1 00:00:35,625 --> 00:00:39,083 ♪dramatic synth drone♪ 2 00:00:49,709 --> 00:00:53,083 The entire Ron Artest story is the story of America. 3 00:00:53,083 --> 00:00:58,041 It is the story of endless possibility and endless... 4 00:00:58,041 --> 00:01:03,792 ability to recover from complete failure. 5 00:01:03,792 --> 00:01:08,917 And that is the ultimate test of humanity. 6 00:01:08,917 --> 00:01:14,417 And Ron Artest, wow, who would have ever thought? 7 00:01:14,417 --> 00:01:16,542 This is like a movie. 8 00:01:18,875 --> 00:01:21,458 The only time I had ever had to have a conversation 9 00:01:21,458 --> 00:01:25,333 with Metta World Peace was we got finished playing the game. 10 00:01:25,333 --> 00:01:27,500 He wasn't as physical as he normally is. 11 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:31,166 So after the game, I'm out at dinner and I'm eating, 12 00:01:31,166 --> 00:01:34,166 and Metta comes walking in. 13 00:01:34,166 --> 00:01:36,750 And I said -- I said, "Metta!" He comes over and I said, 14 00:01:36,750 --> 00:01:39,375 "Wh-- What's...Where's the physicality? 15 00:01:39,375 --> 00:01:40,917 Where's the -- the toughness?" He was like, "Oh, man. 16 00:01:40,917 --> 00:01:43,333 You know, I'm not trying to, you know, upset anybody 17 00:01:43,333 --> 00:01:45,500 or do anything like this, you know?" I said, "Your name 18 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:47,333 is Metta World Peace, right?" 19 00:01:47,333 --> 00:01:49,250 He said, "Yeah." I said, "How do you think peace 20 00:01:49,250 --> 00:01:51,166 is accomplished?" He goes, "I don't know." 21 00:01:51,166 --> 00:01:54,875 I said, "Through war. 22 00:01:54,875 --> 00:01:59,166 Win the war and then you have peace. Got it? All right." 23 00:02:01,959 --> 00:02:04,291 Final minute of the season 24 00:02:04,291 --> 00:02:06,583 for the Indiana Pacers. 25 00:02:06,583 --> 00:02:09,375 The Celtics have ... of the Pacers... 26 00:02:11,166 --> 00:02:15,083 The Celtics advance to the second round. 27 00:02:15,083 --> 00:02:16,291 You're not gonna do anything. 28 00:02:16,291 --> 00:02:17,750 -Come on, my nigga! -Get the fucking security! 29 00:02:17,750 --> 00:02:20,208 Get your motherfucking security right now! 30 00:02:24,208 --> 00:02:27,959 It was like a tornado Or a hurricane. 31 00:02:27,959 --> 00:02:31,375 And that was Ron. He'd be quiet before the storm, 32 00:02:31,375 --> 00:02:34,375 and then he'd be quiet after the storm. 33 00:02:34,375 --> 00:02:38,542 Ronnie seemed to go from one to 100 real quick. 34 00:02:38,542 --> 00:02:41,041 You know, you weren't gonna get a lot of warning. 35 00:02:41,041 --> 00:02:43,750 I never questioned Ron's ability. Never. 36 00:02:43,750 --> 00:02:47,417 Where he was mentally. Every single day, I questioned. 37 00:02:47,417 --> 00:02:48,875 I always remember somebody telling me, 38 00:02:48,875 --> 00:02:51,417 "This would be the last guy you'd wanna fight." 39 00:02:54,417 --> 00:02:57,458 Artest is in the stands! 40 00:02:57,458 --> 00:02:59,417 Oh, this is awful. Fans are getting involved. 41 00:02:59,417 --> 00:03:02,583 When Ron-Ron ran in the stands, like, I was just, aww, 42 00:03:02,583 --> 00:03:03,583 just... 43 00:03:03,583 --> 00:03:05,083 This is a disgrace. 44 00:03:05,083 --> 00:03:08,417 Because that is Queensbridge 45 00:03:09,458 --> 00:03:11,417 ♪"Quiet Storm (Remix)" by Mobb Deep♪ 46 00:03:27,166 --> 00:03:29,750 ♪It's the real 47 00:03:31,333 --> 00:03:33,291 ♪Hip-hop hip-hop♪ 48 00:03:42,667 --> 00:03:46,625 Ron's helped a lot of people revealing his 49 00:03:46,625 --> 00:03:49,166 demons. 50 00:03:49,166 --> 00:03:51,583 His disease. 51 00:03:51,583 --> 00:03:54,417 ♪"Life's a Bitch" by Nas 52 00:03:54,417 --> 00:03:57,291 ♪Life's a bitch and then you die, that's why we puff lye♪ 53 00:03:57,291 --> 00:03:59,417 ♪'Cause you never know when you're gonna go♪ 54 00:03:59,417 --> 00:04:03,041 ♪Life's a bitch and then you die, that's why we get high...♪ 55 00:04:03,041 --> 00:04:05,834 Police, open up! We've got a warrant. 56 00:04:05,834 --> 00:04:07,291 Police, open the door! 57 00:04:10,375 --> 00:04:12,917 ♪Life's a bitch and then you die♪ 58 00:04:12,917 --> 00:04:16,125 The idea of a criminal enterprise in New York 59 00:04:16,125 --> 00:04:19,000 had been basically limited to the mafia. 60 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,291 It was contained. Bad people, you know, 61 00:04:22,291 --> 00:04:24,834 doing bad things to other bad people. 62 00:04:24,834 --> 00:04:28,041 And then crack came. 63 00:04:28,041 --> 00:04:30,458 Crack, the most addictive form of cocaine, 64 00:04:30,458 --> 00:04:32,542 is now sweeping New York. 65 00:04:32,542 --> 00:04:37,250 And it completely democratized the idea 66 00:04:37,250 --> 00:04:40,500 of what an illicit enterprise was. So instead of having 67 00:04:40,500 --> 00:04:44,875 to be initiated into some secret society, 68 00:04:44,875 --> 00:04:49,667 all of a sudden, all you needed was baking soda, 69 00:04:49,667 --> 00:04:53,000 coke, a microwave, and a 9mm. 70 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,542 You were in business, you were a gangster. 71 00:04:56,542 --> 00:04:58,709 Federal drug enforcement agents have been saying 72 00:04:58,709 --> 00:05:01,875 for a long time that the crack situation in New York 73 00:05:01,875 --> 00:05:04,125 is out-of-control. 74 00:05:04,125 --> 00:05:07,375 That was the home of guys like the Supreme Team. 75 00:05:07,375 --> 00:05:09,041 You know, those were the guys when I was 76 00:05:09,041 --> 00:05:10,333 comin' up in Queens. 77 00:05:10,333 --> 00:05:12,709 When crack hit, it was a way out for some, 78 00:05:12,709 --> 00:05:15,333 and then for some people, it was a way to hell, 79 00:05:15,333 --> 00:05:17,542 you know what I'm sayin'? Because you might sell crack 80 00:05:17,542 --> 00:05:19,959 to your uncle, to your aunt, to your mother. 81 00:05:19,959 --> 00:05:22,041 Like, that's how the epidemic hit. 82 00:05:22,041 --> 00:05:25,208 A lot of people got killed. 83 00:05:25,208 --> 00:05:27,709 Crack affected a lot of people around me, 84 00:05:27,709 --> 00:05:29,959 a lot of family members. 85 00:05:32,333 --> 00:05:35,083 Don't take my mother, please! 86 00:05:35,083 --> 00:05:39,208 It destroyed families, it destroyed countless lives. 87 00:05:39,208 --> 00:05:43,125 And it was an incessant level of violence which you had 88 00:05:43,125 --> 00:05:48,834 in those days in New York, was the normalization of violence. 89 00:05:49,959 --> 00:05:52,792 One night back in the late 80s, you know, 90 00:05:52,792 --> 00:05:54,917 my man got killed right in front of me. 91 00:05:54,917 --> 00:05:57,250 At the corner store, we were usually around the corner, 92 00:05:57,250 --> 00:05:59,792 and the dude shot him and... 93 00:05:59,792 --> 00:06:03,417 That was something that I wouldn't... 94 00:06:03,417 --> 00:06:06,166 I mean, I'm thinking about it everyday. 95 00:06:06,166 --> 00:06:09,417 Everything was for crack. You know, everything was about 96 00:06:09,417 --> 00:06:12,834 hustling. The crime levels just shot up. 97 00:06:12,834 --> 00:06:15,625 If you disrespected somebody and, you know, 98 00:06:15,625 --> 00:06:18,625 a guy might be a hustler or whatever 99 00:06:18,625 --> 00:06:22,458 and you come up short, you might get shot in the ass. 100 00:06:22,458 --> 00:06:24,709 Queensbridge was one of the grimiest places 101 00:06:24,709 --> 00:06:26,625 that you could grow up in. 102 00:06:26,625 --> 00:06:28,875 And you could ask anybody from anywhere else, 103 00:06:28,875 --> 00:06:31,041 from any other borough that ever came out there 104 00:06:31,041 --> 00:06:32,083 and they'll let you know, like, "Yeah. 105 00:06:32,083 --> 00:06:33,792 Queensbridge is crazy." 106 00:06:33,792 --> 00:06:37,125 It reflected in everything that we did, whether it was 107 00:06:37,125 --> 00:06:39,000 you know, the music that we was writing 108 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,667 to the ball that we was playing on the block 109 00:06:41,667 --> 00:06:44,000 or, you know, how we acted in school. 110 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,208 You know, we -- we took Queensbridge with us. 111 00:06:46,208 --> 00:06:47,667 We wore it with pride. 112 00:06:47,667 --> 00:06:50,333 Just the whole atmosphere just -- It really -- 113 00:06:50,333 --> 00:06:53,041 It just brought out the beast in us. 114 00:06:55,834 --> 00:06:59,250 It was the first time in New York... 115 00:06:59,250 --> 00:07:01,667 that... 116 00:07:01,667 --> 00:07:05,667 Queens took the front pages for crime. 117 00:07:06,709 --> 00:07:12,333 Queens was where cops were being assassinated. 118 00:07:12,333 --> 00:07:14,667 Four young men accused of executing 119 00:07:14,667 --> 00:07:17,875 rookie cop Edward Burn. He was gunned down while guarding 120 00:07:17,875 --> 00:07:21,500 a witness in a drug case. It happened in Jamaica, Queens. 121 00:07:21,500 --> 00:07:23,333 The same neighborhood where three 122 00:07:23,333 --> 00:07:24,625 of the four suspects... 123 00:07:24,625 --> 00:07:27,500 Queens was where the most notorious 124 00:07:27,500 --> 00:07:31,917 kingpin crack dealers held court. 125 00:07:33,709 --> 00:07:35,041 They controlled everything. 126 00:07:35,041 --> 00:07:38,583 Basketball and the violent life of New York 127 00:07:38,583 --> 00:07:40,542 became enmeshed. 128 00:07:40,542 --> 00:07:42,875 Your mother would tell you, "When the lights get down, 129 00:07:42,875 --> 00:07:45,875 you know, I don't care who's playing. Bring your ass home," 130 00:07:45,875 --> 00:07:48,542 'cause nine times out of ten, they was gonna start shooting. 131 00:07:48,542 --> 00:07:50,959 Six blocks and 96 buildings. 132 00:07:50,959 --> 00:07:53,542 The Queensbridge Houses is the largest housing development 133 00:07:53,542 --> 00:07:57,041 in North America, and for years, its reputation sullied 134 00:07:57,041 --> 00:07:59,542 by gang violence and shootings. 135 00:07:59,542 --> 00:08:01,709 Queensbridge, if you can imagine the, um... 136 00:08:01,709 --> 00:08:05,709 ...the poverty because of people 137 00:08:05,709 --> 00:08:09,542 living, um, in low-income circumstances, 138 00:08:09,542 --> 00:08:11,625 like, living on top of each other. 139 00:08:13,375 --> 00:08:14,750 You could live in Queensbridge 140 00:08:14,750 --> 00:08:18,166 and go to a certain part of Astoria that is beautiful. 141 00:08:18,166 --> 00:08:23,750 But you can also turn the wrong corner and you will die. 142 00:08:23,750 --> 00:08:26,375 This is the part that people don't understand. 143 00:08:31,583 --> 00:08:33,750 Queensbridge is divided by North side and South side. 144 00:08:33,750 --> 00:08:36,917 And each side is composed of three blocks. 145 00:08:36,917 --> 00:08:39,750 You got 12th Street, 10th Street, and Vernon 146 00:08:39,750 --> 00:08:42,333 to make up the North side. Then on the South side, 147 00:08:42,333 --> 00:08:44,917 you've got 12th Street, 10th Street, and Vernon, 148 00:08:44,917 --> 00:08:46,792 and it's separated like that. 149 00:08:46,792 --> 00:08:49,166 Ron grew up on 10th Street. grew up directly 150 00:08:49,166 --> 00:08:50,583 across from me. 151 00:08:53,583 --> 00:08:56,083 That was my original apartment. 152 00:08:56,083 --> 00:09:00,083 And that's the apartment I -- I had the most memories of 153 00:09:00,083 --> 00:09:01,917 as a child. 154 00:09:02,834 --> 00:09:07,291 And, um... 155 00:09:07,291 --> 00:09:11,291 That kind of welcomed me to Queensbridge. 156 00:09:11,291 --> 00:09:16,166 Fun times, you know, bad times. 157 00:09:16,166 --> 00:09:19,792 Father and mother fought a lot in that house. 158 00:09:19,792 --> 00:09:23,166 Obviously, a man should never hit a woman, right? 159 00:09:23,166 --> 00:09:26,208 But they would fight. They hit each other. 160 00:09:26,208 --> 00:09:29,542 It was times where, you know, police would come 161 00:09:29,542 --> 00:09:32,792 and my parents, they tell each side of the story, 162 00:09:32,792 --> 00:09:36,333 and they're back in bed with each other. 