HOOPSTER: ABL: Meek as a Lamb?
   by Henry Liao for philippinebasketball.ph (03/10/2012)

Violence has no place in sports.

The bench-clearing brawl that marred an Asean Basketball League (ABL) game between the San Miguel Beermen and the Philippine Patriots at The Arena in San Juan last March 4 was a major blackeye for local basketball.

Worse, the ugly free-for-all involved two local professional clubs in an international tournament and the game was aired on television here and abroad was

This Hoopster was able to catch a blow-by-blow account of the incident on YouTube and was horrified to see how brutal and barbaric the players from both sides were as the hotly-contested, physical game erupted into fisticuffs in the third quarter.

The hot and humid weather on that late Sunday afternoon might have contributed to the outburst of tempers by the opposing players and resulted in an altercation that spilled into the runway leading to the exit dugout.

In living up to his name, San Miguel’s Aris Dimaunahan triggered the melee with a flagrant foul on Patriots import Anthony Johnson. Johnson quickly pounced on Dimaunahan with a punch and a headlock, but the street-smart Dimaunahan was able to free himself up and also hit Johnson with a punch.

Swiftly, a number of players from both sides intervened, although not necessarily to act as peacemakers.

Taking the fight to another level, Beerman Junjun Cabatu went after Johnson and shoved him to the floor. But the fallen American import was not about to raise the white flag as he also brought down Cabatu with a tackle of his own.

Unmindful of the wrestling match between Cabatu and Johnson near the exit dugout, the combatative Dimaunahan was seen on another side of the floor looking to challenge the Patriots’ Erick Rodriguez to 12 more rounds of boxing with a fighting stance that a certain Manny Pacquiao can be proud of.

Although at a smaller scale, the Beermen-Patriots altercation reminded me of a November 19, 2004 brawl in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan.

The game, won by the Pacers, 97-82, was infamously known as “The Malice at the Palace” because of a fight that broke out between Detroit’s Ben Wallace and Indiana’s Ron Artest (who’s now known as Metta World Peace and plays for the LA Lakers) on the court with 45.9 seconds remaining after Artest slapped Wallace hard from behind as the latter was attempting a layup. Wallace responded by shoving Artest in the chest, which led to a physical confrontation between several players from both clubs. Detroit’s Tayshaun Prince was the lone player on either squad to not leave the bench during the entire incident.

The fight was eventually broken up, but all hell broke loose when a drink that was thrown from the stands hit the chest of Artest while he was lying on the scorer’s table. This spurred an angry Artest to run into the stands, sparking a massive brawl between Indiana players (including Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’Neal) and Pistons fans in the crowd.

The remaining seconds of the game were called off and the ugly altercation led to nine players being suspended without pay for a total of 146 games (137 by Indiana and nine by Detroit). As a consequence, more than $11 million in player salaries were lost. Artest alone lost about $5 million and was penalized with the longest suspension for an on-court incident in NBA history. He was suspended for the remainder of the regular season (73 games) and the playoffs (13 games).

Five players were charged with assault and eventually sentenced to a year of probation and community service. Five fans faced criminal charges and were banned from attending Pistons home games for life. The brawl also led the NBA to increase security presence between players and fans and limit alcohol sale.

As for the Beermen-Patriots fracas, the ABL officials simply gave future fight instructors like Johnson, Dimaunahan, Cabatu and Rodriguez a slap on the wrist with a one-game suspension each.

Moreover, the one-game suspension was not even served immediately but rather after this weekend’s round of games.

It only goes to prove that the ABL bigwigs are not familiar yet with the Riot Act.