Bawful After Dark: Halloween Weekend Watch

Happy Halloween!

Shaq with a nice pre-game snack
(via Andy Gray's SI Vault)
Well, some breaking news to start your Halloween weekend: Delonte West has gotten into an "altercation" with one of his teammates. Anyone who didn't see that one coming a mile away, say "aye."


Thought so. So what happened? Only a fight. At least Delonte didn't go all Mad Max this time on his motorcycle packed with loaded weapons.

Less than one week after tempers flared during a two-on-two game in practice, Delonte West and Von Wafer had another altercation earlier this afternoon.

During a three-on-three game with Avery Bradley, Luke Harangody, Semih Erden and assistant coach Tyronn Lue, West began fouling Wafer each time the reserve guard touched the ball. West was increasingly physical to the point that Wafer exited to the locker room midway through the game. As he walked away, West barked obscenities and taunted Wafer.

After Wafer had showered and sat down at his locker, West approached from behind and threw a punch. Wafer didn't see the punch coming but quickly got off of the ground and connected on two punches of his own. He then wrestled West to the ground before being separated by the team's veterans.

The Celtics say this appears to be a issue dealing only with West and Wafer, and nobody else on the team. Sadly, that means they're less likely to cut him, and even less likely to resign Mario West to fill their quota of players-named-West on their team. I, naturally, only have one response:

:(

Well, it's hard to top that action, but here's something that isn't basketball-related, but I know this will definitely be worth watching for quite a few of us: Crispin Glover's Back to the Future screen tests. (h/t Jonah Keri)






Worst of the Night in Pictures:

Hey, didn't we just see that same exact pose yesterday from Drew Gooden? Man, that must suck to be Q-Rich right now, getting compared to Drew Gooden...

Nice Halloween costume there! It really scared me! wait, you mean that's not a costume, that's just AK47's new hairdo? Oh...

Nationally Televised Friday Games:
Magic at Heat, ESPN, 8pm: These two teams hate each other's guts right now. Even Marcin Gortat(!) is running smack. And yet tickets are still available! Per ESPN's Rachel Nichols, "Perhaps city of Miami already nonchalant about LeBron, Wade and Bosh being here together - tickets still available for 2night's home opener."

Lakers at Suns, ESPN, 10:30pm: AccuScore has this game dead even -- each team has a 50% chance of victory. Okay, yes, Phoenix has home court advantage, but serious question here: how are they going to do anything to control the paint? This could be a game worth watching to see a true evaluation of where the Suns are with their new "all small ball, all the time" format.

All The Other Friday Games:
Kings at Nets, 7pm: The Nets are in a tie for first place right now! The Prokhorov smiles.

Hawks at 76ers, 7pm: Huzzah! Another chance to see Doug Collins not play his best players as much as possible!

Cavaliers at Craptors, 7pm: Per ESPN's Chris Sheridan, the 2010-2011 Craptors media guide has a section (under Miscellaneous on page 3, for those five folks who have a copy of the media guide) that states: "Any media member wishing to "take my talents to South Beach" will have their credentials confiscated and be escorted from the building." All right, Toronto, I'll give you that one. But it's right back to making fun of your team next week!

Pacers at Bobcats, 7pm: I'm sure it's possible to care even less about a game than I do about this one, but I'd have to try really hard to do that. And trying hard to not care about something is such an oxymoron that I just broke my brain.

Knicks at Celtics, 7:30pm: The Celtics have won 20 of their last 25 games against the Bricks. I doubt that you need to know much more than that about this game.

Nuggets at Hornets, 8pm: No joke here -- I just wanted to say it's fantastic to see George Karl back on the sidelines coaching the Nuggets after all his health troubles last year.

Thunder at Pistons, 8pm: The Pistons are going to lose this game. How do I know? Because of this.

Bucks at Timberwolves, 8pm: There have been rumors of the NBA discussing contracting a team or two. Even though I don't foresee that happening any time soon (we all know how David Stern would consider that a last-gasp kind of move), it's still a possibility. However! "I can say that Minnesota is not one of the teams that would be contracted, nor do we expect that in the future," said owner Glen Taylor, the chairman of the NBA's board of governors. So Minnesota fans have that going for them, which is nice.