163 00:09:37,041 --> 00:09:40,500 As a child, when you see the first argument, 164 00:09:40,500 --> 00:09:42,333 it's very shocking. 165 00:09:42,333 --> 00:09:44,291 You're just like, "What happened?" 166 00:09:44,291 --> 00:09:46,625 And then as it continuously happens, 167 00:09:46,625 --> 00:09:48,667 and then all you want is the best for both parents. 168 00:09:48,667 --> 00:09:52,208 I really never took sides when my parents would 169 00:09:52,208 --> 00:09:55,125 argue or fight. 170 00:09:55,125 --> 00:09:58,875 I was just like, "Can this be over already?" 171 00:09:58,875 --> 00:10:02,500 He was, like, eight years old the the summer of 1988 172 00:10:02,500 --> 00:10:04,166 and me and his mother were separated 173 00:10:04,166 --> 00:10:05,458 at that time. 174 00:10:06,125 --> 00:10:08,500 I remember my dad coming to 41-08 175 00:10:08,500 --> 00:10:11,125 telling me he's never coming back. 176 00:10:11,125 --> 00:10:12,333 And I was like, "Are you ever gonna come 177 00:10:12,333 --> 00:10:13,834 back to see us?" 178 00:10:15,333 --> 00:10:16,834 I did stay close by. 179 00:10:16,834 --> 00:10:18,750 Close by. I saw him everyday, uh, 180 00:10:18,750 --> 00:10:20,834 as long as we were separated. 181 00:10:20,834 --> 00:10:22,375 It helped -- it helped him set 182 00:10:22,375 --> 00:10:23,834 on the right track. 183 00:10:24,667 --> 00:10:27,709 A lot of that stuff really scarred me. 184 00:10:27,709 --> 00:10:29,375 And then I alw-- I always walked around 185 00:10:29,375 --> 00:10:30,875 with this chip, you know, on -- 186 00:10:30,875 --> 00:10:32,500 on my shoulder. 187 00:10:44,709 --> 00:10:46,625 I just couldn't get over the fact that 188 00:10:46,625 --> 00:10:49,083 my parents and mom were separated. 189 00:10:49,959 --> 00:10:53,291 At school, he was having difficulty with anxiety problems 190 00:10:53,291 --> 00:10:56,125 the way he was feeling after the separation. 191 00:10:56,125 --> 00:10:57,875 And he would get in trouble a lot. 192 00:10:57,875 --> 00:10:59,709 I was suspended every year for fighting. 193 00:10:59,709 --> 00:11:02,792 Kindergarten, first grade, second grade, every grade. 194 00:11:02,792 --> 00:11:04,000 All fighting. 195 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:05,458 It was probably the dumbest reasons, quite honestly 196 00:11:05,458 --> 00:11:07,291 It was, um... 197 00:11:07,291 --> 00:11:09,709 Somebody'd say something, somebody'd brush you, 198 00:11:09,709 --> 00:11:12,250 skip in front of the lunch line. 199 00:11:12,250 --> 00:11:13,750 All that type of stuff. 200 00:11:13,750 --> 00:11:15,750 I had to get after him a few times. 201 00:11:15,750 --> 00:11:17,917 You know, the old-school discipline way. 202 00:11:17,917 --> 00:11:20,500 I never felt nothing wrong with that. 203 00:11:20,500 --> 00:11:23,458 So, uh, I kind of kept him in line a little bit. 204 00:11:24,083 --> 00:11:29,625 My mom sent me to a service that they had counseling 205 00:11:29,625 --> 00:11:32,333 inside one of the apartments. 206 00:11:32,333 --> 00:11:33,959 A free service. 207 00:11:33,959 --> 00:11:36,417 A lot of the kids from the neighborhood was there. 208 00:11:36,417 --> 00:11:38,417 Um, some kids had autism, 209 00:11:38,417 --> 00:11:41,417 some kids had -- was bipolar. 210 00:11:41,417 --> 00:11:43,709 Some was on medication. 211 00:11:43,709 --> 00:11:45,375 It was like two of us in there that had, like, 212 00:11:45,375 --> 00:11:48,583 anger problems like me, but the counselor was in there 213 00:11:48,583 --> 00:11:50,417 trying to figure things out. 214 00:11:50,417 --> 00:11:54,125 She used to advise him to take up a sport 215 00:11:54,125 --> 00:11:55,166 and he chose basketball 216 00:11:55,166 --> 00:11:56,375 and that helped him out tremendously 217 00:11:56,375 --> 00:11:58,208 'cause while he was on the court, he'd 218 00:11:58,208 --> 00:12:00,625 channel all his energies to basketball, 219 00:12:00,625 --> 00:12:02,583 and that kind of helped him out a lot. 220 00:12:03,750 --> 00:12:06,125 ♪tense music 221 00:12:12,750 --> 00:12:14,625 Me and Ron's dad always had a close, 222 00:12:14,625 --> 00:12:15,792 close relationship. 223 00:12:15,792 --> 00:12:17,667 You'd see him coming, and he'd be like, 224 00:12:17,667 --> 00:12:18,792 "What's up?" 225 00:12:18,792 --> 00:12:20,458 And he'd scare you with his "What's up?" 226 00:12:20,458 --> 00:12:21,125 You know what I'm sayin'? 227 00:12:21,125 --> 00:12:22,625 Ron's dad was tough. 228 00:12:22,625 --> 00:12:24,625 When Ron started playing ball 229 00:12:24,625 --> 00:12:26,625 I seen a different side of him. 230 00:12:26,625 --> 00:12:29,291 I seen, like, his toughness wasn't like 231 00:12:29,291 --> 00:12:32,000 an abusive father toughness, but it was 232 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,625 "You gonna make something out yourself" toughness. 233 00:12:34,625 --> 00:12:37,500 One of my earliest memories of Queensbridge, 234 00:12:37,500 --> 00:12:38,667 it's snowing. 235 00:12:38,667 --> 00:12:41,333 And I remember Ron-Ron out there 236 00:12:41,333 --> 00:12:45,000 with his father, and him just running drills on him. 237 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,667 I remember seeing that on 12th Street. 238 00:12:47,667 --> 00:12:49,625 On motherfuckin' 12th Street. 239 00:12:49,625 --> 00:12:52,000 That's one of my greatest memories is just 240 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,041 going out there with seeing Havoc, you know, 241 00:12:54,041 --> 00:12:56,542 drinking E&J and falling out. 242 00:12:56,542 --> 00:12:58,542 And Ron-Ron, you know, 243 00:12:58,542 --> 00:13:01,667 playing defense on his pops. 244 00:13:01,667 --> 00:13:04,834 It could be 10 degrees outside, 245 00:13:04,834 --> 00:13:07,041 and they would be the only two outside 246 00:13:07,041 --> 00:13:09,208 on the basketball court playing. 247 00:13:09,208 --> 00:13:11,166 And, you know, his father didn't treat him 248 00:13:11,166 --> 00:13:11,917 like a little kid. 249 00:13:11,917 --> 00:13:13,333 His father used to be like... 250 00:13:13,333 --> 00:13:14,166 You know what I'm sayin'? 251 00:13:14,166 --> 00:13:16,333 Elbowing him, pushing him. 252 00:13:16,333 --> 00:13:19,667 I probably had some hate towards him, 253 00:13:19,667 --> 00:13:21,000 because I would go at him. 254 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:26,250 And he would push me down, not let me score, 255 00:13:26,250 --> 00:13:30,667 be playing one-on-one full-court, 256 00:13:30,667 --> 00:13:32,792 and me and my dad all night. 257 00:13:32,792 --> 00:13:34,625 I think that's why I build my endurance up. 258 00:13:34,625 --> 00:13:37,542 It wasn't scientific, it wasn't planned. 259 00:13:37,542 --> 00:13:39,500 He might feel like that. 260 00:13:39,500 --> 00:13:41,000 Just me out there playing with him 261 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:42,458 and being a little rough with him. 262 00:13:42,458 --> 00:13:43,667 Not dirty, nothing to hurt him, 263 00:13:43,667 --> 00:13:44,792 but just being a little rough 264 00:13:44,792 --> 00:13:47,083 or doing things that they all call a foul 265 00:13:47,083 --> 00:13:48,875 if you did in a game. 266 00:13:48,875 --> 00:13:51,542 At the end of the day, it was nothing that 267 00:13:51,542 --> 00:13:53,500 that was stopping their process. 268 00:13:53,500 --> 00:13:56,041 It was nothing that was stopping Big Ron's focus 269 00:13:56,041 --> 00:14:00,625 on making Ron-Ron the best ball player he could be, 270 00:14:00,625 --> 00:14:01,709 the strongest he can be. 271 00:14:01,709 --> 00:14:04,250 And if shots rang off, cool, 272 00:14:04,250 --> 00:14:05,709 they know they ain't getting shot at. 273 00:14:05,709 --> 00:14:07,291 They catch a stray bullet? 274 00:14:07,291 --> 00:14:09,709 Go to the hospital, get taped up, 275 00:14:09,709 --> 00:14:11,375 and come right back out to the court. 276 00:14:11,375 --> 00:14:12,542 That's how it was. 277 00:14:12,542 --> 00:14:13,917 It was like nothing's easy, 278 00:14:13,917 --> 00:14:15,500 and that's how we play it. 279 00:14:15,500 --> 00:14:18,333 I started beating my dad when I was 15. 280 00:14:18,333 --> 00:14:20,208 That's when he couldn't beat me no more. 281 00:14:20,208 --> 00:14:21,667 And then when I was able to beat him, I'm like, 282 00:14:21,667 --> 00:14:24,834 "This is how I gotta play to win." 283 00:14:25,667 --> 00:14:28,125 That's it. So the bottom line is the win, 284 00:14:28,125 --> 00:14:29,750 - so I'm winning... - Leave the refs alone. 285 00:14:29,750 --> 00:14:31,000 The bottom line is a win, 286 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,959 and that's what we're tryin' to do on three, win. 287 00:14:32,959 --> 00:14:36,375 The pickup games in Queensbridge, 288 00:14:36,375 --> 00:14:39,917 they was equally as brutal as me watching 289 00:14:39,917 --> 00:14:42,417 Ron and his dad on the court, 290 00:14:42,417 --> 00:14:43,375 if not worse. 291 00:14:43,375 --> 00:14:45,166 When you playin' against dudes, you know, 292 00:14:45,166 --> 00:14:48,083 on a court that's not your family, you know, 293 00:14:48,083 --> 00:14:51,000 you could get an elbow, you could lose a tooth. 294 00:14:51,458 --> 00:14:54,917 On my block, it was no layups. 295 00:14:54,917 --> 00:14:55,834 My block was very intense, you know? 296 00:14:55,834 --> 00:14:57,208 We had a guy named Yammy 297 00:14:57,208 --> 00:14:58,750 and when he would lose, he would bring out his gun. 298 00:14:58,750 --> 00:15:02,291 Really simple. 299 00:15:02,291 --> 00:15:05,458 I remember Lloyd Newton being killed. 300 00:15:05,458 --> 00:15:06,750 He was a idol of ours, 301 00:15:06,750 --> 00:15:08,583 really smart point guard, 302 00:15:08,583 --> 00:15:09,750 tall point guard. 303 00:15:09,750 --> 00:15:11,917 Somebody just pulled a chair leg from a table 304 00:15:11,917 --> 00:15:13,375 and threw it and it went through his heart. 305 00:15:13,375 --> 00:15:16,583 I wasn't there, but when that happened, 306 00:15:16,583 --> 00:15:19,792 it changed the whole complexity of 307 00:15:19,792 --> 00:15:21,542 of neighborhood basketball. 308 00:15:22,291 --> 00:15:26,834 The street culture had come in with the game, 309 00:15:26,834 --> 00:15:28,417 and it had perverted the game, 310 00:15:28,417 --> 00:15:30,625 and -- and it -- it had infected the game 311 00:15:30,625 --> 00:15:32,333 with its violence. 312 00:15:33,208 --> 00:15:35,834 As Ron got older, it was either drugs or sports 313 00:15:35,834 --> 00:15:37,291 then, you know what I'm sayin'? 314 00:15:37,291 --> 00:15:40,333 You was either slinging crack or you was playin' ball. 315 00:15:41,125 --> 00:15:44,125 Hustling was something that was very intriguing. 316 00:15:44,125 --> 00:15:47,458 I learned how to cook crack, learned how to cut up 317 00:15:47,458 --> 00:15:48,792 the cookies and stuff. 318 00:15:48,792 --> 00:15:51,375 It's like, "A'ight, cool, here we go." 319 00:15:51,375 --> 00:15:53,083 I remember making my first sale. 320 00:15:53,083 --> 00:15:57,375 It was a crackhead 321 00:15:58,709 --> 00:16:02,959 who would always come and buy it from my family. 322 00:16:02,959 --> 00:16:05,166 I remember giving the crackhead the money 323 00:16:05,166 --> 00:16:08,041 and just running back in the house. 324 00:16:08,041 --> 00:16:09,166 I didn't even take the money 325 00:16:09,166 --> 00:16:11,542 and my cousin was like, "Yo, where the money at?" 326 00:16:11,542 --> 00:16:13,375 I'm like, "Yo... 327 00:16:13,375 --> 00:16:16,250 I--I--I didn't have time to take the money." 328 00:16:19,166 --> 00:16:21,375 I was scared. I was scared to selling -- 329 00:16:21,375 --> 00:16:23,834 to be selling drugs, quite honestly, you know. 330 00:16:23,834 --> 00:16:27,250 I didn't like it, I didn't like feeling, you know? 331 00:16:27,250 --> 00:16:30,166 Um, it just was not for me. 332 00:16:30,166 --> 00:16:31,792 It was that simple. I knew right then and there 333 00:16:31,792 --> 00:16:33,834 I was not gonna be a drug dealer. 334 00:16:51,166 --> 00:16:53,750 KRS made this song called "The Bridge is Over." 335 00:16:53,750 --> 00:16:56,166 ♪The Bridge is over the Bridge is over...