Violence Hits a Scary New Level

What was that?

In the entire overheated history of NBA violence -- which ranges from the comic (Jeff Van Gundy attaching himself to Alonzo Mourning’s ankle) to the tragic (Kermit Washington caving in Rudy Tomjanovich’s face) -- there was never anything to compare with Friday night’s riot at Detroit that ended the game against the Indiana Pacers 45.9 seconds early and will result in enough suspensions, arrests and lawsuits to keep the agents and the judicial system busy for a year.

What happened?

Briefly:

Ron Artest, the new leader in the category of most-out-of-control NBA player, fouled the Pistons’ Ben Wallace while he was in the air. The game was already effectively over, with Indiana leading by 15 points, but, as he was about to demonstrate, Artest isn’t bound by the rules of logic, or the NBA.

Wallace gave Artest a two-handed shove in the face, which will surely earn him a suspension, and which started the usual milling around.

To this point, it was a garden-variety NBA “fight,” the kind that makes big headlines but is, in fact, less dangerous than 20 baseball fights a season, in which, as the saying goes, “the dugouts empty.”

Then, kicking it to a new level, a fan threw a drink on Artest as he lay on the scorer’s table and Artest went after him.

If players are not supposed to fight each other, they’re really not supposed to go into the stands. Nevertheless, Artest pursued the fan up several rows and began flailing away, followed by teammate Stephen Jackson, who was also flailing away.

What had been a routine breach of peace was now a full-fledged riot, raising a new issue: the shocking lack of security.

After two minutes in which players from both teams traded insults and had to be restrained, there were still no ushers, police officers or security people visible between the players and the fans.

Reggie Miller, injured and wearing civilian clothes, was seen trying to calm people down, as did Rick Mahorn, the Detroit announcer once known as “McNasty.” But there wasn’t an officer’s uniform in sight in the middle of the fray, or a security jacket, or an usher’s uniform.

Detroit fans may not be any worse than any other fans. It’s hard to tell because I haven’t sat among fans in all 30 league cities, but in last spring’s Finals, a lot of the press people worked right in front of the stands and, for sure, there were a lot of fans behind us who had a lot to drink and a lot to say, much of it offensive, mean and loud.

In this case, as Indiana players went after Jackson and Artest, to pull them back or protect them, more fans began attacking them, or confronting them, or getting attacked by them.

Then, after Artest had been hauled back to the floor, a fan in a Piston jersey came running up and squared off in front of him. Artest turned toward him and the fan stopped, seeming to think better of what he was doing, but he’d already come too far. Artest punched him in the face with one of those haymakers that you see in old Westerns.

Jermaine O’Neal blasted another fan in another white jersey with a similar punch.

At that point, the referees figured out this situation was way beyond control and called the game, making the next order of business getting the Pacers out of there.

The tunnel to the visitors’ dressing room in the Palace of Auburn is very narrow and surrounded on both sides by high stands.

When the Pacer players went down it, they were pelted and drenched by everything the fans were holding or drinking.

By then, there were two officers in the tunnel but not enough to keep the fans from throwing things at every Indiana player who came off.

Finally, they got four of them together, to try to get Indiana Coach Rick Carlisle and Austin Croshere off. The crowd threw stuff on all of them.

At one point Detroit Coach Larry Brown picked up a microphone and tried to stop it, but he threw it down.

“I’m embarrassed for our league,” Brown said afterward. “I’m disappointed to be part of it. It’s a bad thing for people to see.”

Let the recriminations begin.