Matt has Stack take us through his thoughts and emotions during Malice At The Palace 15 years ago. Would Stack jump in the stands if he knew that he would be suspended 30 games? They also talk about the Myles Garrett - Mason Rudolph incident that resulted in the indefinite suspension of Garrett. Was that fair?
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November nineteen, two thousand four, fifteen years later. Uh. One of the something that will always be mentioned when they mentioned Stephen Jackson is the mouth in the Palace. But I want to take a look back because something a football version of that something what happened minus going in the stands of world. You know last week, um Myles Garrett on what Summer calling a questionable late hit hit hit Mason Rudolph late in the game. Game was already in hands. Guess Mason Rudolph took offense to it, try to pull his helmetoff, didn't work, got his helmet pulled off. Then he tried to rush him like he was really gonna do something to him, and then got bopped with the helmet, and uh, you know it's Miles Garrett's you know, life is probably changing right now, you know what I mean just from that incident. Uh, you know, if you could tell him anything or what he's thinking right now, take what would it be? What's the different time? You know? Um, when that happened with us, we couldn't we couldn't come out and speak social media on social media not like that, and we couldn't control out on there. If you know what I mean, I think he has the outlets too say exactly what happened, to walk with people with the video that might not see the things that he saw actually actually being on the field. Um, a lot of you know, I think we we had to sit back and just take it. You know, with everything being on TV. These guys are thugs. Uh, these guys are rich babies. They shouldn't be in the NBA. I had never been in trouble with the law of my life before that brawl. I'd never been in the NBA fight in the game before that brawl. So so I think he is. I think he should just just stay quiet. But when he has his time to speak, say everything, don't hold back. He needs to come on here and he needs to come on all the smoke and say everything. Well, I mean, if he really want to get a story off, I think the way the platform we created and the way all the players are respecting, I think this is the place for him because you know, we're not going to judge him. And at the same time, what we're talking to us we understand because we've been We've been there, you know what I mean. And it's I can't tell, I can't tell him another show he could go on and talk to what people can relate to him like we can. I feel you. So take me back to your journey getting to the Pacers. Well, in OH three, I won the championship with the Spurs. Um I was looking for my big contract after I had I had some big, big, big shots. But as you know now, you can see now the Spurs were favoring three guys, Gennobly, Tony and Tim Duncan. And Gennoble and Tony were up the same time I was up, you know, and uh I think they wanted to give them the big number of contracts and low ball me was like three years, nine million, and I felt insulted. You know, we wouldn't have had a championship without me, We wouldn't have made it out the Western Conference without me. And uh so I decided to go to Atlanta for one year, improved myself and around that time that year and Mike Brown took an assistant head coach job in Indiana with Rick Carlisle. And during the course of that year at Atlanta, you know, I was I think I was having a great year, but the second half of the season, I was like sitting six and scoring in the whole league, and um, Mike Brown can't call me up. We played him and he pulled him and Brick put me to the side, like we know he didn't get your contract this summer. Keep a level head. Finished the season healthy, and we're gonna bring it. You know, we're gonna give you the contract next year. So with knowing that that that helped me the rest of the season because I had to was put up numbers. Our team was shitty, We was trash. Uh. It was me, Bobby, Bob Sora, and Jayson Terry Yeah and the rest in peace. Jason call you. We had Kay as well. Um, it was a small team. They had no plans of winning. Terry Stouts was our coach at the time. But I was just putting up numbers and just just the fact that they came and told me that I was gonna get my deal that summer. Um, I knew the team was already good. They were one of the best teams in the East. And to be to know I was gonna be part of be a part of that was good. Especially so you end up getting your dealer fall in summer. I end up getting my six years, six years six year deal for thirty six but the equal out of being six years forty two. Okay, So now you're in Indiana with the team that had a bitter Eastern Conference accident the finals to the Pistons. So you didn't really come in that situation understand what kind of rival me what that was, did you? Well? I, I really the only robber I understood at that time was the Spurs and Lakers. And that wasn't the type of robbery that Detroit and Indiana like. This was some street chip that was not real. This is some back some jail prison beef basketball, you know