♪ 336 00:16:56,166 --> 00:16:58,875 And you wanted to hate every word he said 337 00:16:58,875 --> 00:17:01,667 when he said "The Bridge is over." 338 00:17:01,667 --> 00:17:04,917 But the record was so fuckin' hot! 339 00:17:04,917 --> 00:17:07,500 ♪Manhattan keeps on makin' it Brooklyn keeps on takin' it♪ 340 00:17:07,500 --> 00:17:10,333 ♪Bronx keeps creatin' it and Queens keeps on fakin' it♪ 341 00:17:10,333 --> 00:17:12,166 ♪Yeah 342 00:17:12,166 --> 00:17:13,625 That was a hit record KRS-ONE had, 343 00:17:13,625 --> 00:17:14,500 and every time they played it, 344 00:17:14,500 --> 00:17:16,000 "Queens keeps on fakin' it," 345 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,125 that was just like a blow to the whole Queens. 346 00:17:18,125 --> 00:17:20,750 Wherever you was from in Queens... 347 00:17:20,750 --> 00:17:22,333 that -- that was a dis. 348 00:17:22,333 --> 00:17:24,917 Damn... 349 00:17:24,917 --> 00:17:28,375 But it also pumped something in every 350 00:17:28,375 --> 00:17:31,959 Queens kid's heart. 351 00:17:31,959 --> 00:17:34,542 And it said, "Nobody will ever say 352 00:17:34,542 --> 00:17:38,583 'Queens is fakin' it' again." 353 00:17:39,041 --> 00:17:41,375 ♪"Made You Look" by Nas♪ 354 00:17:44,041 --> 00:17:45,583 ♪Now, let's get it all in perspective♪ 355 00:17:45,583 --> 00:17:48,834 ♪For all y'all enjoyment a song y'all can step with♪ 356 00:17:48,834 --> 00:17:50,625 ♪Y'all appointed me to bring rap justice♪ 357 00:17:50,625 --> 00:17:53,709 ♪But I ain't five-oh y'all know it's Nas, yo♪ 358 00:17:53,709 --> 00:17:57,291 From that moment, KRS-ONE birthed 359 00:17:57,291 --> 00:18:01,875 every greatest Queens athlete ever. 360 00:18:01,875 --> 00:18:06,375 He's also birthed every greatest Queens MC ever, 361 00:18:06,375 --> 00:18:09,542 because we will never, ever, ever 362 00:18:09,542 --> 00:18:14,542 let that statement become true again in life. 363 00:18:14,542 --> 00:18:16,875 And that's why you got people like N.O.R.E. 364 00:18:16,875 --> 00:18:19,166 You got people from, like, Nas, 365 00:18:19,166 --> 00:18:22,542 you have people like Mobb Deep, LL Cool J 366 00:18:22,542 --> 00:18:24,125 and Run DMC. 367 00:18:24,125 --> 00:18:25,750 Because we had to let y'all know that 368 00:18:25,750 --> 00:18:28,542 that statement was just a battle rap. 369 00:18:29,792 --> 00:18:32,750 And that's clearly it. We here. 370 00:18:32,750 --> 00:18:34,125 ♪I made you look 371 00:18:34,125 --> 00:18:36,542 ♪You a slave to a page in my rhyme book♪ 372 00:18:36,542 --> 00:18:39,417 The music, you know, during that time in -- 373 00:18:39,417 --> 00:18:42,959 in that era, the content that was coming out was, like, 374 00:18:42,959 --> 00:18:44,875 really gritty, hard, 375 00:18:44,875 --> 00:18:49,041 it told stories of what we was goin' through, 376 00:18:49,041 --> 00:18:50,500 what we wanted to be. 377 00:18:50,500 --> 00:18:52,583 You know, the situation that we was in, 378 00:18:52,583 --> 00:18:53,959 how we wanted to get out of it. 379 00:18:53,959 --> 00:18:55,959 Queens was the capital of lyricism, 380 00:18:55,959 --> 00:18:57,125 you know what I mean? And to me, 381 00:18:57,125 --> 00:18:57,834 you know what I'm sayin', the good music 382 00:18:57,834 --> 00:18:59,041 came out of Queens. 383 00:18:59,041 --> 00:19:00,709 One thing you don't want to do 384 00:19:00,709 --> 00:19:03,542 is you don't want to be going to jail. 385 00:19:03,542 --> 00:19:04,792 You gotta -- You gotta, you know, 386 00:19:04,792 --> 00:19:08,625 pretty much attach yourself to something 387 00:19:08,625 --> 00:19:11,333 positive, and music was it. 388 00:19:11,333 --> 00:19:13,125 As I started to go outside, 389 00:19:13,125 --> 00:19:15,375 then you hear about Mobb Deep. 390 00:19:15,375 --> 00:19:16,750 And you heard, "Oh, wow, 391 00:19:16,750 --> 00:19:17,750 these guys are pretty famous." 392 00:19:17,750 --> 00:19:19,625 Like, "Oh, word? Those guys that 393 00:19:19,625 --> 00:19:21,750 live on the third floor?" 394 00:19:21,750 --> 00:19:23,041 "And they got records on the radio." 395 00:19:23,041 --> 00:19:24,166 "Oh, that's pretty cool." 396 00:19:24,166 --> 00:19:26,875 Then you hear about Nas. "Who's Nas?" 397 00:19:26,875 --> 00:19:29,375 "Nas from Vernon." "Yo, he's from Queensbridge? 398 00:19:29,375 --> 00:19:31,000 That's pretty dope." 399 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,208 Ron loved music, but when I seen Ron start to rap, 400 00:19:34,208 --> 00:19:36,000 at first I was like, "Come on, man. Put -- 401 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:36,834 What are you doing? You know what 402 00:19:36,834 --> 00:19:37,834 I'm sayin'? What are you doing? 403 00:19:37,834 --> 00:19:39,166 Stick to ball, man." 404 00:19:45,667 --> 00:19:48,291 I was, uh, a star at La Salle 405 00:19:48,291 --> 00:19:50,000 and they brung... 406 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:51,291 the skinny kid from Queens. 407 00:19:51,291 --> 00:19:53,041 He played for the same AAU team I played for 408 00:19:53,041 --> 00:19:55,000 so I -- I knew Ron. 409 00:19:56,542 --> 00:20:00,291 There was a all-boys' school. Catholic. 410 00:20:00,291 --> 00:20:03,625 I think I got in a fight in the hallway. 411 00:20:03,625 --> 00:20:07,000 I remember being suspended. 412 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:08,291 I remember them saying, 413 00:20:08,291 --> 00:20:11,041 "If you do this again, we're kicking you out." 414 00:20:11,041 --> 00:20:13,875 And they sat me the first 13 games 415 00:20:13,875 --> 00:20:15,083 of my freshman year, 416 00:20:15,083 --> 00:20:17,166 and it sucked. 417 00:20:17,166 --> 00:20:19,750 He didn't really have a skillset at this point. 418 00:20:19,750 --> 00:20:21,208 I used to always tell him to come in the mornings 419 00:20:21,208 --> 00:20:22,291 just to work on his skills. 420 00:20:22,291 --> 00:20:23,750 I'm like, "You need to learn how to dribble, 421 00:20:23,750 --> 00:20:25,375 shoot, stuff like that." 422 00:20:27,375 --> 00:20:30,375 His reputation, of course, preceded him. 423 00:20:30,375 --> 00:20:33,542 That he was a tough, tough player. 424 00:20:33,542 --> 00:20:37,375 And he wouldn't take anything from anybody. 425 00:20:37,375 --> 00:20:39,542 I gotta attribute that a lot to his father. 426 00:20:39,542 --> 00:20:42,041 I guess he said, "If I can play against my father, 427 00:20:42,041 --> 00:20:44,208 I can play against anybody. 428 00:20:45,041 --> 00:20:47,834 I always found Ron a hard kid 429 00:20:47,834 --> 00:20:50,208 and then a hard guy not to like. 430 00:20:50,208 --> 00:20:53,083 There -- You know, despite the rough exterior 431 00:20:53,083 --> 00:20:55,458 and the fact that he looks like he's a -- 432 00:20:55,458 --> 00:20:57,250 you know, like a raging bull, 433 00:20:57,250 --> 00:20:58,917 there's actually, like a soft spot 434 00:20:58,917 --> 00:21:00,083 and a sweetness to him. 435 00:21:00,083 --> 00:21:01,458 He worked hard that summer. 436 00:21:01,458 --> 00:21:03,709 You know, he was playing AAU or Riverside 437 00:21:03,709 --> 00:21:06,875 and they had Elton Brand, they had Lamar Odom. 438 00:21:07,875 --> 00:21:09,709 I knew right away from the first time I -- 439 00:21:09,709 --> 00:21:11,250 I played against him that he would be the 440 00:21:11,250 --> 00:21:14,250 toughest competition the rest of my life. 441 00:21:15,959 --> 00:21:18,917 That was one of the greatest AAU teams of all time. 442 00:21:18,917 --> 00:21:21,083 Ronnie and Elton Brand... 443 00:21:21,083 --> 00:21:24,208 You know, that was a hell of a front line alone. 444 00:21:24,208 --> 00:21:25,375 Lamar Odom... 445 00:21:25,375 --> 00:21:27,625 You're not -- You're not gonna beat that team. 446 00:21:29,250 --> 00:21:32,125 I think that for those kids they formed a kind of 447 00:21:32,125 --> 00:21:34,125 aristocracy of -- of talent. 448 00:21:34,125 --> 00:21:35,959 What that team symbolizes 449 00:21:35,959 --> 00:21:37,834 was that there was no going back. 450 00:21:37,834 --> 00:21:39,667 The shift was now final. 451 00:21:39,667 --> 00:21:43,125 The -- The path of the game was inexorable. 452 00:21:43,125 --> 00:21:45,792 The real team, the money team, 453 00:21:45,792 --> 00:21:47,750 was going to be the AAU squads, 454 00:21:47,750 --> 00:21:49,125 not your high school team. 455 00:21:51,333 --> 00:21:54,125 Lamar Odom had a six-inch growth spurt. 456 00:21:54,125 --> 00:21:56,500 You know, he went from 6'1" to 6'7" 457 00:21:56,500 --> 00:21:58,959 from, like, ninth to tenth grade. 458 00:21:58,959 --> 00:22:01,875 Silky-smooth point guard. 459 00:22:01,875 --> 00:22:03,834 It was almost not fair, 'cause I'm, like, 460 00:22:03,834 --> 00:22:06,333 a 6'4" center 461 00:22:06,333 --> 00:22:08,542 and they're telling me I got talent. I'm watching him 462 00:22:08,542 --> 00:22:11,834 and just move and pass the ball, unselfish, 463 00:22:11,834 --> 00:22:12,959 just amazing player. 464 00:22:12,959 --> 00:22:14,542 And Ron Artest was the enforcer. 465 00:22:14,542 --> 00:22:16,041 You know, that's -- that's who he is, 466 00:22:16,041 --> 00:22:17,834 that's who he was. 467 00:22:17,834 --> 00:22:19,667 Defensive stopper. 468 00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:23,500 That's where we learned how to play unselfishly. 469 00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:26,834 We always knew Lamar was the most skilled, 470 00:22:26,834 --> 00:22:28,959 Elton was the best, 471 00:22:28,959 --> 00:22:30,667 I was pretty damn good. 472 00:22:30,667 --> 00:22:34,667 Ron always made the right basketball play. 473 00:22:34,667 --> 00:22:37,000 It's like he learned the game at a Jewish summer camp. 474 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:38,917 All that being said, 475 00:22:38,917 --> 00:22:41,333 there was something scary about the guy. 476 00:22:41,333 --> 00:22:43,041 There was a look in his eyes, 477 00:22:43,041 --> 00:22:45,000 you didn't want to mess with him, 478 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:46,959 because he could go off on you. 479 00:22:46,959 --> 00:22:48,208 Oh, no, he didn't! 480 00:22:48,208 --> 00:22:49,917 No, he didn't! 481 00:22:49,917 --> 00:22:52,500 We were playing a tournament in St. Louis, 482 00:22:52,500 --> 00:22:54,667 and this is their home tournament and 483 00:22:54,667 --> 00:22:57,583 the guy was scoring a little too much for Ron's liking 484 00:22:57,583 --> 00:23:00,667 and he ended up, you know, punching him in the face, 485 00:23:00,667 --> 00:23:02,166 coming off the pick. 486 00:23:02,166 --> 00:23:06,250 There was a -- a jaw that was, uh, displaced. 487 00:23:06,250 --> 00:23:08,458 But that's who Ron was, he's -- 488 00:23:08,458 --> 00:23:11,291 He had pride in his defense. 489 00:23:11,291 --> 00:23:12,375 I remember -- 490 00:23:12,375 --> 00:23:14,333 We was watching a high school game 491 00:23:14,333 --> 00:23:15,917 and there was a game before us and this guy 492 00:23:15,917 --> 00:23:17,375 got on my nerves 493 00:23:17,375 --> 00:23:19,041 and I threw him down, like, 494 00:23:19,041 --> 00:23:20,667 20 sets of bleachers 495 00:23:20,667 --> 00:23:22,375 from really high up. 496 00:23:23,083 --> 00:23:24,208 Um... 497 00:23:24,208 --> 00:23:25,208 It was pretty bad. 498 00:23:25,208 --> 00:23:27,375 Ron just picked him up... 499 00:23:27,375 --> 00:23:28,375 over his head and, like, 500 00:23:28,375 --> 00:23:31,083 just threw him down the fucking stairs. 501 00:23:31,083 --> 00:23:32,917 That shit, that was crazy. 502 00:23:32,917 --> 00:23:35,542 Ron, when he goes there, ain't no stopping him. 503 00:23:37,208 --> 00:23:38,333 I didn't really care. 504 00:23:38,333 --> 00:23:39,792 You know, when I was younger, I didn't really 505 00:23:39,792 --> 00:23:43,542 care about anybody, what they thought. 506 00:23:43,542 --> 00:23:45,250 You know, all I know is 507 00:23:45,250 --> 00:23:46,875 I'm here to play basketball. 508 00:23:46,875 --> 00:23:47,959 Get the hell out of Queensbridge 509 00:23:47,959 --> 00:23:49,583 for a little bit. 510 00:23:53,750 --> 00:23:56,041 When Shammgod left, he became the focal point 511 00:23:56,041 --> 00:23:58,000 for the next two years. 