The Indiana Pacers were among the elite teams of the Eastern Conference in the mid-late 90′s and made the NBA finals in 2000. The next few seasons were not very successful because Indiana was rebuilding but they did it very quickly and the Pacers were again among title contenders in 2003-04. They had the best record in the league (61-21) but a loss to the Detroit Pistons in the Conference Finals ended their season sooner than they would want to. Indiana started the 2004-05 season in a very strong fashion but their championship hopes once again died in Detroit even though it was only November…

 
Here is what happened on November 19, 2004 in The Palace of Auburn Hills in a nutshell:

1) Artest committed a hard foul on Ben Wallace;

2) Wallace was furious and pushed Artest;

3) Artest laid on the scorer’s table in order to avoid an altercation with Wallace;

4) A fan threw a cup of Coke (not beer as previously stated) at Artest;

5) Artest went into the stands;

6) Stephen Jackson followed him;

7) Jermaine O’Neal also punched a fan in the jaw;

 
By that time it had already become a huge brawl with many fans and players involved. Pacer players were escorted from the court shortly after.

The Pacers-Pistons brawl is easily one of the most infamous incidents in the history of American sports.

 

 
The Indiana Pacers franchise:

The Indiana Pacers were championship contenders in the previous season and they would have been contenders in 2004-05 as well if not for the Pacers-Pistons brawl. They still managed to get 44 wins and make the playoffs. They even advanced to the second round of the postseason but lost to the Pistons. They had bad luck with Detroit as both of their playoff runs ended in Detroit and the infamous brawl also happened there. In 2006 they advanced to the playoffs but lost to New Jersey in the first round. They haven’t made the playoffs since then. The Pacers franchise still hasn’t recovered from that brawl.

What if the brawl had never happened?
It was very likely for Indiana to win the championship or at least the Eastern Conference that year. If they would have kept their nucleus together for a few seasons then maybe they would have made multiple NBA finals in the following years. The Eastern Conference was pretty weak until 2007-08 season and Indiana’s main rivals would be the already familiar Pistons, the Heat and maybe the Cavaliers. That doesn’t look like an unbeatable bunch, does it?

Ron Artest

Ron Artest was already a bad boy but after the brawl he became the baddest of them all. His image sometimes earned him extra technical fouls and a lot of bad reputation. After missing the whole 2004-05 season he played for the Kings and the Rockets until 2009. Although he had good numbers and he was selected to a couple of NBA All-Defensive teams, Artest wasn’t really considered a winner and has never made an All-star game appearance since the brawl. His season with the Lakers, however, turned out to be successful as they won the NBA championship title and Artest really stepped his game up in the decisive game 7 of the finals. So it took more than 5 years for Ron Artest to finally redeem himself.

What if the brawl had never happened?
After averaging 18.3 PPG and making the All-star game in the 2003-04 season, Ron Artest started off the 2004-05 season even better. Throughout the first 7 games of the season he was averaging more than 24 points and 6 rebounds per game while shooting almost 50% from the field. If Indiana would have continued winning games and Artest would have continued to play at that level then he would definitely had a good case for winning the MVP trophy. Jermaine O’Neal played the leading role for the Pacers until 2007 but if the brawl had never happened Artest could probably surpass the injury-riddled O’Neal as the new leader of the team and lead Indiana deep into the playoffs year after year instead of winning a championship at age 30 while being a third or fourth option on the team.

Reggie Miller:

The heart and soul of the Indiana Pacers and their longtime leader – Reggie Miller, still remained a productive player and a key element of the team until the very end of his career. His Pacers teams always played in the Playoffs and were among the elite of the league but they never won a championship title and made it to the NBA finals only once. After going through a rebuilding phase in the early 2000′s, the Pacers were title contenders once again and Reggie had a chance to finally win his first ring but the Palace brawl ruined all hopes.

What if the brawl had never happened?
Reggie showed that he still had a lot of basketball in him and played really well in 2004-05. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to make up for the damage that the Indiana-Detroit brawl did to the Pacers franchise. If the brawl had never happened then Reggie could finally get his championship ring and complete his resume. He joins Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and other ringless players who are NBA legends but will also always be remembered for their inability to win a championship.

Jermaine O’Neal:

Coming off a successful 2003-04 season, Jermaine, who had just turned 26 at the time of the brawl, was ready for a big year but because of the brawl he participated in only 44 games in 2004-05. He was battling injuries for the next few years and his production started to decline. His last All-star level season was 2006-07 and since then he has never averaged more than 14 points or 7 rebounds.

What if the brawl had never happened?
The Pacers-Pistons brawl isn’t the most important reason why O’Neal’s career didn’t turn out the way it could but if you believe in bad luck than you may think otherwise. O’Neal has been dealing with injuries ever since the brawl and didn’t become the dominant force that everyone expected him to be.

Others:

Stephen Jackson has bounced back. He played really well for Golden State and Charlotte but still has a bit of that hooligan image left.

Ben Wallace left Detroit in 2006 and he hasn’t been the same dominant force since then.

Rick Carlisle (the Pacers coach) left Indiana in 2007 and has been coaching the Dallas Mavericks for the last few years.

Jamaal Tinsley was a really good point guard back then but now he isn’t even in the NBA anymore after dealing with injury problems.

Other aftereffects:

• The security in NBA arenas has improved.

 

• The use of alcohol in NBA arenas has been limited.

 

• Players get suspended more.

 

• A dress code was established in 2005.

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