Grizzlies at Mavericks, 8:30pm: Let's break this down: the Mavs have two 7-footers, and the Grizzlies are missing Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph due to injuries. This could get uglier than even the Grizzlies' last 9 games against the Mavericks, which they have also lost.

clippers at Warriors, 10:30pm: The Warriors had a decidedly run-and-gun style under the leadership of Don Nelson, but new head coach Keith Smart said we could expect that to change as the team planned on focusing more on defense and rebounding. Nice to see that the players apparently didn't get that memo and are still running and gunning anyway.

* * *

Nationally Televised Saturday Games:
Nuggets at Rockets, NBA TV, 8:30pm: Ah, another chance to be entertained by Yao Ming. He's already delivered so much material for this blog in just a couple games!

All The Other Saturday Games:
Wizards Generals at Hawks, 7pm: Well, the glass half full outlook for this game, Washington fans? Things can only improve after that game against the Magic!

Kings at Cavaliers, 7:30pm: Just a gut feeling, but for some odd reason, this game might actually be interesting. (Of course, now that I've said that, watch it be a 128-87 blowout...)

Trail Blazers at Knicks, 7:30pm: Well, the Knicks are on a one-game winning streak! That's... something.

Pistons at Bulls, 8pm: You know, I doubt it will really matter if Rose continues his shot-jackery or not in this game... (Did the Pistons seriously win a title only a few years ago?? Hard to believe.)

76ers at Pacers, 8pm: I have absolutely nothing of interest to say about this game. So instead, I'm just going to link you to this video of a gigantic fight in a McDonald's after Game 1 of the World Series. You're welcome.

Timberwolves at Grizzlies, 8pm: According to the ESPN.com schedule, this game is not being televised at all. And the world breathes a sigh of relief...

Bobcats at Bucks, 8:30pm: Both teams on the second night of back-to-backs? No thank you.

Hornets at Spurs, 8:30pm: The Hornets are on a back-to-back here, but the Spurs should have fresh legs. Unfortunately for the Spurs, "fresh legs" for them is a relative term since the average age on that team feels like it's close to 47.


* * *

Nationally Televised Sunday Games:
Jazz at Thunder, NBA TV, 7pm: Dejected Deron Williams is dejected: "If we play like this against Oklahoma City we’ll lose by 50." SAD FACE.

All The Other Sunday Games:
Heat at Nets, 1pm: I have a feeling we can safely refer to them as the Nyets again after this game...

Mavericks at Clippers, 3:30pm: Well, for something more exciting in Dallas sports, go watch this video of Brad Richards hitting a hockey puck through the glass.

Warriors at Lakers, 9:30pm: And yet another one-sided battle of California teams.

Kevin McHale as Ron Artest before Ron Artest

On November 19, 2004, at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Pistons fan John Green threw a cup of Diet Coke at Ron Artest. (It figures that such a bush league move would have been perpetrated by a man drinking a diet soda.) The cup hit Artest in the chest. Artest responded by rushing into the stands, thereby sparking what is probably the most infamous brawl in NBA history.

Afterward, David Stern issued the following statement:

The events at last night’s game were shocking, repulsive and inexcusable -- a humiliation for everyone associated with the NBA. This demonstrates why our players must not enter the stands whatever the provocation or poisonous behavior of people attending the games. Our investigation is ongoing and I expect it to be completed by tomorrow evening.

The NBA has taken the following actions, effective immediately:

1. Indiana players Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’Neal are suspended indefinitely, the length to be determined upon completion of the investigation.

2. Detroit player Ben Wallace is suspended indefinitely, the length to be determined upon completion of the investigation.

3. Review of rules and procedures relating to altercations and security have been undertaken so that fans can continue to attend our games unthreatened by events such as the ones that occurred last night.

The final talley was 146 games worth of suspensions (86 for Artest), which cost the players more than $11 million in salary (almost $5 million for Artest). The brawl -- which was lovingly nicknamed "The Malice at The Palace" -- went on to provide NBA experts and fans with the ultimate example of players behaving badly.

And yet...this stuff used to happen without setting off a complete media firestorm. Last February, I posted about how Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell once went after a fan during Game 6 of one of the greatest playoff series of all time. Maxwell was fined $2,500 but didn't get suspended for a single game. He wasn't even ejected from that game.

Want another example you've probably never heard about? Of course you do.

On May 8, 1987, Kevin McHale -- with less than a half-minute left in overtime of Game 3 of the Bucks-Celtics semifinal playoff series -- charged into the Milwaukee crowd and confronted a courtside spectator. In full view of Oprah Winfrey no less! And by "confronted" I mean he grabbed the dude by his tie, after which the cream puff fell down. Then a ruckus ensued.