512 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,083 And we had very, very successful years with him. 513 00:24:01,083 --> 00:24:03,417 The final year, we played Christ the King, 514 00:24:03,417 --> 00:24:06,083 who was loaded, uh, in the semi-finals 515 00:24:06,083 --> 00:24:07,750 of the city championship. 516 00:24:07,750 --> 00:24:10,750 And, uh, we were down at half. 517 00:24:11,417 --> 00:24:13,750 I remember yelling at the kids, saying, you know, 518 00:24:13,750 --> 00:24:15,875 "We rode this guy's back the whole year. 519 00:24:15,875 --> 00:24:18,583 Let's continue the -- the ride." 520 00:24:18,583 --> 00:24:21,875 And he went crazy the second half. 521 00:24:21,875 --> 00:24:23,959 I remember he started off the third quarter 522 00:24:23,959 --> 00:24:26,250 with a monstrous dunk. 523 00:24:26,250 --> 00:24:28,125 And, of course, we ended up winning. 524 00:24:29,792 --> 00:24:32,250 We were the last team since 1970 525 00:24:32,250 --> 00:24:35,166 to win the city championship undefeated. 526 00:24:35,166 --> 00:24:38,750 It was him that, quote unquote "willed us" into that -- 527 00:24:38,750 --> 00:24:40,333 that record. 528 00:24:40,333 --> 00:24:41,500 When I took him out of the game, 529 00:24:41,500 --> 00:24:43,667 when the game was basically over, 530 00:24:43,667 --> 00:24:47,291 he had so many kids and people from Queensbridge 531 00:24:47,291 --> 00:24:49,041 that was there, it was incredible. 532 00:24:49,041 --> 00:24:50,792 And he actually went up in the stands 533 00:24:50,792 --> 00:24:52,709 and they hugged him. 534 00:24:52,709 --> 00:24:54,458 It was very emotional. 535 00:24:57,625 --> 00:25:01,083 At that age, at -- What was I? 17 years old? 536 00:25:01,083 --> 00:25:03,500 There was a bunch of things going on at that time. 537 00:25:03,500 --> 00:25:05,166 My little sister passed away. 538 00:25:05,166 --> 00:25:06,542 She was two-and-a-half months. 539 00:25:06,542 --> 00:25:08,333 She passed away in the bed. 540 00:25:08,333 --> 00:25:10,000 Sudden infant death syndrome. 541 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,959 Dedicated every game to her. 542 00:25:11,959 --> 00:25:15,333 I remember, it was just hell. 543 00:25:15,333 --> 00:25:18,375 And I also had a baby come at that time also. 544 00:25:18,375 --> 00:25:22,125 I was trying to become a parent... 545 00:25:22,125 --> 00:25:25,166 ...and a family man at 17 years old. 546 00:25:25,166 --> 00:25:26,709 My brother, he did ten years. 547 00:25:26,709 --> 00:25:29,083 He got snitched on when he was drug trafficking 548 00:25:29,083 --> 00:25:30,542 and he didn't tell. 549 00:25:30,542 --> 00:25:32,250 I remember, I remember the day. 550 00:25:32,250 --> 00:25:36,125 I was right at the same spot that Capone shot a cop 551 00:25:36,125 --> 00:25:38,417 maybe, like, three years earlier. 552 00:25:38,417 --> 00:25:40,333 And that kind of hurt me because 553 00:25:40,333 --> 00:25:41,834 I had no guidance. 554 00:25:41,834 --> 00:25:44,166 And I look back at that and I'm like, "Wow, you know? 555 00:25:44,166 --> 00:25:46,875 Um, how did you do that?" 556 00:25:49,250 --> 00:25:50,041 You ready? 557 00:25:50,041 --> 00:25:51,542 Yeah, I'm ready. 558 00:25:53,041 --> 00:25:56,166 I just feel like a big storm is coming 559 00:25:56,166 --> 00:25:58,709 I--I don't know. I don't know, man. 560 00:25:58,709 --> 00:25:59,875 I don't know. 561 00:26:01,625 --> 00:26:04,208 I picked St. John's because New York -- 562 00:26:04,208 --> 00:26:05,709 New York fans and 563 00:26:05,709 --> 00:26:08,083 there's no better basketball other than New York. 564 00:26:08,083 --> 00:26:09,542 If I knew how it was gonna've gone, 565 00:26:09,542 --> 00:26:12,125 I might not have taken the job, to be honest with you. 566 00:26:12,125 --> 00:26:15,709 Ron -- R-- We had a lot of fights. 567 00:26:15,709 --> 00:26:19,208 It was -- It was, at times, you'd think it was -- 568 00:26:19,208 --> 00:26:20,208 you were watching the circus. 569 00:26:20,208 --> 00:26:22,542 Every time I'd meet somebody 570 00:26:22,542 --> 00:26:24,583 that I played with back in the days, they like, 571 00:26:24,583 --> 00:26:26,667 "You remember this story?" I'm like, "No. 572 00:26:26,667 --> 00:26:28,959 I don't remember the -- 573 00:26:28,959 --> 00:26:31,583 the -- my 100th fight." 574 00:26:33,250 --> 00:26:34,583 He was the first. 575 00:26:34,583 --> 00:26:37,500 He was also the last player I ever had that 576 00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:39,750 had those kinds of mood swings. 577 00:26:39,750 --> 00:26:43,917 I knew there was something that was off. 578 00:26:43,917 --> 00:26:47,083 Something wasn't quite right. 579 00:26:47,083 --> 00:26:48,709 Well, he was bipolar. 580 00:26:48,709 --> 00:26:54,375 He had a -- I guess it was a chemical, uh, imbalance. 581 00:26:54,375 --> 00:26:56,083 You know, people would say, "Ah, he's crazy." 582 00:26:56,083 --> 00:26:57,375 He wasn't crazy. 583 00:26:57,375 --> 00:26:59,458 I mean, first of all, he's too smart anyhow, you know. 584 00:26:59,458 --> 00:27:01,792 But second of all, um, 585 00:27:01,792 --> 00:27:04,166 he had a -- he -- he had a... 586 00:27:04,166 --> 00:27:06,583 He had a disease, he couldn't handle it. 587 00:27:08,041 --> 00:27:10,792 We'd be having a practice, things would be going great. 588 00:27:10,792 --> 00:27:12,458 And then all of a sudden, something would happen 589 00:27:12,458 --> 00:27:14,709 and Ron would just go off. 590 00:27:14,709 --> 00:27:17,125 And I would blow the whistle, call a timeout, 591 00:27:17,125 --> 00:27:18,625 and I would pray. 592 00:27:18,625 --> 00:27:20,959 99 percent of the time, that worked. 593 00:27:20,959 --> 00:27:23,417 Ron would calm down, 594 00:27:23,417 --> 00:27:25,750 and then I'd say, "Okay, get a drink of water," 595 00:27:25,750 --> 00:27:28,417 and we'd go back to work. 596 00:27:28,417 --> 00:27:30,583 This particular Sunday evening, 597 00:27:30,583 --> 00:27:35,250 about 20 minutes later, I call my second timeout. 598 00:27:35,250 --> 00:27:39,250 And we pray again, and we come back out. 599 00:27:39,250 --> 00:27:41,458 Maybe 20 minutes later, 600 00:27:41,458 --> 00:27:43,458 I gotta call a third timeout. 601 00:27:44,875 --> 00:27:47,000 I said, "Ron... 602 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,750 ...I want you to leave the gym." 603 00:27:49,750 --> 00:27:52,333 Well --- 604 00:27:52,333 --> 00:27:54,792 As -- On his way out, 605 00:27:54,792 --> 00:27:58,208 he picked up every ball off the two-bar racks 606 00:27:58,208 --> 00:28:00,166 and threw it up into the balcony in the -- 607 00:28:00,166 --> 00:28:02,667 in the arena. 608 00:28:02,667 --> 00:28:06,417 Then, he took the ball rack and threw that up. 609 00:28:06,417 --> 00:28:09,083 And then he slammed his way out the gym. 610 00:28:09,083 --> 00:28:11,959 It was too much. Too much, um... 611 00:28:11,959 --> 00:28:14,291 Way too much intensity. 612 00:28:14,291 --> 00:28:15,834 Way too much. 613 00:28:16,959 --> 00:28:19,959 I go up to my office, I open the door. 614 00:28:19,959 --> 00:28:22,291 ...the second secretary used to have this 615 00:28:22,291 --> 00:28:24,083 old-fashioned typewriter 616 00:28:24,083 --> 00:28:27,083 on her desk as you enter the locker room. 617 00:28:27,083 --> 00:28:30,458 So the l-- The -- The typewriter wasn't there. 618 00:28:30,458 --> 00:28:33,667 The typewriter was 619 00:28:33,667 --> 00:28:36,667 lodged into the wall. 620 00:28:36,667 --> 00:28:39,166 So I'm saying to myself, "Damn, I didn't believe 621 00:28:39,166 --> 00:28:40,667 anybody could be that strong." 622 00:28:40,667 --> 00:28:44,208 The typewriter's basically part of the wall now. 623 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,959 The next morning, uh, you know, I had called Ron. 624 00:28:47,959 --> 00:28:50,667 He came in and he was remorseful. 625 00:28:50,667 --> 00:28:53,458 He was really, really, really sad. 626 00:28:53,458 --> 00:28:56,041 I never had a player or anybody like that 627 00:28:56,041 --> 00:28:57,583 in my life 628 00:28:57,583 --> 00:28:59,834 that could go from being, 629 00:28:59,834 --> 00:29:02,500 I mean, the kindest, 630 00:29:02,500 --> 00:29:06,500 most gentle, soft-spoken, 631 00:29:06,500 --> 00:29:10,792 mannerly, sweet, lovable person 632 00:29:10,792 --> 00:29:12,542 to being, 633 00:29:12,542 --> 00:29:15,291 like, totally the opposite. 634 00:29:15,291 --> 00:29:18,917 Never had anybody in my life like that, ever. 635 00:29:18,917 --> 00:29:20,208 This game is sold-out. 636 00:29:20,208 --> 00:29:22,500 It's the first sell-out at Madison Square Garden 637 00:29:22,500 --> 00:29:24,166 for St. John's in three years. 638 00:29:24,166 --> 00:29:26,041 For St. John's Ron Artest led only the 639 00:29:26,041 --> 00:29:29,208 second triple double in the school's history 640 00:29:29,208 --> 00:29:30,750 against Seton Hall a few weeks ago. 641 00:29:30,750 --> 00:29:32,667 An outstanding all-around player. 642 00:29:32,667 --> 00:29:35,250 The only reason I started scoring is because 643 00:29:35,250 --> 00:29:39,625 media, NBA fans, they wasn't recognizing defense 644 00:29:39,625 --> 00:29:42,417 or deflections, you know? 645 00:29:42,417 --> 00:29:43,917 Or being disruptive. 646 00:29:43,917 --> 00:29:45,500 And they didn't see that, so I said, "Okay, I'm 647 00:29:45,500 --> 00:29:47,709 just gonna start averaging 20, 20+." 648 00:29:47,709 --> 00:29:49,333 That's when I started working on my game 649 00:29:49,333 --> 00:29:51,875 was because they wasn't paying people 650 00:29:51,875 --> 00:29:54,917 who was having no points and no rebounds. 651 00:29:56,208 --> 00:30:00,166 Artest moves closer... 652 00:30:00,166 --> 00:30:02,917 Good! With one second left! 653 00:30:02,917 --> 00:30:05,291 Artest, does he come out big or not? 654 00:30:05,291 --> 00:30:07,792 Some shot by Artest, and he's done all of this 655 00:30:07,792 --> 00:30:10,083 with four fouls on him. 656 00:30:11,917 --> 00:30:15,333 And anybody that thought that he couldn't play 657 00:30:15,333 --> 00:30:18,583 beyond the foul line, this kid, with time, 658 00:30:18,583 --> 00:30:22,625 this could be a really, really great 659 00:30:22,625 --> 00:30:24,792 offensive player as well. 660 00:30:24,792 --> 00:30:27,333 Everybody knew how good his defense was. 661 00:30:27,333 --> 00:30:29,083 And I think for Ron, it just gave him 662 00:30:29,083 --> 00:30:33,792 that confidence that a kid from Queensbridge needs. 663 00:30:33,792 --> 00:30:35,959 When I watched him play at St. John's, 664 00:30:35,959 --> 00:30:37,792 I just thought to myself, "This guy's gonna give 665 00:30:37,792 --> 00:30:40,208 a heart attack to guys in the NBA, 666 00:30:40,208 --> 00:30:41,834 because he's gonna go after them. 667 00:30:41,834 --> 00:30:43,125 He's not gonna back off." 668 00:30:43,125 --> 00:30:46,166 And I'm talking about the best guys in the league. 669 00:30:46,959 --> 00:30:49,709 I was really focused on the court. 670 00:30:49,709 --> 00:30:50,792 And, um, you know, 671 00:30:50,792 --> 00:30:53,250 and I wanted to just go to the NBA. 672 00:30:53,250 --> 00:30:57,834 With the 16th pick in the 1999 NBA draft, 673 00:30:57,834 --> 00:30:59,542 the Chicago Bulls 674 00:30:59,542 --> 00:31:03,667 select Ron Artest from St. John's University. 675 00:31:11,500 --> 00:31:13,375 Nah. 676 00:31:13,375 --> 00:31:15,625 Playin' with the camera a little bit. 677 00:31:15,625 --> 00:31:17,041 I think getting out of New York, 678 00:31:17,041 --> 00:31:19,333 -going to Chicago... -How you doin'? 679 00:31:19,333 --> 00:31:22,834 ...Being away from his following, 680 00:31:22,834 --> 00:31:25,917 I think that was good for him. 681 00:31:25,917 --> 00:31:28,125 Hi, baby. Congratulations... 682 00:31:28,125 --> 00:31:29,500 -I see y'all later. -Okay, now. 683 00:31:29,500 --> 00:31:32,083 And, of course, Elton Brand was also drafted from, 684 00:31:32,083 --> 00:31:34,333 so it wasn't like he was going to a team 685 00:31:34,333 --> 00:31:35,959 that he knew nobody. 686 00:31:35,959 --> 00:31:37,917 We did it, we did it together. 