"I respect Stern, but I don't think that he has been fair with me in this situation" - Artest insisted he was treated unjustly after the Malice at the Palace

Less than ten games into the 2004-05 NBA season, tensions began to flare during a matchup between the defending Eastern Conference champion Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers .

What began with a seemingly common foul and player altercation soon escalated into one of the biggest fights in NBA history, and some of the harshest punishments followed.

Receiving punishments

In the aftermath of the brawl, later anointed Malice at the Palace, the NBA handed out a suspension total of 146 games. Pacers small forward Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace) received the harshest punishment, as he couldn't play for the remainder of the season. While he regretted his actions, Indiana's superstar felt he was used as the scapegoat of the incident and was judged unfairly.

"I respect David Stern, but I don't think that he has been fair with me in this situation," Artest said .

Other big suspensions were handed out to fellow Pacers teammates Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal, who were hit with 30 and 15 game bans, respectively. The Pistons players only got a nine-game ban in total.

The infamous brawl

Detroit found themselves behind by 15 points with 45.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter before all hell broke loose. The uproar took a turn when Artest fouled Pistons center Ben Wallace by hitting him with arms in the back of his head. The big man retaliated by shoving Ron, and in a matter of seconds, almost every player on the court and the bench came up to separate both players.

After a few seconds of calm, Artest was lying on a table when a towel pelted him, and the cycle repeated as players tried to stop him from reacting. But when a Detroit fan threw a plastic cup at the forward, he jumped into the stands and held another fan who he thought did it.

The next few minutes were chaotic as fans and players got into it in the stands — items were thrown all around with punches and kicks also being dished out. In the end, the players were escorted outside the court, and the officials ended the game with the Pacers leading and securing the victory.

Related: "Give me two years training and a promotion from Don King. I'll knock somebody out" - Artest on considering a career change after the 'Malice at the Palace'