Last night was a bad night for fans in the NBA.
There was a Sixers fan who got banned after throwing popcorn on Russell Westbrook while he was walking to the locker room after an ankle injury, there was a Knicks fan who was banned after he tried to spit on Trae Young, and there were Jazz fans who were banned after an altercation with players.
If the players would have reacted to the fans they would have been vilified by almost everyone. The fans were rightfully banned but their faces were kept private which is a mistake.
One of the only people who has experience with fans throwing something on him and him reacting is Metta World Peace, who was Ron Artest when it happened.
We all remember the “Malace in the Palace” when Metta fouled Ben Wallace hard and Ben didn’t like it so his pushed Metta. That caused some ruckus with the players but Metta was calm and just went to the scorers table to just chill. While he was lying on the table, a fan threw a beer on him and he reacted by going into the stands to fight the fans.
He was vilified for it cause it got bigger than he expected.
After seeing the popcorn thrown on Russ, Metta had his own take on the situation and says it is the ultimate sign of disrespect because of the way Russ gives his all while on the court.
Flip the page to see the full reaction.