687 00:31:37,917 --> 00:31:40,834 And Ron and I were the "baby Bulls." 688 00:31:40,834 --> 00:31:42,542 We were on the same team, so it was just -- 689 00:31:42,542 --> 00:31:44,375 It was just a whirlwind. 690 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:46,875 I seen Big Ron on the block. He said, 691 00:31:46,875 --> 00:31:49,250 "Yo, your boy going to the league and all that." 692 00:31:49,250 --> 00:31:50,834 You see him? He's a monster." 693 00:31:50,834 --> 00:31:52,709 I was like, "That's what you made! 694 00:31:52,709 --> 00:31:54,667 You know what I'm sayin'? You made a monster!" 695 00:31:54,667 --> 00:31:55,709 And then that's what he became: 696 00:31:55,709 --> 00:31:57,834 a monster in the league. 697 00:31:59,458 --> 00:32:01,875 ♪tense piano 698 00:32:03,542 --> 00:32:05,959 I was often fearful 699 00:32:05,959 --> 00:32:07,709 of going to the NBA because I seen 700 00:32:07,709 --> 00:32:10,041 Antony Mason's arms. 701 00:32:10,041 --> 00:32:12,583 And then you see Oakley. 702 00:32:12,583 --> 00:32:14,750 And Malone. 703 00:32:14,750 --> 00:32:16,875 I always asked myself, "Could I do this?" 704 00:32:16,875 --> 00:32:20,458 And then I said, "Yeah, I just have to be mean." 705 00:32:20,458 --> 00:32:23,166 I really had to have a lot of hate for people 706 00:32:23,166 --> 00:32:25,166 when I would play. 707 00:32:25,166 --> 00:32:26,667 You know, um... 708 00:32:26,667 --> 00:32:29,333 And I would think bad things about people. 709 00:32:31,250 --> 00:32:34,333 I was very stressed at that time. 710 00:32:34,333 --> 00:32:36,083 You know, I was very stressed because.. 711 00:32:36,083 --> 00:32:38,917 Really, I don't know why. I had money. 712 00:32:38,917 --> 00:32:41,750 But I was super hungry, you know? Um, still. 713 00:32:41,750 --> 00:32:44,709 And when I made it, I became more hungry, 714 00:32:44,709 --> 00:32:47,750 and more crazy, and more everything, you know? 715 00:32:47,750 --> 00:32:50,458 Everything was magnified. 716 00:32:50,458 --> 00:32:53,208 Uh, so it was really a lot of things 717 00:32:53,208 --> 00:32:54,333 going on in my head. 718 00:32:54,333 --> 00:32:55,875 I remember there were him 719 00:32:55,875 --> 00:32:57,166 wrestling with Glenn Robinson, 720 00:32:57,166 --> 00:32:58,750 them falling out of bounds. 721 00:32:58,750 --> 00:33:00,792 Oh! And Artest is 722 00:33:00,792 --> 00:33:03,458 really upset with Robinson!... 723 00:33:03,458 --> 00:33:06,792 I remember, uh, seeing Ronnie play for the Bulls, 724 00:33:06,792 --> 00:33:08,709 and he was good for the Bulls. 725 00:33:08,709 --> 00:33:11,041 But something happened between them. 726 00:33:11,041 --> 00:33:12,542 Brad Miller did something to Shaq, 727 00:33:12,542 --> 00:33:14,250 then Shaq went after him. 728 00:33:14,250 --> 00:33:16,041 And here comes Ronnie and he jumps on 729 00:33:16,041 --> 00:33:18,375 Shaq's back. And I'm thinking, 730 00:33:18,375 --> 00:33:20,333 "Oh, you gotta be crazy." 731 00:33:20,333 --> 00:33:22,125 But that was him. He -- 732 00:33:22,125 --> 00:33:24,166 You know, he was all-out. 733 00:33:24,166 --> 00:33:26,583 I went to a lot of places with Ron in his early years. 734 00:33:26,583 --> 00:33:29,083 His early years was like... 735 00:33:29,083 --> 00:33:30,917 I'm looking like, "Is he -- Is he 736 00:33:30,917 --> 00:33:33,083 gonna make it a long time in the league?" 737 00:33:33,083 --> 00:33:35,583 I wanted to be the best from -- from day one. 738 00:33:35,583 --> 00:33:36,875 But I wasn't doing things to be the best. 739 00:33:36,875 --> 00:33:38,959 I wasn't taking care of my body. I was out 740 00:33:38,959 --> 00:33:39,834 partying and stuff. 741 00:33:39,834 --> 00:33:41,750 He was a first-round draft pick, 742 00:33:41,750 --> 00:33:43,917 and he ends up, during the summer, 743 00:33:43,917 --> 00:33:46,417 he had nothing to do, so he went and got a job 744 00:33:46,417 --> 00:33:48,625 in Chicago in Circuit City 745 00:33:48,625 --> 00:33:49,959 and I'm thinking, 746 00:33:49,959 --> 00:33:52,917 "Now, that's really different." You know? 747 00:33:52,917 --> 00:33:54,458 He's in the NBA and he had a part-time job 748 00:33:54,458 --> 00:33:55,583 at Circuit City. 749 00:33:55,583 --> 00:33:57,208 I used to drop him off at work, 750 00:33:57,208 --> 00:33:59,166 picking him up sometimes, 751 00:33:59,166 --> 00:34:01,583 tried to get a discount on some DVDs players 752 00:34:01,583 --> 00:34:02,667 and stuff like that. 753 00:34:02,667 --> 00:34:03,917 But he really worked there in the back. 754 00:34:03,917 --> 00:34:05,959 Like, during the NBA. And then, uh... 755 00:34:05,959 --> 00:34:08,959 Jerry Krause found out and made him quit. 756 00:34:16,875 --> 00:34:20,208 Well, I had counseling in Chicago. 757 00:34:20,208 --> 00:34:22,583 I first got diagnosed in the NBA in Chicago, 758 00:34:22,583 --> 00:34:23,709 most of my other family members were all 759 00:34:23,709 --> 00:34:25,750 on medicine. 760 00:34:25,750 --> 00:34:27,917 So they thought I was gonna be on the same 761 00:34:27,917 --> 00:34:29,250 medication as my dad was. 762 00:34:29,250 --> 00:34:31,458 They just said, "Well, whatever your dad is on," 763 00:34:31,458 --> 00:34:32,834 the doctor, 764 00:34:32,834 --> 00:34:34,709 "we're gonna give you half that." 765 00:34:34,709 --> 00:34:36,583 So I said, "A'ight, cool." 766 00:34:36,583 --> 00:34:38,291 You know, 'cause I wanted to play basketball 767 00:34:38,291 --> 00:34:40,000 and stop being so mad. 768 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:41,625 But that lasted for, like, a day. I couldn't -- 769 00:34:41,625 --> 00:34:44,083 That -- The medicine, I didn't like it. 770 00:34:44,083 --> 00:34:45,041 I mean, we all -- 771 00:34:45,041 --> 00:34:46,792 I think everybody who -- who ever walked 772 00:34:46,792 --> 00:34:49,834 the planet Earth has dealt with mental illness 773 00:34:49,834 --> 00:34:53,834 or anxiety at some scale or level, 774 00:34:53,834 --> 00:34:55,834 so nothing really out-of-the-ordinary. 775 00:34:55,834 --> 00:34:58,125 Some people just have it more. 776 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,000 I remember Bill Cartwright saying, "Listen, 777 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,959 If you keep acting like this, they're gonna move you. 778 00:35:04,959 --> 00:35:08,959 I don't wanna move you. I want you here." 779 00:35:08,959 --> 00:35:13,500 I said, "Okay, I'm not gonna mess up again." 780 00:35:13,500 --> 00:35:17,000 And then I did something else stupid. They traded me. 781 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:21,250 I -- I thought it would be a good trade. 782 00:35:21,250 --> 00:35:24,417 I got Brad Miller, him, and Ron Mercer. 783 00:35:24,417 --> 00:35:27,417 And the more I watched him play, the more I thought, 784 00:35:27,417 --> 00:35:29,625 "Boy, this guy is effective." 'Cause he was, like, 785 00:35:29,625 --> 00:35:32,500 about 6'6", 6'7". 786 00:35:32,500 --> 00:35:34,625 But his shoulders were like that. 787 00:35:34,625 --> 00:35:36,625 I remember getting into our first practice, 788 00:35:36,625 --> 00:35:38,500 and he just -- he chased down everything. 789 00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:41,417 Wanted to impose his physical nature onto 790 00:35:41,417 --> 00:35:42,875 the person that he was playing against. 791 00:35:42,875 --> 00:35:45,208 And I knew, with my mentality 792 00:35:45,208 --> 00:35:46,709 and some of the people that we already had, 793 00:35:46,709 --> 00:35:48,709 that would be a great mix. 794 00:35:51,417 --> 00:35:53,417 And then Jermaine O'Neal was a very good player. 795 00:35:53,417 --> 00:35:55,166 Reggie Miller was a very good player. 796 00:35:55,166 --> 00:35:58,041 I knew we had the makings of a good team and we did. 797 00:35:58,041 --> 00:36:00,875 But if you get somebody who's out there just 798 00:36:00,875 --> 00:36:03,875 doing sporadic things that are unusual, 799 00:36:03,875 --> 00:36:05,542 you know, the players are, like, 800 00:36:05,542 --> 00:36:07,083 ducking all the time. 801 00:36:07,083 --> 00:36:09,458 And so I didn't want to see that happen. 802 00:36:09,917 --> 00:36:11,917 ♪dramatic spacey music♪ 803 00:36:13,875 --> 00:36:16,875 I could see that he was up and down 804 00:36:16,875 --> 00:36:21,333 and that he reacted to whatever mood he was in. 805 00:36:21,333 --> 00:36:22,875 Like, you know, he'd come in and some days, 806 00:36:22,875 --> 00:36:24,250 he'd say, "I'm not gonna practice today." 807 00:36:24,250 --> 00:36:27,125 "Oh, you -- you're gonna practice, you know. 808 00:36:27,125 --> 00:36:28,583 You gotta practice." 809 00:36:28,583 --> 00:36:30,125 In many cases, I'd try to reach out to him 810 00:36:30,125 --> 00:36:31,917 to try to better understand him w-- 811 00:36:31,917 --> 00:36:34,250 You know, and a lot was off the court. 812 00:36:34,250 --> 00:36:35,917 And he was a little bit, you know, kind of 813 00:36:35,917 --> 00:36:37,083 stand-offish when it came to that, 814 00:36:37,083 --> 00:36:39,083 so I didn't necessarily un-- understand him. 815 00:36:39,083 --> 00:36:41,750 And the ability for him to do that 816 00:36:41,750 --> 00:36:44,250 brought more tension between me and him. 817 00:36:44,250 --> 00:36:46,917 I don't think any teammate, um, the organization, 818 00:36:46,917 --> 00:36:49,250 anybody really understood Ron. 819 00:36:49,250 --> 00:36:51,125 And I'm not sure if he wanted to be understood, 820 00:36:51,125 --> 00:36:52,792 you know, at the time. I think everything he did 821 00:36:52,792 --> 00:36:54,625 was a reaction. 822 00:36:56,375 --> 00:36:58,125 He'd get angry quick. 823 00:36:58,125 --> 00:37:00,667 And you'd think, "Oh, the -- Oh, the..." 824 00:37:00,667 --> 00:37:02,917 You're afraid he's gonna clear the whole gym out. 825 00:37:02,917 --> 00:37:04,709 I'm going to practice and I hated everybody. 826 00:37:04,709 --> 00:37:05,959 You know? 827 00:37:05,959 --> 00:37:08,083 And then I would take that hate back home and come 828 00:37:08,083 --> 00:37:10,709 back to practice the next day with the same hate. 829 00:37:10,709 --> 00:37:11,959 And then when you get into a game, I'm playing 830 00:37:11,959 --> 00:37:13,125 with people that I hate, but I don't really hate them. 831 00:37:13,125 --> 00:37:15,375 I only hate them because we just had a practice. 832 00:37:15,375 --> 00:37:16,542 You see what I'm sayin'? 833 00:37:16,542 --> 00:37:20,375 I was afraid that he'd do something in a game, 834 00:37:20,375 --> 00:37:22,959 after a game, before a game, 835 00:37:22,959 --> 00:37:25,542 that the league would have to get involved with. 836 00:37:32,959 --> 00:37:34,166 Somebody just threw something into the... 837 00:37:34,166 --> 00:37:36,834 Really, most of my problems came when I lost. 838 00:37:36,834 --> 00:37:38,583 I was a sore loser. 839 00:37:39,834 --> 00:37:42,458 You know? Um, so... 840 00:37:43,333 --> 00:37:44,834 We'd lost a game and I remember just wanting 841 00:37:44,834 --> 00:37:46,583 to get my hands on something. 842 00:37:46,583 --> 00:37:50,667 The camera cost $120,000. 843 00:37:50,667 --> 00:37:52,000 I had to pay for it. 844 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,166 And Ron Artest, losing his cool 845 00:37:53,166 --> 00:37:55,417 -after the game. -He will receive a bill 846 00:37:55,417 --> 00:37:57,000 for throwing the monitor right there. 847 00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:58,834 That's just immaturity. 848 00:37:58,834 --> 00:38:00,667 That's -- That's disgraceful. 849 00:38:00,667 --> 00:38:01,792 Sometimes he straddles the line, 850 00:38:01,792 --> 00:38:03,500 sometimes he goes over it. 851 00:38:03,500 --> 00:38:06,333 That's the kind of incidents I was worried about. 