Metta World Peace Pokes Fun at Malice Incident After Drinks Thrown at Refs: Theres a saying in NBA circles that goes something like this: Any Metta World Peace news is good Metta World Peace news. OK, so that phrase doesnt actually exist in the hoops lexicon, but perhaps it should. When is the last time a World Peace story leaked that wasnt good? On second thought, dont answer that. The artist formerly known as Ron Artest certainly had his share of dark days. Still, hes managed to live every one of them with a smile—even when its the worst possible response someone could have. Yet, whenever hes laughing, the rest of us, eventually, follow suit. Take a particularly ugly incident from the Oklahoma City Thunders series-clinching 104-98 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, for instance. With L.A. fighting for its playoff lives, point guard Chris Paul powered his way to the basket and set up an easy dunk for center DeAndre Jordan that would have trimmed the Clippers deficit to five with 3:35 remaining. Only Jordans basket was waved off after Paul was hit with an offensive foul for colliding with OKC big man Nick Collison. On L.A.s ensuing possession, forward Blake Griffin was whistled for a charge. A chorus of boo birds erupted from the Staples Center faithful, but those criticisms took a scary turn, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports detailed: Considering the controversial ending to the Clippers Game 5 loss, their fans were understandably dismayed at the thought of the officials robbing them again. Booing was an acceptable reaction. Firing drinks at an official, though, crossed a line that should never have to be even drawn. Thankfully, the situation didnt escalate from there. Weve seen this same sort of thing spiral quickly out of control before. Two fans don’t represent a fan base, but when this happens in certain markets – ahem, Detroit – it gets blown up into something big, NBC Sports Dan Feldman noted. Which brings us back to the polarizing player that is (was?) Metta World Peace. It was a thrown beverage that sent World Peace sprinting through the Palace of Auburn Hills stands on Nov. 19, 2004, sparking a vicious fight between players and fans since dubbed The Malice at the Palace. Leave it to World Peace to turn an incident as ugly as that was into a joke nearly 10 years later: World Peace is just wired differently than the rest of us. His approach could be scary or even, at times, downright dangerous, yet there was something oddly refreshing with his unfiltered perspective. He decked former Thunder guard James Harden with an elbow to the head in 2012, then later explained it was simply bad timing for me and then, physically, it was bad timing for Mr. Harden, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles. After the melee in Motown, World Peace asked former teammate Jamaal Tinsley, Do you think were going to get in trouble, Stephen Jackson said during an appearance on ESPNs Highly Questionable. There is no World Peace logic to follow, and youd only confuse yourself if you tried. But his unique look on life has always been entertaining to hear. Luckily, the scene at Staples Center never reached a boiling point. Those are often unavoidable in the best World Peace stories—the only kind of World Peace stories there are. Follow @Hoops_Guru Read more NBA news on BleacherReport #NBA #BreakingNews #MettaWorldPeace #fantasybasketball
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 18:53:16 +0000
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