what I mean? And uh, I walked into it, but I you know, I have respect, so much respect. She was like a big brother ripped man. Rip graduated in high school nine six McDonald's All America. So we were great, great friends. So the walking into that, I didn't know that I was gonna have to pick a side like that. To whether I knew I was gonna pick a side plant basketball, but to to to start a fighting a bra I didn't know ilays got to pick a side like that. So here we are, the end of the of the game. You guys got the game in hand, you have fifteen fifteen points. Uh to me looking at the play, hard foul Maybe maybe not. I mean it's Ron obviously Ben took offense to it. Um, you know, looked like being one of the bite runs head off they you know, you got did a good job of keeping them all separate. Ron gets here with something, he charges up in the stands. At that moment, what made you charge? Well, at that moment, my joenneral I was already in fight mode if you look at it, you know, like I just said, man, RiPP was cool. But at that moment when we was you know, we were up fifteen. We this was the game that was gonna separate us from everybody in the Eastern Conference. We were fourteen and something. We like the best record, I think the best record league at the time, and we had beat almost all the big teams except Detroit and um. You know, at the end of the game, we were beating them, and I just knew that's someone right, you know what I mean, because during the whole game it was it was some disrespectful stuff said in the game. So at the end of the game, were at the free throw line, and uh, I'm shooting the free throw and I hear I hear somebody in the back saying you can get your file now. Wrong. I'm you know, I'm not really paying no attention. You know what I'm saying. But I'm not. You gotta think I'm not thinking about this is be from last year, like they was in a hard fought battle and the put the Eastern Conference finals last year, and uh so I didn't really pay no attention. So I'm guarding Being. I just let him score and row come from out of nowhere and just push him. And Ben had just dealt with the death in his family at the time, somebody had passed. But not only that, we is busting their ass on national TV for the world to see. They were in their feelings. Trust me, we served him up, bro. We served him a nice shiny ass whipping with baby all I'm telling about. I'll take this ass whipping on national TV, you know what I mean? And when when when run five Ben, I think Being response was not only was he dealing with the death, but they just came in here and barrassed the ship out of you know what I mean. So when that happened, okay, I'm thinking bout Okay, let's just break it up, trying to break it up. But as we're breaking it up, you got Lindsay Hunter, you got real Hamilton's. They still talking ship. So like I said it, you don't tell you already know it. They'll take nothing but a second from me. You gotta put no battery in my back. As soon as I saw that, if you look at the tape, I walked all around the whole circle and squared up. Took my jersey off, you know, so my punch could come out, flew out. When my jersey took they're gonna hinder my punches. I pulled my jersey out, square up, Nobody run up, you know what I'm saying. So in that that moment, I'm in fight mode, you know what I'm saying. And there's a whole bunch of stuff going on. But what what really egged everything on? They didn't do a good job of getting being off the court. He kept doing she threw something, kept throwing stuff, kept throwing stuff at Wrong was cool, but people don't know wrong. Was told that in this session to find a place when you get to black about to explode, find a place to calm down. Wrong with laid on the table pus it put. It was the craziest thing ever. But he put the headphones on. He found this happy place, you know what I'm saying, So he was cool. It's still a whole lot of pushing going on at that time. No, you know what, Like I said, Ben still throwing stuff. So by that time when the cup come, I'm just in survival mode. And once I saw my teammate go yeah, I didn't think twice. Now I felt like I was back in Port Author and went in the club when somebody threw a punch of one of my homeboys. This is all out braught. Now I'm in Sacramento at the time, and we're just coming at a halftime. Um, I think we're playing Memphis. And I turned back and look and I'm like, damn, that's a fight. Damn. They're in the stands. So we called the whole team pretty much, the whole team comes back in the locker room, and I wanted to say we're late out to the second half because we're in there watching this all go down. So Ron gets up in there. Ron initially get points out the wrong dude right, He grabs the wrong dude wrong, and then out of nowhere, he run his dude. Someone throws something Ron, and then that's once Ron is hanging up with this dude, and then that's where you come in and clean old dude out. Yeah, what people don't know, Matt. When I go in the stands, I go up and initially grabbed heron. This is why I hate why I got labeled, you know. And I went up that actually grab you see me, I turned to grab Ron. As I grabbed Ron, another fan throw another beer in