852 00:38:06,333 --> 00:38:08,542 You know, they're explosive incidents that -- 853 00:38:08,542 --> 00:38:10,750 there's no warning. It's like that. 854 00:38:10,750 --> 00:38:13,750 If he perceived he got hit or something 855 00:38:13,750 --> 00:38:15,375 in the wrong way, 856 00:38:15,375 --> 00:38:18,208 you know, he'd react to it right away, 857 00:38:18,208 --> 00:38:20,041 and you were afraid, "Oh, this guy's -- 858 00:38:20,041 --> 00:38:22,917 You know, he's gonna start beating people up out here." 859 00:38:22,917 --> 00:38:26,917 And now, Bell and Artest are nose-to-nose. 860 00:38:26,917 --> 00:38:28,291 And Artest has been thrown out. 861 00:38:28,291 --> 00:38:30,375 That's his second technical tonight, so he's gone. 862 00:38:30,375 --> 00:38:31,875 ...That started before the game. 863 00:38:31,875 --> 00:38:33,041 You and I were watching it. 864 00:38:33,041 --> 00:38:36,208 -...fouled... 865 00:38:37,542 --> 00:38:39,917 Ron Artest, strong enough to finish even with the foul, 866 00:38:39,917 --> 00:38:43,208 now having words with his assistant coach Keith Askins. 867 00:38:44,291 --> 00:38:46,291 And Pat Riley is fired up. 868 00:38:46,291 --> 00:38:49,542 Artest's been hit with a technical foul. 869 00:38:49,542 --> 00:38:52,291 Oh, it had nothing to with Pat Reily. He was in the way. 870 00:38:52,291 --> 00:38:53,583 It had to do with the coach. 871 00:38:53,583 --> 00:38:55,500 He was being supportive of his players, 872 00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:56,917 and I hated him and his players. 873 00:38:56,917 --> 00:38:58,583 It was real simple. 874 00:38:58,583 --> 00:39:03,583 Ronnie seemed to go from one to 100 real quick. 875 00:39:03,583 --> 00:39:06,208 And... 876 00:39:06,208 --> 00:39:10,333 ...at a point, I just questioned whether he could control it. 877 00:39:10,333 --> 00:39:12,333 And so that's why we tried to get him help, 878 00:39:12,333 --> 00:39:14,709 and we eventually did. 879 00:39:14,709 --> 00:39:15,959 Artest has received treatment 880 00:39:15,959 --> 00:39:17,542 for his anger problems. 881 00:39:17,542 --> 00:39:20,417 However, he's declined to take medication despite the fact 882 00:39:20,417 --> 00:39:24,250 that some close to him think it might be the best thing. 883 00:39:24,250 --> 00:39:27,375 ♪soft emotional music♪ 884 00:39:34,417 --> 00:39:36,083 Your records transfer from team to team. 885 00:39:36,083 --> 00:39:38,500 Teams have to know what they're getting. 886 00:39:38,500 --> 00:39:42,625 I had a long talk with Donnie, and then we found, um, 887 00:39:42,625 --> 00:39:44,458 a psychologist in Indiana. 888 00:39:44,458 --> 00:39:47,166 I -- I could tell that he didn't want to do it, 889 00:39:47,166 --> 00:39:48,500 but eventually, 890 00:39:48,500 --> 00:39:50,875 I remember him saying, "Yeah, all right. 891 00:39:50,875 --> 00:39:52,125 I'll talk to him." 892 00:39:52,125 --> 00:39:54,750 Well, I went a lot, after every practice. 893 00:39:54,750 --> 00:39:57,542 Um, after every practice. 894 00:39:57,542 --> 00:40:00,959 You know, because, uh, I was always mad. 895 00:40:00,959 --> 00:40:03,291 ...you're doing? 896 00:40:03,291 --> 00:40:04,834 You're not gonna do anything. 897 00:40:04,834 --> 00:40:06,291 -Come on, my nigga! -Get the fucking security! 898 00:40:06,291 --> 00:40:08,291 Get your motherfucking security... 899 00:40:10,667 --> 00:40:12,166 That's not the kind of thing, you know, 900 00:40:12,166 --> 00:40:13,792 you take a pill and you're -- 901 00:40:13,792 --> 00:40:15,291 you're okay. 902 00:40:15,291 --> 00:40:17,208 I knew that it was gonna take time. 903 00:40:17,208 --> 00:40:18,500 I knew that Ronnie going into it 904 00:40:18,500 --> 00:40:20,792 was kind of suspicious of it. 905 00:40:20,792 --> 00:40:23,125 We did see his, uh, psychiatrist. 906 00:40:23,125 --> 00:40:25,000 She did -- She travelled with us quite a bit. 907 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:28,125 Um... And so that part we understood. 908 00:40:28,125 --> 00:40:30,500 The problem is that at the time, we could never really 909 00:40:30,500 --> 00:40:33,667 get to understand, you know, who Ron was 910 00:40:33,667 --> 00:40:35,542 because he wouldn't -- he wouldn't speak about it. 911 00:40:35,542 --> 00:40:37,917 I didn't have a good relationship 912 00:40:37,917 --> 00:40:42,208 with those guys, 'cause I was very -- I wasn't social. 913 00:40:42,208 --> 00:40:43,667 I -- I can't recall -- 914 00:40:43,667 --> 00:40:45,834 I can't count on my hands how many times I had lunch with 915 00:40:45,834 --> 00:40:47,959 one of my NBA teammates. 916 00:40:47,959 --> 00:40:49,667 You know, I think a lot of it is just -- just lack of -- 917 00:40:49,667 --> 00:40:51,166 lack of control at the time. 918 00:40:51,166 --> 00:40:52,667 You gotta understand what I'm saying. 919 00:40:52,667 --> 00:40:54,333 It is two different parts. 920 00:40:54,333 --> 00:40:56,917 Ron was one of the most unbelievable competitors 921 00:40:56,917 --> 00:40:59,125 that our league had seen at the time. 922 00:41:05,583 --> 00:41:06,792 Artest, defensive player of the year, 923 00:41:06,792 --> 00:41:08,709 shows why with a steal of Wade 924 00:41:08,709 --> 00:41:10,583 and a slam on the other end. 925 00:41:10,583 --> 00:41:14,041 I just always remember being the best defender, 926 00:41:14,041 --> 00:41:16,792 finish -- finishing number six in MVP voting. 927 00:41:16,792 --> 00:41:19,166 Literally, if you put the ball around this guy, 928 00:41:19,166 --> 00:41:22,333 if you show him the ball, he's going to take it from you. 929 00:41:22,333 --> 00:41:24,542 Not some of the time, all of the time. 930 00:41:24,542 --> 00:41:26,375 I -- I just never seen anything like it. 931 00:41:26,375 --> 00:41:29,208 I mean, I used to say his left hand was like a glue trap, 932 00:41:29,208 --> 00:41:31,333 because if he just got one finger on that ball, 933 00:41:31,333 --> 00:41:33,375 he's popping that ball lose and he's taking it from you. 934 00:41:33,375 --> 00:41:35,959 You're not gonna have any idea how that happened. 935 00:41:38,375 --> 00:41:39,792 : ...Now Artest really leveling... 936 00:41:39,792 --> 00:41:41,166 : ...at the other end. 937 00:41:41,166 --> 00:41:43,417 I mean, he took it to him offensively and sacked him 938 00:41:43,417 --> 00:41:46,750 down to the baseline, and ate him up. 939 00:41:46,750 --> 00:41:50,083 Look at the hands of Artest. He is a -- Oh... 940 00:41:50,083 --> 00:41:51,750 ...pushes him down! 941 00:41:54,250 --> 00:41:55,583 He hated Paul. 942 00:41:55,583 --> 00:41:58,458 He felt like he was just tougher than Paul. 943 00:41:58,458 --> 00:42:01,041 Like, we knew how great Paul was as a player, 944 00:42:01,041 --> 00:42:03,583 but he felt like he was the one player 945 00:42:03,583 --> 00:42:06,291 that can change everything about Paul. 946 00:42:06,291 --> 00:42:09,250 We had wars over the years. 947 00:42:09,250 --> 00:42:10,750 He a Hall of Famer... 948 00:42:10,750 --> 00:42:14,583 ...and I -- I feel like I had something to do with that. 949 00:42:14,583 --> 00:42:16,166 Because I pushed him. 950 00:42:16,166 --> 00:42:19,750 We had wars. I'm proud -- I'm proud that we had wars. 951 00:42:19,750 --> 00:42:20,917 Our time was now, 952 00:42:20,917 --> 00:42:22,875 and even our differences that we had away from 953 00:42:22,875 --> 00:42:24,625 the actual games, 954 00:42:24,625 --> 00:42:26,834 um, we were able to put it aside and just go compete. 955 00:42:26,834 --> 00:42:28,333 And that's why we ended up having 956 00:42:28,333 --> 00:42:30,458 the best record of the year. 957 00:42:34,083 --> 00:42:36,125 Back home, there was no layups. 958 00:42:36,125 --> 00:42:38,667 It was that type of basketball that made me who I was, 959 00:42:38,667 --> 00:42:40,291 so I brought that to the NBA. 960 00:42:40,291 --> 00:42:42,083 And some people called it dirty, 961 00:42:42,083 --> 00:42:44,166 but I was just relentless. 962 00:42:44,834 --> 00:42:46,959 We were about the same team. 963 00:42:46,959 --> 00:42:51,041 Both teams just played with the mentality of, 964 00:42:51,041 --> 00:42:54,250 you know, we -- we -- we gonna win the game or the fight. 965 00:42:54,250 --> 00:42:57,000 He was always, um... 966 00:42:58,166 --> 00:43:00,250 On the edge of it, you know what I mean? 967 00:43:00,250 --> 00:43:02,917 And you never quite knew, 968 00:43:02,917 --> 00:43:05,417 you know, what was bothering him. 969 00:43:05,417 --> 00:43:06,959 It was maybe the hardest series 970 00:43:06,959 --> 00:43:07,959 that I ever played in. 971 00:43:07,959 --> 00:43:09,792 Every single game was physical. 972 00:43:09,792 --> 00:43:13,125 I mean, the winner of that series was gonna win it all. 973 00:43:13,125 --> 00:43:14,625 It was a battle of attrition. 974 00:43:14,625 --> 00:43:16,125 And obviously, the biggest play of the series 975 00:43:16,125 --> 00:43:18,250 was Tayshaun's block. 976 00:43:18,875 --> 00:43:20,500 ...Reggie Miller! 977 00:43:20,500 --> 00:43:22,125 And it's blocked again! 978 00:43:22,125 --> 00:43:24,000 How did ... get there? 979 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:26,458 I didn't think it was any way possible 980 00:43:26,458 --> 00:43:28,125 for him to get this shot. 981 00:43:28,125 --> 00:43:30,500 That is one of the most amazing blocks 982 00:43:30,500 --> 00:43:31,792 that I have ever seen. 983 00:43:31,792 --> 00:43:33,291 After the game that Tayshaun made 984 00:43:33,291 --> 00:43:35,083 the incredible block, uh, 985 00:43:35,083 --> 00:43:37,917 we didn't see Ron for two days. 986 00:43:37,917 --> 00:43:39,625 And that was one of the first times 987 00:43:39,625 --> 00:43:43,917 that I felt anger towards him in a way that I 988 00:43:43,917 --> 00:43:46,333 typically have never felt anger towards, uh, 989 00:43:46,333 --> 00:43:48,041 a teammate. 990 00:43:48,041 --> 00:43:51,709 An older group of guys would have settled that up quickly. 991 00:43:51,709 --> 00:43:53,500 But they were a young group of guys who were, like, 992 00:43:53,500 --> 00:43:57,917 "Oh!" You know... Pointing fingers. 993 00:44:00,667 --> 00:44:01,875 I called a play for Rip. 994 00:44:01,875 --> 00:44:04,542 Rip was a irritant, you know? Like, he's -- 995 00:44:04,542 --> 00:44:06,125 he's running all over the place, 996 00:44:06,125 --> 00:44:07,667 he's fouling and scratching people, 997 00:44:07,667 --> 00:44:11,083 and talking stuff. And I remember, um, 998 00:44:11,083 --> 00:44:14,125 Rip kind of baiting Ron into the foul. 999 00:44:14,125 --> 00:44:15,333 Pacers been led by as many 1000 00:44:15,333 --> 00:44:17,417 as 14 in the first half. 1001 00:44:17,417 --> 00:44:19,000 Oh, wow. 1002 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:23,750 Artest just leveled Rip... 1003 00:44:23,750 --> 00:44:25,583 He was smart. 1004 00:44:25,583 --> 00:44:26,917 It was tied up, 1005 00:44:26,917 --> 00:44:29,250 and he kind of threw his butt back towards me. 1006 00:44:29,250 --> 00:44:31,166 It kind of felt like an elbow. 1007 00:44:31,166 --> 00:44:34,375 It was an offensive foul, hit me in the groin area. 1008 00:44:34,375 --> 00:44:36,542 And then I immediately forgot that we were trying 1009 00:44:36,542 --> 00:44:39,875 to get to the finals, and I elbow him in the face. 1010 00:44:39,875 --> 00:44:41,375 That was a tough pill to swallow. 1011 00:44:41,375 --> 00:44:43,875 You go through so much, you know, to try to get to that -- 1012 00:44:43,875 --> 00:44:47,208 that place where you can get to the NBA finals, right? 1013 00:44:47,208 --> 00:44:48,750 You dream about that. 1014 00:44:48,750 --> 00:44:50,834 He shoots two free throws and they score. 1015 00:44:50,834 --> 00:44:53,041 they go up four. 1016 00:44:53,041 --> 00:44:54,709 And, um... 1017 00:44:55,750 --> 00:44:58,709 They won by four. They go to the finals. 1018 00:44:58,709 --> 00:44:59,750 It is very stupid. 1019 00:44:59,750 --> 00:45:02,375 I don't care how unstable I was mentally. 1020 00:45:02,375 --> 00:45:04,709 You know, it's stupid. 1021 00:45:04,709 --> 00:45:08,125 You know, there's no excuse -- um, for that. 1022 00:45:08,125 --> 00:45:10,375 : And for the first time in 14 years, 1023 00:45:10,375 --> 00:45:12,917 the Pistons go to the NBA finals! 1024 00:45:12,917 --> 00:45:16,792 They're the 2004 Eastern Conference champions! 