I remember when I saw this fight. I remember how wild it was. It was completely surreal and unbelievable, but much like many of the people in the documentary implied, the backlash was completely ridiculous. If anything, never trust the media in an election year because their collective minds seem to be on hyperbole mode. The never ending collection of news clips illustrated this perfectly. I'm kinda surprised they couldn't get a Nancy Grace clip (provided she was on the air at the time).
Yes, the Pacers were the scape goats and yes, they needed to be punished. The problem is, this all went down at the worst possible time. A new collective bargaining agreement was coming up, a new television deal was on the horizon and the burgeoning power of the internet was starting to be utilized. David Stern, the fascist iron fist of the league who saved the same league from drug abuse and outright obscurity, clearly was not going to play around. He fixed drafts and threw players under the bus for decades and no one would have expected any less than a finger wagging response that would burn credit cards and remove zeroes from paychecks. However, the suspensions were so harsh that it really derailed the franchise and while Indiana has had some ups and downs since, they have never been that close to greatness since.
What I appreciate about any documentary is when all parties participate. All of the major players were called in and while it was surprising to see disgraced referee Tim Donaghy in the fray, it just proved they worked pretty hard to get as many involved as possible. It's only fitting that human punching bag Charlie Haddad still thinks he is a victim. It was a mixed bag so to speak, for you felt kinda bad for Jermaine O'Neal and also gained some twisted perspectives from Stephen Jackson and Ron Artest/Metta World Peace. I always enjoy these interviews, especially if the participants show some levity and honesty. There was really only one glaring detail they didn't go too deep into.
Yes, the racial optics of the fight should have been a bigger topic, especially since this wasn't the first time it has happened for the NBA. During the 70s, white America started turning against the NBA due to the perceived "blackness" of the league. Just look up what some people used to call the New York Knicks back in those days and you will see. It didn't help the NBA had a fighting and drug problem, which ironically was cleaned up by David Stern when he was basically second in command (though some feel he had been making the major decisions as early as 1979, five years before he officially became the commissioner). If they had done a little parallel story telling for this topic, I would have given the documentary an 8.
Anyway, for true sports fans nothing new was really offered except for the background of the fall out. You can honestly feel the contempt from law enforcement about the amount of time and effort they had to put into this. I felt those perspectives were especially important. This was a powder keg waiting to happen and in the words of Bill Walton who was calling the game, "This was a disgrace."
Nice little documentary. I look forward to some other entries in the series.