his face. Come on, man, you come here. You gotta pay for that. Let me look at your whole face. And he's lucky that they grabbed me because I was find the Lewis man at him and stump him out. Make his teeth touched the curb. I was gonna stump him out. You what I mean, because I was in fighting more. I was a survival mode. You gotta think at that point, we didn't run into the stands. So what people don't know is where the rental was. That's not Detroit, That's nowhere close to Detroit. We would have been in Detroit, a lot of players would have been knocked out prior damn the dead in there. But where we were, you know, when we got into the stands. It wasn't it wasn't going crazy, you know what I'm saying. We were really clearing people out, you know what I'm saying. But the fact that my my my teammates that came grabbed me and pulling me off, you know, that kind of saved me some money too, because I was gonna hurt the dude. Well that's what people don't I think, you know, not to make light And I kind of laugh here and there because it's it's happened so long ago and and we've been able to joke about it since. But on a on a serious tip, people don't understand, like, as players, you can't just say anything or do anything to us just because they're players. That I mean, we hear the crazy. I mean, and you talk together. We heard so much racial so many racial slurs, and throughout my career, people have says stuff and I'm like, it would make to play through it and yeah, you know what I mean. You you're big, No, like that's you don't you don't disrespect men like that, you know what I mean? And I think there's a there's some kind of understand that people think, oh it just because we bought up, paid a bunch of money for this ticket. We can say and do what we want to you, you know what I mean. So, I mean talk is one thing. You know, you go up and you know they start throwing stuff and doing stuff like that's a whole other thing. So you know, when I initially saw them, just like, damn, that's gonna be some trouble. But I was thinking, like I understand it, you know what I mean, Like you can't in the heat of the moment, you know someone's throwing a fan of throwing something at you like that ship should never happen. There's no amount of money that you can pay me that. While I allow to belittle me when I show everybody respect, I'm not. I'm not accepted it. You know, in no shape befo him, especially now in any other place, any other setting. Throwing a beer and somebody faces, you're going to jail. You're going to jail for that. And if if you're in the bar, somebody through a beer in your face and you hit them back, you get off because that's the defense. But me, I get thirty games and find them to three million dollars. We'll talk to me about that. How did that. I mean that that split second. You know, being a great team and having your man's back change you career wise, financial leads take us through that. Well, having the game of basketball taking from me, I think that's the lowest ever been in my life. Thirty games, huh. Just you know the fact that I can't play basketball like that ship took as it took a lot out of me. And um just sitting at home smoking with the home is playing football in the snow, trying to find something to do. It was nothing that can give me what basketball game me. So that that was a big turn in my life, you know what I'm saying, because I wanted to get back so back. It made me appreciate the game like I was in high school, like I was in middle school again. So it was a blessing in disguise. Besides being fined and losing the money and all that it brought me, it gave me the love back for the game from being away from it so long. You feel like it costs you. You know some stuff though as far as All Star games and man, I mean, I think that's probably the only thing I regret, man, because like I was, I was labeled a bad guy of helping my teammate. And um, I know a's at least two or three years in my career. I was definitely All Star, deserved to make it, but I got labeled by referees, I got labeled by coaches. You know, Um he was even the time when I was in Charlotte, and um I got to Charlotte, there was a decent team, but they were at the bottom of the East. As you know, I get us to the playoffs, you know, and around around All Star time, Geral Wallace made it. But when General Wallace made it, everybody on the team, from the coach to MJ and m for like, what, Jack is the reason why we're here. You know, we're happy to get up, but Jack is the reason why we're here. And to the point where you know, MJ made a call, you know, like we know, we know it's more than just basketball now because look at look at his numbers. Look at where we had now since he's been here, and uh even further too, and Golden State and gold State, you had the year that you should have been an All Star. Yeah, but you know, starting when I first got there, starting off those seven games to spend it that hurt. That hurt me. That hurt me, you know what I'm saying. But MJ had made that call and Paul Pierson got hurt, so it was a spot they gave it to David Lee. My numbers was ten times better than his. They weren't even in the playoffs, So at that point I knew