1025 00:45:17,583 --> 00:45:19,458 At the end of the season, after we lost, 1026 00:45:19,458 --> 00:45:22,375 I met with the management and I felt like that 1027 00:45:22,375 --> 00:45:24,917 the time was up and we needed to make a change, 1028 00:45:24,917 --> 00:45:27,834 because I didn't believe that we were gonna be able to 1029 00:45:27,834 --> 00:45:31,125 ultimately reach our -- our full potential as a team. 1030 00:45:31,125 --> 00:45:35,083 Am I aware that, uh, Jermaine was upset with Ron? 1031 00:45:35,083 --> 00:45:36,959 Probably, yeah. 1032 00:45:36,959 --> 00:45:40,750 But, you know, there are guys upset with guys every year. 1033 00:45:40,750 --> 00:45:42,583 I just didn't think that it was gonna change. 1034 00:45:42,583 --> 00:45:45,583 We had a lot of aggression on that team, 1035 00:45:45,583 --> 00:45:47,583 but then what people don't understand, 1036 00:45:47,583 --> 00:45:50,083 that aggression becomes hate. 1037 00:45:50,083 --> 00:45:51,750 You know, or dislike. 1038 00:45:51,750 --> 00:45:54,709 And you have no shot in -- in sports and really in life 1039 00:45:54,709 --> 00:45:56,542 if you are on a team with some people that you 1040 00:45:56,542 --> 00:45:57,959 hate or dislike. 1041 00:45:57,959 --> 00:45:59,625 Well, I wasn't gonna listen to anybody telling me to trade 1042 00:45:59,625 --> 00:46:02,291 anybody, if -- if you really want to know that. 1043 00:46:02,291 --> 00:46:04,458 I didn't care who it was. 1044 00:46:08,792 --> 00:46:10,792 I get a call from Larry Bird, uh, saying, 1045 00:46:10,792 --> 00:46:12,333 "Stephen, welcome to the Indiana Pacers." 1046 00:46:12,333 --> 00:46:14,792 I was excited because I knew I was playing with guys that 1047 00:46:14,792 --> 00:46:17,041 I knew. Me and Jermaine O'Neal, class of '96. 1048 00:46:17,041 --> 00:46:18,834 We would play the McDonald's All-American game. 1049 00:46:18,834 --> 00:46:20,375 I was excited because I got a chance 1050 00:46:20,375 --> 00:46:21,625 to play with Ron Artest. 1051 00:46:21,625 --> 00:46:23,625 Coming into that season, it was my first year, you know. 1052 00:46:23,625 --> 00:46:26,291 And they just had played against, uh, the Pi-- Pistons 1053 00:46:26,291 --> 00:46:27,542 in the -- in the Eastern Conference finals. 1054 00:46:27,542 --> 00:46:29,083 They had a long season together. 1055 00:46:29,083 --> 00:46:31,458 So when I got there, Jermaine and Ron was 1056 00:46:31,458 --> 00:46:33,417 white and black, night and day. 1057 00:46:33,417 --> 00:46:35,667 They was nowhere -- They wasn't close at all. 1058 00:46:35,667 --> 00:46:39,000 We didn't talk to Ron at any point between the time we 1059 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:42,375 lost against the Pistons until we got to training camp. 1060 00:46:42,375 --> 00:46:43,667 Not one word. 1061 00:46:43,667 --> 00:46:45,542 The relationship was -- It was broken. 1062 00:46:45,542 --> 00:46:47,667 It -- It was really broken. 1063 00:46:48,750 --> 00:46:51,333 When he told us that he needed time off 1064 00:46:51,333 --> 00:46:53,750 and the season hadn't even started yet, 1065 00:46:53,750 --> 00:46:55,208 I was like... 1066 00:46:55,208 --> 00:46:57,500 I was just like, " This motherfucker crazy, man." 1067 00:46:57,500 --> 00:46:59,125 I was just like, "Oh, I can't believe it. 1068 00:46:59,125 --> 00:47:00,333 I can't believe it." 1069 00:47:00,333 --> 00:47:03,959 Jermaine is looking at me like, "Are you kidding me?" 1070 00:47:03,959 --> 00:47:05,834 Leaving the team to go down to the Source Awards 1071 00:47:05,834 --> 00:47:07,583 when we thought he was going home 1072 00:47:07,583 --> 00:47:08,834 to take care of family issues. 1073 00:47:08,834 --> 00:47:11,834 He apologized but, you know, when things continuously 1074 00:47:11,834 --> 00:47:15,500 happen, you know, it's -- it comes upon deaf ears. 1075 00:47:15,500 --> 00:47:17,542 I don't want anything to break this team apart, 1076 00:47:17,542 --> 00:47:18,834 to tear this team apart. 1077 00:47:18,834 --> 00:47:22,125 Ron understands the situation, he understands... 1078 00:47:22,125 --> 00:47:23,750 that that's something that can't come up. 1079 00:47:23,750 --> 00:47:25,875 That any other distraction is -- is... 1080 00:47:25,875 --> 00:47:27,709 is something that we don't need as a team. 1081 00:47:27,709 --> 00:47:30,208 Allure still coming out on November 23rd 1082 00:47:30,208 --> 00:47:32,750 and, uh, I want all the ladies to know go get the album, 1083 00:47:32,750 --> 00:47:34,875 the album's hot. You know what I'm saying? 1084 00:47:34,875 --> 00:47:37,041 And, uh -- You know, we in the house and I'm on the album, 1085 00:47:37,041 --> 00:47:39,375 rapping on the album. You know what I'm saying? 1086 00:47:39,375 --> 00:47:40,875 So it's just go get the album. 1087 00:47:40,875 --> 00:47:43,041 : What kind of teammate would you say you are? 1088 00:47:43,041 --> 00:47:44,750 Um... 1089 00:47:44,750 --> 00:47:47,041 Uh, at times, difficult. 1090 00:47:47,041 --> 00:47:49,500 Uh, you know. CEO, you know? Like, well, like I said, 1091 00:47:49,500 --> 00:47:51,458 Allure coming out November 23rd. 1092 00:47:51,458 --> 00:47:53,083 We six and two right now. 1093 00:47:53,083 --> 00:47:55,709 And Allure's album is coming out on the 23rd. 1094 00:47:55,709 --> 00:47:57,417 I don't how many times I gotta tell you. 1095 00:47:57,417 --> 00:47:58,792 Tru Warier Records. 1096 00:47:58,792 --> 00:48:00,500 All the ladies, go get the album, 1097 00:48:00,500 --> 00:48:01,750 'cause the album's fire. 1098 00:48:01,750 --> 00:48:03,291 : Do you think he's learned? 1099 00:48:03,291 --> 00:48:04,417 Ask him. 1100 00:48:04,417 --> 00:48:06,125 He's the best defender in he game right now, 1101 00:48:06,125 --> 00:48:08,792 so hopefully that doesn't come up and, you know, we just 1102 00:48:08,792 --> 00:48:10,917 contin-- we just continue to win games and -- 1103 00:48:10,917 --> 00:48:12,792 and prepare for winning the championship this year. 1104 00:48:12,792 --> 00:48:14,542 I knew his passion for music, 1105 00:48:14,542 --> 00:48:16,083 but I didn't think he would put his music 1106 00:48:16,083 --> 00:48:17,583 before basketball. 1107 00:48:17,583 --> 00:48:19,208 And, once again, he wasn't thinking, 1108 00:48:19,208 --> 00:48:21,750 but when things came back to him, it clicked. 1109 00:48:21,750 --> 00:48:23,333 He was coming off defensive player of the year. 1110 00:48:23,333 --> 00:48:25,417 At the time, he was averaging, like, maybe 22, 1111 00:48:25,417 --> 00:48:26,917 23 points a game. 1112 00:48:26,917 --> 00:48:29,375 It was cool to be able to say that. 1113 00:48:29,375 --> 00:48:31,583 I was one of the best at one point in time, you know? 1114 00:48:31,583 --> 00:48:34,875 My average went up. I was trying to get MVP. 1115 00:48:34,875 --> 00:48:37,709 You know? Um, and I felt like I was on my way, 1116 00:48:37,709 --> 00:48:39,542 from a basketball standpoint. 1117 00:48:39,542 --> 00:48:41,709 I never questioned Ron's ability. 1118 00:48:41,709 --> 00:48:42,792 Never. 1119 00:48:44,166 --> 00:48:45,792 Where he was mentally, every single day, I questioned. 1120 00:48:45,792 --> 00:48:48,125 I was looking to see -- All these guys are young and they 1121 00:48:48,125 --> 00:48:51,166 got these little petty things going on among them. 1122 00:48:51,166 --> 00:48:52,583 Is it gonna get straightened out 1123 00:48:52,583 --> 00:48:53,917 or I'm gonna have to trade these guys. 1124 00:48:53,917 --> 00:48:56,917 Well, I was gonna wait and see if we won with it. 1125 00:48:56,917 --> 00:49:00,250 And we were winning until we got to the Detroit thing 1126 00:49:00,250 --> 00:49:02,333 and then it blew up. 1127 00:49:08,375 --> 00:49:10,000 It was a statement time. They had just beat us in the 1128 00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:11,834 conference finals the year before. 1129 00:49:11,834 --> 00:49:13,583 We knew it was a national televised game. 1130 00:49:13,583 --> 00:49:16,625 Um, we were had -- had the best record at the time. 1131 00:49:16,625 --> 00:49:18,000 We wanted to send a message. 1132 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:20,208 We had made it clear publicly that we felt like we were 1133 00:49:20,208 --> 00:49:21,333 the better team. 1134 00:49:21,333 --> 00:49:23,208 And I think that was kind of a build-up 1135 00:49:23,208 --> 00:49:26,792 and, you know, obviously, as defending champions, um, 1136 00:49:26,792 --> 00:49:28,625 they felt like they needed more respect. 1137 00:49:28,625 --> 00:49:30,291 I mean, warm-ups in the game, being in that arena, 1138 00:49:30,291 --> 00:49:31,792 you can feel it. 1139 00:49:31,792 --> 00:49:33,000 Nobody had to tell him. You could feel it. 1140 00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,291 Fans was "You suck, you're that." 1141 00:49:36,291 --> 00:49:37,834 It's coming from all over. 1142 00:49:37,834 --> 00:49:40,458 We were everything under the sun. 1143 00:49:40,458 --> 00:49:42,458 Racial slurs, assholes, 1144 00:49:42,458 --> 00:49:44,250 talking about our families, our girls. 1145 00:49:44,250 --> 00:49:45,417 It was all kind of stuff. 1146 00:49:45,417 --> 00:49:47,041 It was -- It was hostile and every time I played in 1147 00:49:47,041 --> 00:49:48,166 Detroit, in was hostile. 1148 00:49:48,166 --> 00:49:49,625 I remember not being able to deal with it. 1149 00:49:49,625 --> 00:49:51,959 I remember not wanting a fan 1150 00:49:51,959 --> 00:49:54,834 to scream at me. It was j-- I just hated it. 1151 00:49:54,834 --> 00:49:57,792 So not to say that we didn't care about the game, 1152 00:49:57,792 --> 00:49:59,792 but we didn't focus on the game. 1153 00:49:59,792 --> 00:50:03,375 It wasn't circled on our schedule like it was them. 1154 00:50:03,375 --> 00:50:05,417 And they came in and they did what they had to do. 1155 00:50:05,417 --> 00:50:08,333 And, uh, they -- they smacked us. They really did. 1156 00:50:08,333 --> 00:50:12,667 I was killing them. I had 24. 1157 00:50:12,667 --> 00:50:14,667 And, um, they couldn't stop me. 1158 00:50:14,667 --> 00:50:16,166 : Artest is really playing 1159 00:50:16,166 --> 00:50:17,792 a disciplined game tonight. 1160 00:50:17,792 --> 00:50:20,166 : Oh, one of first...for Ron Artest, 1161 00:50:20,166 --> 00:50:23,834 best known for his defense, has half of the Pacer points. 1162 00:50:23,834 --> 00:50:26,542 But this was not just any game. 1163 00:50:26,542 --> 00:50:31,166 This was two fierce and bitter rivals on a Friday night. 1164 00:50:31,166 --> 00:50:33,000 They're the champions and you're in their building and 1165 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:35,542 you're torching them and you're the guy who's doing it. 1166 00:50:35,542 --> 00:50:37,667 And that doesn't just happen. 1167 00:50:37,667 --> 00:50:41,375 Towards the end of the game, when the Pistons were getting 1168 00:50:41,375 --> 00:50:43,792 whooped pretty bad, I had moved up a few rows and 1169 00:50:43,792 --> 00:50:46,375 let one of my workers come down and see what it was like 1170 00:50:46,375 --> 00:50:48,875 sitting, you know, court-side. 1171 00:50:48,875 --> 00:50:50,709 Coach Brown, he was taking all of us 1172 00:50:50,709 --> 00:50:52,291 out of the game. You know? 1173 00:50:52,291 --> 00:50:54,250 Um, all of us -- I had just checked out. 1174 00:50:54,250 --> 00:50:56,041 The only reason Ben didn't check out, 1175 00:50:56,041 --> 00:50:57,542 if I'm not mistaken, is because he was on 1176 00:50:57,542 --> 00:50:58,709 the free throw line. 1177 00:50:58,709 --> 00:51:00,709 And then a little exchange at the end, 1178 00:51:00,709 --> 00:51:03,500 uh, with Ron, um, Ben had kind of warned him, like, 1179 00:51:03,500 --> 00:51:05,375 you know, "Just chill. Y'all won. 1180 00:51:05,375 --> 00:51:06,709 Y'all got the came won. Just chill. 1181 00:51:06,709 --> 00:51:09,250 Don't -- Don't hit me no more." 1182 00:51:09,250 --> 00:51:12,000 You know what I'm saying? "Or elbow me, whatever." 1183 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:13,583 And I guess, um, 1184 00:51:13,583 --> 00:51:16,417 Ron didn't really listen. 1185 00:51:16,417 --> 00:51:19,333 And at the end of the game, I'm guarding Ben. 1186 00:51:19,333 --> 00:51:21,208 We're up 13, 14 points. 