04/26/24
December 23, 2004
The Pistons and Pacers can live down the brawl: They are two class franchises. So the Pacers season is shot and the Pistons are doing nothing. Are the two teams supposed to be defined forever by one bad incident one night?
posted by roberts to basketball at 12:49 PM - 5 comments
I think the Pacers will be living this down for as long as Artest is a cornerstone of the franchise. NBA teams are defined by their stars.
posted by rcade at 04:20 PM on December 23, 2004
Artest isn't long for the Pacers. Someone will take a chance on him. But Middle America he isn't. I wonder how long til this brawl is just seen as a big joke. I mean, no one got seriously hurt, did they? PJ Brown throwing Charlie Ward is now a joke. Alonzo mopping the floor with van Gundy. Funny stuff.
posted by mike goodman at 05:25 PM on December 23, 2004
The brawl has become another tool in the NBA "hype" arsenol. "come see the Pacers-Pistons rematch" Espn is right at the top of the list--..enough alreay. Both teams have too much history to allow this incident to tarnish how people view them....
posted by daddisamm at 08:30 AM on December 24, 2004
This brawl is gonna last awhile- but I think it'll last till the end of the season.
posted by pack_man at 12:50 AM on January 01, 2005
I don't think that they ought to be (nor, as far as I can tell, is anyone arguing that the two teams are forever degraded). But, for this season, or at least as long as any of the penalized players are in street clothes, the story will not die. In two years, nobody will be talking about this.