Jermaine O’Neal believes that the former referee should be more aggressive and aggressive in order to keep the pacers and pistons at bay.
The Indiana Pacers find themselves in a competing position once again. The franchise’s ability to rebuild itself after the star player left was incredible.
Prior to this version of the Pacers, the team their last team poses a threat to regular Eastern Conference was a Paul George-led team in the early 2010s.
George led the Pacers to multiple series victory, but was defeated by LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
And before them were the Indiana Pacers from the early 2000s. Their run ended after the infamous malice in the 2004 palace brawl.
Read more: Chris Marin reveals that he wants to sign Ron Art for the Warriors along with his teammates after malice at the palace
While appearing in The Out The Mud Podcast, Indiana Pacers legend Jermaine O’Neal spoke about the infamous malice in the Palace Incident.
He believes that Tim Donaghee, an embarrassing former NBA umpire who was caught up in a betting scandal, is to blame for not letting things settle down between Pacer and Piston, which led to a massive brawl.
“Ref (Donaghy) who was fixing the game played that game. When Ben (Wallace) enters with Ron (Artest), it’s like a five-minute time lapse.”
“These references have receding. Ben had all these bands. He just started throwing them.
“Ron actually does his job and goes to (the scorer’s table). Ben throws the last band. That’s when the cup came. We all thought Ben had it on fire. Ben thought he would be stopped.”
“It was a shame because it was national television. You had a reference that didn’t even separate the teams. The teams were trying to separate each other.
“A five minutes of real-time mistakes have players come and go, scream, come down. It never happens. They clean it up quickly.
Read more: What Michael Jordan did after his malice at the palace proved to Ron Attest who he was
The maliciousness of the Palace Incident was a dark chapter in both the Indiana Pacers and NBA history. But fortunately, tonight they have the opportunity to create some good memories.
The Pacers will host the New York Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. If they win, they will be going to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000.
Pacer’s fanbase was waiting for a team that could once again reach the NBA Finals. And they finally feel like they have it.
However, the Knicks have shown a lot of fires, especially in Game 5. Pacers must do their clinical best to advance to the NBA Finals.