[rwest]

Many people have to a cetain degree responsibility for what happended, however, most of the blame lies on Artest. I'm not condoning what Wallace did or the fans. They all should be punished, and Wallace is getting a more serious penalty than I believe he deserves. The fan who threw the beer should be barred from the arena for a year at least. Any fan who threw a punch that was not in defense of himself should be arrested for assault. The guy who threw the chair should be arrested as well. But the foul and the push by Wallace and what happened in the stands are separate issues as far as I'm concerned.

The situation had calmed itself when an irresponsible fan threw a cup of beer on Artest. If Artest had not gone into the stands nothing else whould have happened, except the removal of the fan. Wallace was going to be ejected anyways. It would have all ended there had not two things have happended. One the fan throwing the beer and Artest over-reacting. Yes, over-reacting.

Some have said that Artest has the right to defend himself. From what? A cup of beer? No way can there be a self-defense justification for what Artest did. No way! All Artest had to do is remove himself from the area. Why was he on the table in the first place? In order to claim self-defense, you have to believe your life is in danger. Artest put himself in danger when he went into the stands. Another eliminate to self-defense is proportional response. You can't convince me that pummeling a fan is equal to a beer in the chest.

As soon as I saw it, I thought Artest should have been suspended for the remainder of the year. I also thought Jackson should have received the same penalty. He also went into the stands.

I also disagree with the foul be a no-nothing foul. Maybe I need to see it again, but what I remember is a hard shove from behind by Artest. Wallace was frustrated and the game was over. That does not excuse the push by Wallace. I believe it was far worse than the foul by Artest. However, Pacers up by 15 with 45 seconds left. There is no way Artest should have pushed Wallace that hard from behind. The game was over! Have I seen worse? Yes! But I've also seen fights from similar fouls before. A no-nothing foul. I don't think so.

Just my opinion.