The refs were trying to break up the numerous scuffles between players that erupted when the benches cleared.
Artest was laying on the scorer's table, presumably trying to calm down and keep himself out of the melee on the court.
Security.. now that's a good question. One of the guys who was trying to restrain Artest was a Palace Usher. The Palace has announced that they will be implementing "playoff level" security for the rest of this season (perhaps forever). They have publicly said they are thankful that they have weapons screening in place already, because if somebody had pulled out a knife or gun it would have been truly tragic. Local authorities are watching and re-watching the tapes and intend to file criminal charges against those involved. They did point out, in watching the videos that no Detroit fans threw the first punch in any of incidents. I felt most badly for the ballboy on the court that Artest punched out after he left the stands. The announcers on NBC said repeatedly "Nobody could stop something like this, when this many guys are involved, nobody can stop it".
I think local news has more film coverage than others. One of the sports reporters from our Local 4 was 5 feet from Artest when he leaped off the table and they had camera men around waiting to do interviews after the game who started rolling when the melee broke out. Most are speculating the (in)famous Geoffrey Feiger will probably represent the victims.
Nikki: try
Click on Detroit for the film of it.
I'm also going to remind people.. bench clearing brawls have occurred in every sport and many, many people talk about it as if it's "cool" afterward. This was a bench clearing brawl that got totally out of control. A lot of people watch hockey for the fights.
Dee
Oops, I was writing all that when Phyllis posted!