Isiah Thomas believes that he could have stopped one of the most notorious events in sports history from even happening in the first place.
The retired Basketball Hall of Famer appeared this week on the broadcast of an Indiana Pacers’ Summer League game. Thomas, the former head coach of the Pacers, touched on a number of topics, including the team’s brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2004.
“I was the coach that [Rick] Carlisle replaced,” said Thomas, per Nat Newell of the Indianapolis Star. “Had I not got fired, I believe I would have won a championship with that team. I don’t believe there would’ve been a ‘Malice at the Palace,’ because I don’t believe the Pistons fans would’ve acted that way with me coaching the team.”
Thomas coached the Pacers from 2000 to 2003. He also one of the greatest Detroit Pistons of all-time, having led them to back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990. But there is probably still nothing that Thomas could have done to prevent the melee from having happened. The bad blood was already brewing between the two teams after they met in the Eastern Conference Finals the year before. It is also hard to imagine that seeing Thomas as the head coach of the opposing team would have deterred the fan who threw the cup of liquid at Ron Artest, triggering the spillover into the stands.
The brawl has been back in the news recently after a compelling Netflix documentary centered on it was released. The documentary explains how a confluence of events, far beyond what Thomas or anyone else would have been able to control, created the perfect storm for the incident to occur.
