
Basketball / Sports04.03.2012
The Malice at the Palace – An oral history of the scariest moment in NBA history
The images are just as striking almost a decade later. A cup splashes off Ron Artest in the closing moments of a blowout win against the Detroit Pistons. He leaps into the stands at the Palace of Auburn Hills and into sports infamy. Mayhem follows. Players fight fans, fans fight players, a chair is thrown, bottles are tossed — in seconds, the invisible wall that separates athletes and spectators is demolished; the social contract of arena behavior is left in shreds. What happened that night went well beyond nearly $10 million in forfeited paychecks and 146 games lost in suspensions.