Nearly 12 years after the famous “Malice at the Palace”, Metta World Peace is now reportedly friends with the man who started the whole thing.
It was nearly a dozen years ago when the man now known by the last name “Peace” was in the stands of an NBA arena being anything but peaceful. Then known as Ron Artest, the former Indiana Pacers star charged into the seats after having a beer thrown on him by a fan during a testy game against the Detroit Pistons.
Artest was gone for the rest of the year and several teammates also were given lenghty suspensions and fights for the all out brawl (as were several members of the Pistons). Years later, one of those Pacers teammates, Stephen Jackson, dropped this interesting nugget about MWP and his relationship with the person who he will always be grouped with in history:
It shouldn’t be all that surprising to think that Metta would go out there and try to make things right with those he has wronged before. Since having what seems to be an “awakening”, the man formerly known as Ron seems to be at peace (no pun intended) with himself and his past, which allows him to move on.
More importantly, mad props should be given to Jackson and former Pistons star Rasheed Wallace for not throwing down right there on the set of the ESPN2 show. Although, it would have been nice if we could have had “The Malice at the Palace Part Two”.
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