The Most Memorable NBA Fights of the Millennium

Eleven years ago today, one of the most despicable displays of sportsmanship took place: the Malice at the Palace.

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Complex Original

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Eleven years ago today, one of the most despicable displays of sportsmanship took place. I tried to write that in my best Jim Ross voice. Anyway, the Pistons shocked the world by beating a stacked Lakers team in the Finals the previous year, and were coming into the 2004 season with an air of confidence. Enter the Pacers, a team that featured career hotheads Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson, a young superstar in Jermaine O'Neal, the game's most clutch shooter in Reggie Miller, and had just lost to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. The two division rivals squared up in the most literal sense for their first meeting since the 2004 playoffs.

The game was chippy throughout but settled down in the fourth quarter as the Pacers began to pull away. With less than a minute left and a 15-point lead, Ron Artest gave Ben Wallace a hard foul under the rim to which Wallace responded with an even harder shove. During the commotion Artest decided to chill out on the scorer's table like he's a French girl that's about to get painted while Stephen Jackson and Ben Wallace carried on like they had no sense, and honestly Wallace never gets blamed for starting this whole thing.

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Once that cup hit Ron Artest and he went into the stands, Jackson wasted no time and proved that he was both a great teammate and a fucking idiot. He had already wanted to fight the Pistons, so he took Artest going into the stands as an opportunity to knock somebody's head off.

The aftermath of this particular brawl changed the NBA forever. The league already dealt with a double standard because their stars were mostly black, although, the in-game fighting and off the field trouble paled in comparison to other major American sports leagues. In the MLB and the NHL, fighting is touted up as part of the game, and a bunch of NFL players have rap sheets as long as career criminals, but nobody bats an eye. Players fighting with fans is so common in the NHL's history that there's a compilation of those instances on YouTube. But, again, "part of the game."

Fines and suspension skyrocketed, and the very next year David Stern implemented a dress code as if you can't give a fade in some hard bottoms and a Steve Harvey suit. Fighting in the NBA doesn't happen anymore and the practice died down considerably after the Malice at the Palace. Not because of the dress code but because of the punishment.

Carmelo Anthony received a 15-game suspension in 2006 for throwing a single punch when his Nuggets fought the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. That was the last time a real fight took place. These days guys just shove and dance for the cameras.

On the 11th anniversary of the fight that changed the league forever, we look back at the Most Memorable NBA Fights of the Millennium.

Doug Christie Uppercuts Rick Fox

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Shaq Tries to Kill Brad Miller

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Carmelo's Sucker Punch

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Chris Childs Shoots Kobe the Fade

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