Look those fans were OUt OF CONTROL.
The suspensions are reasonable, but their seasons should not be determined by out of control detroit fans. Many of them should have been arrested from what I saw. And the security there was pathetic.
Yes, the suspensions were reasonable, but there should be some arrests of fans, and the NBA should refuse indefinitely to hold any more games in Detroit until the Pistons come up with a solid security plan to prevent such dangerous behavior by the fans. If the Pistons forfeit some home games (and lose the revenue), then perhaps they'll discipline unruly fans and provide sufficient security for the players.
I watched the game on the Piston's channel, rather than ESPN.
Ben Wallace should get a short suspension for shoving Artest after the hard foul to the back of his head. He also deserves criticsm and discipline for throwing a towel at Artest while the latter was lying on the scorers table mocking him.
But Artest jumped into the stands and started beating up a guy who had nothing to do with the thrown beer cup. Artest ran right past the real perp, and whaled on the WRONG GUY. Jackson went into the stands with Artest and also was throwing a bunch of punches.
When they got back to the floor, Artest and O'Neil threw punches at other "fans" who were on the sidelines. They had no business being on the floor, but neither did they deserve to be sucker punched. Artest and O'Neil will never be able to make the case that these latter guys were direct and immediate threats to them that would have justified a punch.
The fans in the stands reacted with ugly outrage after seeing the punchouts of others by these players and dumped ther beer, soda, and popcorn on the players as they went into the locker room tunnel under the stands. An awful scene. I hope video evidence gives the cops plenty of faces to prosecute.
The ESPN shootaround group after the game was full of idiotic logic, arguing that the players were justified in defending themselves when they went after "fans". The law allows you to defend, not retaliate. If you get doused by beer, you do not have the right to go beat up another guy who you mistakenly think might have been involved in the beer toss. You are supposed to call the security and have him arrested and press charges, etc.
I expect there will be several arrests of "fans" on various charges, and rightly so.
When Commissioner Stern's office finishes analyzing the tape, Artest, O'Neil, and Jackson will be given longer suspensions than Wallace. And I expect some of the three punch-throwers will also face criminal charges.