it was because of that. So that type of ship hurt because you know how hard we work, and you know how many people, our people already count us out and we had to prove ourselves every night anyway, So that all that from the brawl, that's just still hurt to this day. How what was life like off the court? I mean, I know you probably star the love people love me for it, Like like all I hear is man, I wish I had a friend like you. I need a friend like you, you know what I mean? And and I and I appreciate that because I'd rather be known for somebody that's being a good friend of being an asshole or dick. You know what I'm saying. I'm I'm label that's being a good teammate. And if me going in the stands says the standard of what a teammates should be, I rocked with it. I was always taught growing up to protect my brother and sister at all costs. Like they fight, you fight. That's why I grew up fighting my whole entire life. It was just it was second nature to me. Tell me what it was like for you. What triggered what? What in your past trigged you to react the way you did during the braw iran Um, Well, you know, just growing up and put off the Texas. You know, everybody know everybody. So just that I got my brother back and my brother's keeper attitude, that's just around the neighborhood with your friends. But when I lost my older brother, I was like ship five minutes away, and um, he was jumped by a couple of guys, end up beating him, hitting them with bottles and pipes and ship and end up getting eighteen stables in his headway. Eventually, as soon as the ambulance got to was already brain dead. And just knowing that I was that close and couldn't get there, you know, I know, should we both probably would have been dead, I probably would have saved his life. I don't know how I would have played out, but just knowing how small my city is and how much we were together and I couldn't get there. That made that not only I was already that type of guy, but that made me become more of a brother to you and everybody else, you know what I'm saying. So when that situation with Ron like your brother, I have to Yeah, I mean, and that's what I say. Throughout my career, like I treat my teammates like family. I was always taught to protect my family. So anytime if you look at all my funds throughout my career, people were never funking with me, it was because I was protecting the Blake or CP or taken up for Kobe or taking up for my teammates. Because if you funk with one and you fuck, you know what you sunk with all of us. And I think that's why we hit it off instantly, you know what I mean we had when you were in the in the broad I didn't know you, but I'm just like, damn like everyone star, that's a real motherfucker right there, like some of that as your back. I mean, that's obviously some ship I would have, did you know? So when you came to Golden State and I've seen your lips were a little bit dry. I knew you've been smoking dope. I was like, okay, so this is the dude that fights any smokes will that this is the match made of heaven. And I think we kind of hit it off from there on out because we are very similar in our upbringing and our thought process, in our wearing our heart on our sleeve and will die for our brother literally or physically, you know what I mean. So it's just it's refreshing to see. And unfortunately, before, like you said, you couldn't tell your story. So you've been labeled as this thug or this gang bang or this this and that, you know what I mean. So that was something I also had to learn to be like, Okay, well the labels, if they don't know me, I don't give a funk what they think. But that's easier said than done, and it's a process, you know. I mean, like you said, you were labeled for being a thug, for having your brother's back if he could have possibly went up there by itself and really got hurt, you know, I mean, the whole different story. So the fact that you went up there and tried to help, but you get a bad rap for it. I know that stuck with you and burned for a while. It did. It didn't like, you know, just being the game being taking away from me, and people saying this about you, your kids hearing this, you know what I'm saying, Your mama hearing this, and you know that, ain't you? You know what I mean? You know you were just being a good brother, good teammate. It was. It was sucked up for a while. But at the end of the day, like you said, I had the attitude where should I had to call somebody to get some fox to give because I don't have no you know what I mean? I ran out of box to give and and and I became a better person after that. Fifteen years later, knowing what you known, you would have sacrificed and lost thirty games, three million possible All Star selections, bad reputation. Would you do it again again? Right now? For him holding the camera, for him holding the my film camera, we go somewhere together, I do it again. That's the type of personally I'm I didn't. I didn't do it for recognition for people to say, here a real motherfucker. That's just how I am. It's just how I was taught, so yeah, I'll do it again. I just regret. I just we're go losing them Mann me getting back. Uh huh oh h h oh h h m hmmm