Perhaps you remember the event quite clearly, or perhaps you weren’t yet alive to remember it. Later this month will mark the 18th anniversary of quite possibly the worst night in Indiana Pacers history, forever known as the Malice at the Palace.
For those who don’t know, on the night of November 19, 2004, a fight broke out between the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, and fans at a road game for the Pacers. Many Pacers fans my age remember sitting at home watching in shock, or not understanding what was happenings, as the events started to unfold.
The significance of the event cannot be understated. The Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons were two of the top teams in the east and had met the previous season in the Eastern Conference Finals. The series was a heated one, and the Pistons came out victorious in six games.
With time almost run out, a small scuffle broke out between Ben Wallace of the Pistons and Ron Artest of the Pacers. Reggie Miller got Artest cooled off and away from the situation. It was then, that a fan threw a cup of liquid at Artest as he was trying to calm down. From there chaos ensued.
The events on that night impacted a generation of Pacers fans. Because of the brawl, players on both teams received historically long suspensions, the NBA revamped security measures across the league, and a fanbase was left shocked.
The events on that night impacted a generation of Indiana Pacers fans
So as Pacers fans look back what should we think about these events?
We should mourn the fact that one of the most promising teams in Pacer’s history never got a chance to reach its potential. We should feel a gut punch for Reggie Miller who never got to taste the victory of winning a championship. We should feel angry that our team and franchise got set back a decade based on the events of that night.
But we should also be happy that as a fanbase we grew more resilient. We learned never to take success for granted. A few years later we got to fall in love with a whole new team that felt like an underdog, led by Danny Granger. We returned to being the humble small-market team that was scrappy and was willing to stand up to all the major markets with their prized free agents.
Would I change history if I could? Of course. The safety and security of fans and players are paramount to a healthy basketball culture, and the Malice at the Palace compromised both. But take heart in knowing it all led to one absolutely definable and measurable quality of Indiana Pacer basketball fans worldwide: Hope.