiah Stewart catapulted himself into the Charles Oakley, Buck Williams, Dale n Antonio Davis conversation of dudes you NEVER want to mess with. However long Isaiah plays in this league, dudes will walk on eggshells around him. That’s great news for Piston fans..” Yeahhh.
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