Changes since Malice at the Palace and final thoughts
A lot has changed since the Malice at the Palace. Security is much tighter around the court, it is harder for fans to be able to run onto it. Most arenas now provide canopies over the entrance where the players enter and exit. The Pacers players, going back to their locker room, were pelted with food and drinks in the tunnel leading away from the court.
And now, the players know not to just hop into the stands and start wailing on people if they have a problem with a fan, unless they want to lose a lot of money.
I have personally witnessed a couple times where players have called security to the bench, pointed out a fan who they believe had gone out of the boundaries of decency, and the fan was removed.
This past season there was an incident in Philadelphia where the Wizards’ Russell Westbrook going back to the locker room, had popcorn dumped on top of him. He got very upset and, it appeared, had to be restrained from entering the stands and going after that fan, like Artest in Malice at the Palace.
Now Westbrook makes $33 million a year. You really think he was going to give up all that money to hit a guy for throwing popcorn? In the end, Westbrook went to his locker room, and the fan was identified and stripped of his season tickets.
That might be the biggest lesson out of the documentary. The Malice at the Palace occurred 17 years ago, and we have never had an incident close to that since. Fans and players know the consequences now.
As for how Detroit was portrayed. I took it as a compliment when they talked about how passionate the fans were, and the opposing players about how they hated to go to The Palace due to the fans. As the Oakland County prosecutor pointed out, there were 20,000 fans at the game, only two really did anything that bad.
So you can go on Netflix and watch the documentary for entertainment value, but it really did not have much to do with Detroit.