Here's the video. The action starts around the 20-second mark:


Surprisingly enough, the world did not wobble off its axis and fall into the sun. There were no earthquakes or natural disasters. Fans didn't freak out and the media didn't go berserk with 24/7 coverage of McHale's brutal attack. And McHale wasn't suspended. He played in Game 4 -- in the same arena, in front of the same fans -- and the Celtics won 138-137. Yes, that was the actual score.

On May 9, 1987, this was how the Boston Globe described the incident:

The fight began with 24 seconds left in overtime. The Bucks, who had blown a chance to win the game in regulation time, had climbed back to a 121-118 lead. McHale had fouled out by whacking the Bucks' Paul Pressey. The crowd had hooted because McHale is not exactly a favorite here, being viewed as a man who is accorded great basketball freedom by the referees while local tall timbers Jack Sikma, Paul Mokeski and Randy Breuer are called for simple jawalking and littering.

Upon reaching the bench, McHale was heckled by the familiar heckler.

"I'd been hearing him all game," McHale said. "He'd been cursing and cursing and cursing. Usually. I'm playing most of the game here, so I never hear the guy. Tonight I was on the bench and the guy would not shut up.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr...how much are you going to take?"

Enough was enough and McHale stepped over the low seats that serve as the Boston bench and confronted the heckler. The trouble broke out like chicken pox. Fred Roberts was over the bench and equipment guy Joe Quatato was over and the rest of the Celtics followed. The heckler wound up lying on the gaily- painted Mecca floor wiyh a security guard's foot on his neck. The crowd wound up in a dither.

"It wasn't exactly the smartest thing I've ever did, but how much are you going to take?" McHale said. "Awww, in hockey they wouldn't even notice something like this."

And, in all honesty, "they" -- meaning the world at large -- barely took notice of this incident. Relatively speaking. Only McHale didn't realize it at the time.

The following story didn't run until the May 10 edition of the Boston Globe, almost two days after the incident:

MILWAUKEE - The morning newspapers had the pictures and they were something to see. Here was Boston Celtics forward Kevin McHale and there was assistant coach Jimmy Rodgers and here were the rest of the players on the Celtics bench and there were the policemen and...funny.

Twelve hours later the craziness of Friday night mostly seemed funny.

"My wife called me early," McHale said yesterday morning as he sat a few feet from the spot where the grand hoo-ha had happened in the closing moments of the Celtics' 126-121 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

"The first thing she wanted to know was how much this was going to cost. I told her, 'Do you know that fishing boat I want to buy this summer? I think we'll be buying two of them, only one will be for the NBA office.' "

Funny.

Passion became slapstick in the morning sunlight. What did Kevin McHale do with 24 seconds left in the game? He stepped over the Celtics bench and collared some heckler who had been blabbing obscenities for the entire night? He grabbed the guy and then other people grabbed other people and suddenly there was this full-scale dance on the designer-patterned Mecca floor? The logic of the moment somehow had been transformed into the punch line of today. Clint Eastwood became Joe Piscopo.

"I was really mad," McHale said. "The guy was just saying terrible things. The security people told me that Moses Malone and Tree Rollins both had gone after him earlier this year. He's sitting there and he has a 4-year-old kid next to him and he's just saying the rottenest swear words and I just went for him.

"As soon as I did, the guy just got the weasliest look on his face, though. It's like if you're going to slap a kid and he gets that look of terror on his face and you just stop. I just wanted to turn around and go back to the bench, but by that time of course it was too late. All kinds of people were involved."

Funny.

"I just saw Kevin going in there and I went to pull him back," coach K.C. Jones said. "By the time I got there, though, everybody was grabbing everybody."

"Oprah Winfrey was sitting about four rows from where the whole thing happened," equipment assistant Joe Quatato said. "She was watching the game with her boyfriend. Maybe Kevin was just going back to meet Oprah Winfrey."

Oprah Winfrey? Funny.

The bench collapsed. The original big mouth found himself wrestled to the floor by security people, his face pressed against the three-point line as someone kept a foot on his neck. Someone said the guy simply was pulled there by his yellow necktie. Whomp. The beer began to fly. Forward Fred Roberts seemed to be looking for certain antagonists.

The entire scene resembled the finish of one of those movies -- "Animal House" and "Revenge of the Nerds" come to mind -- that have all the characters involved in some wacky finale, custard pies everywhere. What next?

