Netflix dropped an absolute heater of an episode for the first episode of their new series, “Untold”. I forgot how crazy this was growing up a young NBA fan. This was played on ESPN all day Saturday. When I was watching the doc it felt like yesterday watching this again and not almost 17 years ago!
The documentary gives you the viewpoint of the main people involved in the brawl, Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest, Jermaine O’Neal, and Reggie Miller. I also have to be honest and I totally forgot Reggie was still on the Pacers when this all went down.
When I rewatched the game, and the documentary, I forgot the beating that the Detroit Pistons took during this game. Ron Artest landed a hard foul on Ben Wallace when the Pacers were up by 13 with 45 seconds left. Ron Artest layed on the scorers table and the rest is history.
John Green, the Detroit Pistons fan who started the riot, threw an absolute dime and the beer landed right on Ron Artest. We all know how the story goes from here. Artest launches into the crowd and Jackson follows. The one thought I had and yelled it at my TV, “Where the **** were the cops and security?!?!”. I can’t even try and sneak into a better seat without security telling me to **** off but who the hell were fans able to get onto the court that easily?!!
Charlie Haddad was a Detroit season ticket holder who ran onto the court and got absolutely leveled by Jermaine O’Neal. He was lucky that O’Neal slipped because Charlie would have been knocked out into the “Bad Boy Era”. In the documentary Charlie tried to come off as the innocent one and that he did nothing wrong. What did you think was going to happen? As Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”, and Charlie sure did learn that.
My biggest takeaway from this documentary was the narrative that the media portrayed after this. All the players that were involved were called thugs and the media did prosecute the fans that started the brawl. All the attention was on the players. Artest got suspended the rest of the season! Which is still the biggest suspension that an NBA player has received.
If you haven’t seen this yet, and you love NBA history, you need to watch this NOW!
About Eric Lacey: Blogger for HoopSocial. Terrible Gambler. 2-3 Zone Aficionado.