"I've been going to the Bruins' training room every day for treatments since I hurt my ankle," McHale said. "Maybe that's what did it. I sat next to Nevin Markwart and his spirit took over. Don Warden, the therapist, was saying the other day that when the hockey players have fights, even if the guy gets killed, blood all over his face, everyone will say to him in the locker room, 'How to mix it up in there.' I was going to give Don a call today and see if he'd say it to me."

Funny.

McHale said he was reminded of the time the Bruins climbed into the stands at Madison Square Garden. Remember that? Remember one of the Bruins whomping at the guy with the guy's own shoe? Wasn't Brad Park doing the whomping?

"I don't think so," a reporter said. "I think it was Mike Milbury."

"Milbury!" McHale said. "I was talking with him just the other day in the trainer's room. Maybe that was it."

The craziest part of all is that the characters in Friday night's production will be brought back to the same place this afternoon at 1 o'clock. The Celtics...the Bucks...the mascot, "Bango The Buck"...the band with Ricky Pierce's wife as vocalist...McHale...the crowd.

Most of the crowd.

"The security guards told me they won't let the guy back in that seat today," Kevin McHale said. "He'll be back next year, though, and that's the one thing that bugs me. I'll be paying a fine and he'll be back yelling at people next year and someone probably will pop him and the guy will sue. It's not right."

And that was it. I couldn't track down any other significant details about this incident. Hell, I never even found out how much McHale was fined (or if he was). At that point, the incident basically disappeared from living memory. What's more, I watched that game live and didn't even remember McHale going after that fan until I ran across the YouTube video during an unrelated search.

Mind you, this incident was pretty high profile for the time. The Celtics were the defending champs, and McHale had played so well that season he finished fourth in MVP voting (behind Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird). And this was the playoffs! It's a pretty safe bet the entire NBA world was watching that game.

The incident happened, it passed quickly and everybody survived. End of story.

Shouldn't it still be that way? Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that players should be allowed to go after fans. That's definitely not okay. But the level of freakout that happens in reaction to these incidents has gotten entirely out of hand. And that probably includes me. For instance, I get pretty heated when somebody like Dwight Howard maims somebody with an elbow when I should probably just say, "Wow, what a douchebag," and move on.

I wonder: What's the appropriate amount of attention and concern that should be given to events like these? Was there too little in the 1980s? Is there too much now?

Cedric Maxwell versus A Fan

Much as I hate to miss documenting another loss by the New Jersey Nyets -- which as Basketbawful reader winnetou pointed out set a Nyets franchise record for consecutive home losses -- I just wasn't able to make it through today's Worst of the Night post. Blame Microsoft for auto-updating my computer in the kind of way that made it not work. Hey, Bill Gates...this middle finger is for you.

To partially make it up to you, here's a fun little video I've never posted before. Long before Ron Artest jumped into the Detroit crowd, Cedric Maxwell was taking fans the hell out. The best part -- other the fact that this happened during Game 6 of one of the greatest playoff series of all time -- is that the fan appeared to throw something at Cornbread without illiciting a response. Then he said something that caused Max to turn back and put him down.

I'm guessing whatever he said was, ahem, racially motivated.


I did a little research into this, and apparently the fan stabbed Maxwell with a pencil. That's not cool. The funny thing is, I remember watching this as a kid and thinking nothing of it, other than that Philly fans must be assholes.

Here's an excerpt about the incident from the May 4, 1981 edition of the Boston Globe:

"Cedric Maxwell got the bad news yesterday. His run-in with a Philadelphia fan last Friday night during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals at the Spectrum will cost him $2500.

The National Basketball Assn. announced the fine yesterday against Maxwell, who charged into the stands and shoved a middle-aged man whose remarks he apparently took exception to. The incident occurred early in the third period of the game at Philadelphia on May 1. Maxwell was trying to get position under the Celtics backboard and was shoved out of bounds by Darryl Dawkins of the 76ers.

The momentum of Dawkins' shove carried Maxwell into the lap of a fan who was cheerleading in front of his front-row seat. Maxwell picked himself up and headed back to the court. Suddenly, he stopped and went back to charge the man, who was knocked over his chair. The fan was not identified.

"Regardless of the provocation," NBA Comr. Larry O'Brien commented from New York, "players must avoid confrontations with the fans in the stands, and any player engaging in similar conduct in the future will have even more severe penalties."

Maxwell was not available for comment.

Well, O'Brien sure was right about the "more severe penalties" part.