1187 00:51:21,208 --> 00:51:23,000 I'm letting Ben just go right by me and score and we -- 1188 00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:25,250 I'm trying to let the clock run out so we can get out of here. 1189 00:51:25,250 --> 00:51:27,917 : Oh! Ben Wallace is fouled. 1190 00:51:27,917 --> 00:51:29,667 And Wallace st-- Oh! 1191 00:51:29,667 --> 00:51:31,083 Right at Artest! 1192 00:51:31,083 --> 00:51:34,750 This is potentially serious if they don't get between... 1193 00:51:34,750 --> 00:51:36,750 I never knew why he fouled him like that, 1194 00:51:36,750 --> 00:51:38,083 because the game was already over. 1195 00:51:38,083 --> 00:51:40,834 You know, not even sure why Ron was still in the game. 1196 00:51:40,834 --> 00:51:42,750 It was a bad foul by Ron. 1197 00:51:42,750 --> 00:51:44,542 The dumbest thing he could've done, probably. 1198 00:51:44,542 --> 00:51:46,959 It was something about Ron on Ben a foul. 1199 00:51:46,959 --> 00:51:48,750 : Wallace upset. 1200 00:51:48,750 --> 00:51:50,291 Players trying to hold each other off. 1201 00:51:50,291 --> 00:51:53,208 I remember Ben Wallace being open for the layup 1202 00:51:53,208 --> 00:51:54,959 and not wanting to give up a layup. 1203 00:51:54,959 --> 00:51:59,000 I didn't want to change my mentality 1204 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:01,542 because we were winning. 1205 00:52:01,542 --> 00:52:03,750 I always played to the last second. 1206 00:52:03,750 --> 00:52:05,250 That's the only way I know. 1207 00:52:05,250 --> 00:52:08,959 I have to finish my -- finish the game and finish it hard. 1208 00:52:08,959 --> 00:52:10,542 And he was open for a layup 1209 00:52:10,542 --> 00:52:12,250 and I did not want him to get the layup. 1210 00:52:12,250 --> 00:52:15,083 Just took so damn long, man. The -- 1211 00:52:15,083 --> 00:52:16,959 From the push... 1212 00:52:18,500 --> 00:52:20,000 ...to the confrontation 1213 00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:21,709 to Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton, 1214 00:52:21,709 --> 00:52:23,792 everybody's in the middle. 1215 00:52:23,792 --> 00:52:25,208 You know, it just took way too long. 1216 00:52:25,208 --> 00:52:27,166 We were just kind of in shock. We were like, 1217 00:52:27,166 --> 00:52:28,834 "Whoa, look at this." And then they were going at it and 1218 00:52:28,834 --> 00:52:30,625 we were like, "Oh, here it goes. 1219 00:52:30,625 --> 00:52:31,792 They're gonna get at it." 1220 00:52:31,792 --> 00:52:33,583 Ben was mad. Now, he had a right to be. 1221 00:52:33,583 --> 00:52:34,625 He had a right to be mad. 1222 00:52:35,792 --> 00:52:37,250 He kept throwing stuff at Ron trying to antagonize Ron. 1223 00:52:37,250 --> 00:52:38,458 He threw a towel. 1224 00:52:38,458 --> 00:52:40,208 Then he hit me with the wristband. 1225 00:52:40,208 --> 00:52:43,709 I went to the ref. I said, "What the hell is going on? 1226 00:52:43,709 --> 00:52:47,291 You know, I got -- I got the foul. You called the foul. 1227 00:52:47,291 --> 00:52:48,750 I got pushed, no tech. 1228 00:52:48,750 --> 00:52:50,750 I got something thrown at me, no tech, no ejection. 1229 00:52:50,750 --> 00:52:53,625 Like, what's going on here? You know what I'm saying?" 1230 00:52:53,625 --> 00:52:54,834 So now, I'm at this point. I'm like, 1231 00:52:54,834 --> 00:52:56,000 "I gotta protect myself now." 1232 00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:58,542 Oh, he did what he was supposed to do. 1233 00:52:58,542 --> 00:53:00,834 He was told, like, "If you feel yourself getting 1234 00:53:00,834 --> 00:53:04,583 too agitated, then get away from it 1235 00:53:04,583 --> 00:53:08,041 and sit down and just be by yourself for a minute. 1236 00:53:08,041 --> 00:53:11,709 The foundation of my psychology at that time, 1237 00:53:11,709 --> 00:53:16,208 we did talk about, uh, often, um, 1238 00:53:16,208 --> 00:53:18,208 going to happy places. 1239 00:53:18,208 --> 00:53:19,709 So that's why he went over and laid down 1240 00:53:19,709 --> 00:53:21,458 on the scorers table. 1241 00:53:21,458 --> 00:53:22,750 There was nowhere else to go. 1242 00:53:22,750 --> 00:53:24,333 Scorers table was very comfortable at that time, 1243 00:53:24,333 --> 00:53:25,667 quite honestly. 1244 00:53:25,667 --> 00:53:27,542 I could've went to the chair, but it just didn't feel -- 1245 00:53:27,542 --> 00:53:28,458 it felt awkward. 1246 00:53:29,834 --> 00:53:30,542 People have asked me why I went to the scorers table. 1247 00:53:30,542 --> 00:53:31,875 Where else am I gonna go? 1248 00:53:31,875 --> 00:53:35,875 Into a -- the -- a cafe? Or am I gonna go to... 1249 00:53:35,875 --> 00:53:37,125 ...the locker room? 1250 00:53:37,125 --> 00:53:39,208 We have 20 seconds left. 1251 00:53:39,208 --> 00:53:42,000 The scorers table was right there, 1252 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,875 so I can sit, I can stand on top of the scorers table, 1253 00:53:44,875 --> 00:53:48,709 I can lay, I can do pushups. 1254 00:53:48,709 --> 00:53:50,208 There's so many -- Wha-- 1255 00:53:50,208 --> 00:53:51,542 I laid down. 1256 00:53:51,542 --> 00:53:52,542 Well, I'm just thinking, 1257 00:53:52,542 --> 00:53:54,291 "This is just Ron being Ron, you know? 1258 00:53:54,291 --> 00:53:56,417 It's just Ron-Ron just doing his thing. 1259 00:53:56,417 --> 00:53:57,875 Like, he's relaxed and he's chilling. 1260 00:53:57,875 --> 00:53:59,291 Listen, they came here, got the win. 1261 00:53:59,291 --> 00:54:01,375 He's just kind of showing out a little bit. 1262 00:54:01,375 --> 00:54:04,875 But it's no big deal. This is gonna be over soon," you know? 1263 00:54:04,875 --> 00:54:07,500 And -- And boy, I didn't -- 1264 00:54:07,500 --> 00:54:09,041 I wasn't right about that. 1265 00:54:09,041 --> 00:54:11,750 You know, Ben wore a thousand armbands and headbands, 1266 00:54:11,750 --> 00:54:14,166 so he was just -- I mean, he's just steady throwing them. 1267 00:54:14,166 --> 00:54:15,875 Just throwing them. And so people started 1268 00:54:15,875 --> 00:54:18,709 throwing stuff from the stands. 1269 00:54:18,709 --> 00:54:20,083 So he was throwing them at Ron, 1270 00:54:20,083 --> 00:54:21,667 and the next thing you know, you see cups and all 1271 00:54:21,667 --> 00:54:22,917 this stuff fly in. 1272 00:54:22,917 --> 00:54:24,208 We were all kind of booing him and telling him, 1273 00:54:24,208 --> 00:54:26,291 "Get off the scorers table." 1274 00:54:26,291 --> 00:54:28,500 And kids were kind of throwing popcorn down at him. 1275 00:54:28,500 --> 00:54:32,083 I was sitting there talking with my buddy and -- and, uh, 1276 00:54:32,083 --> 00:54:33,750 I said, you know, I was drinking a Diet Coke 1277 00:54:33,750 --> 00:54:35,625 with ice in it and he said -- 1278 00:54:35,625 --> 00:54:38,250 I said, "I bet I could hit him from right here with that cup." 1279 00:54:38,250 --> 00:54:40,875 And, uh, and he goes, "No, we're too far away." 1280 00:54:40,875 --> 00:54:44,875 And, uh... And I just launched it in the air 1281 00:54:44,875 --> 00:54:46,458 underhand and it kind of went up in the air 1282 00:54:46,458 --> 00:54:49,375 with a perfect arc and hit him right in the chest. 1283 00:54:51,625 --> 00:54:54,375 A beer or any type of beverage is thrown in someone's face, 1284 00:54:54,375 --> 00:54:55,959 that's assault. 1285 00:54:55,959 --> 00:54:58,083 In a lot of states, that's assault. 1286 00:54:58,083 --> 00:54:59,917 I'm sitting there. I'm like, "Holy cow," you know? 1287 00:54:59,917 --> 00:55:01,709 I -- I didn't really think I was gonna hit him. 1288 00:55:01,709 --> 00:55:03,583 And then, uh, 1289 00:55:03,583 --> 00:55:05,458 Artest turned around and looked up in the stands 1290 00:55:05,458 --> 00:55:07,792 and the kid sitting next to me, he's yelling at Artest 1291 00:55:07,792 --> 00:55:09,291 going, "Yeah, you got it!" 1292 00:55:09,291 --> 00:55:11,792 : Now Artest has jumped over the scorers table 1293 00:55:11,792 --> 00:55:13,166 and is trying to get down to... 1294 00:55:13,166 --> 00:55:15,375 When I seen him raise his hand, I'm like -- 1295 00:55:15,375 --> 00:55:18,000 When I got hit, I'm like... 1296 00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:19,333 "That guy hit me. 1297 00:55:19,333 --> 00:55:22,083 There's nobody else that could've possibly hit me." 1298 00:55:22,083 --> 00:55:25,125 So I ran right in that direction, 1299 00:55:25,125 --> 00:55:26,709 and my -- 1300 00:55:26,709 --> 00:55:29,500 What I wanted to do was choke him. 1301 00:55:29,500 --> 00:55:31,959 Not to death, but... 1302 00:55:31,959 --> 00:55:33,291 just to let him know, 1303 00:55:33,291 --> 00:55:36,458 "Don't you ever hit me with a cup in your life." 1304 00:55:36,458 --> 00:55:38,333 I just started getting adrenaline and my heart 1305 00:55:38,333 --> 00:55:40,792 started racing and seeing him come, I started to get, 1306 00:55:40,792 --> 00:55:42,750 like, I was like, "Oh, man. Here it goes." 1307 00:55:42,750 --> 00:55:44,875 : Artest is in the stands! 1308 00:55:49,500 --> 00:55:51,333 I thought he was coming at me 1309 00:55:51,333 --> 00:55:53,500 and he passed me and went and grabbed this kid. 1310 00:55:53,500 --> 00:55:55,125 I don't know if I blame him. 1311 00:55:55,125 --> 00:55:57,000 Um, but if you're gonna go into the stands, 1312 00:55:57,000 --> 00:55:59,000 hit the right person. 1313 00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:01,041 Right? He hit the wrong person. 1314 00:56:01,041 --> 00:56:02,667 And Artest was looking at this kid saying, 1315 00:56:02,667 --> 00:56:04,125 "Oh, you threw it." 1316 00:56:04,125 --> 00:56:07,125 So he take -- takes off in the -- into the stands 1317 00:56:07,125 --> 00:56:08,917 and grabs this kid 1318 00:56:08,917 --> 00:56:12,583 and, uh, just starts, like, bodyslamming this kid. 1319 00:56:12,583 --> 00:56:15,166 And then beer started flying and... 1320 00:56:15,166 --> 00:56:18,208 I felt bad right away. I went and grabbed Artest 1321 00:56:18,208 --> 00:56:19,875 around, you know, like a bear hug 1322 00:56:19,875 --> 00:56:22,000 trying to pull him off this kid. 1323 00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:23,625 I have to be honest, I wasn't necessarily 1324 00:56:23,625 --> 00:56:25,000 whispering in his ear saying, 1325 00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:27,875 "Hey, I'm the one that threw the cup." 1326 00:56:29,041 --> 00:56:31,625 I was very upset. All I wanted to do was go up in the -- 1327 00:56:31,625 --> 00:56:34,041 go in the stands and tell this fan, "You asshole. 1328 00:56:34,041 --> 00:56:36,208 Don't ever throw a cup at me." 1329 00:56:36,208 --> 00:56:38,208 And I thought that was gonna be it. 1330 00:56:38,208 --> 00:56:39,709 I didn't know it was gonna be more and more 1331 00:56:39,709 --> 00:56:41,375 and more and more. 1332 00:56:41,375 --> 00:56:43,542 Not a very proud moment, but hey, it just -- 1333 00:56:43,542 --> 00:56:46,709 it's one of those things, you know? It was kind of a... 1334 00:56:46,709 --> 00:56:50,959 spontaneous, you know, instant chaos that, you know, 1335 00:56:50,959 --> 00:56:53,583 got me engulfed and, uh, I just reacted. 1336 00:56:53,583 --> 00:56:56,834 He had time to reflect and to think and... 1337 00:56:56,834 --> 00:56:59,166 And then... 1338 00:57:00,166 --> 00:57:03,375 ...And then he just lost his mind. 1339 00:57:04,041 --> 00:57:07,792 And for a long time, 1340 00:57:07,792 --> 00:57:10,208 I kept asking myself the ultimate question 1341 00:57:10,208 --> 00:57:12,709 for people who do lose their mind. 1342 00:57:12,709 --> 00:57:14,709 And that is that 1343 00:57:14,709 --> 00:57:16,959 to lose something 1344 00:57:16,959 --> 00:57:20,375 at some point, you have to have it in the first place. 1345 00:57:22,041 --> 00:57:25,875 And I questioned that that night. 1346 00:57:25,875 --> 00:57:27,959 I wasn't afraid at one moment. 1347 00:57:27,959 --> 00:57:29,542 I wasn't worried at one moment. 1348 00:57:29,542 --> 00:57:31,542 You know, my whole mind was, 1349 00:57:31,542 --> 00:57:34,917 you know, protecting myself and protecting my teammates 1350 00:57:34,917 --> 00:57:36,750 and, uh, we'll get out of here together and deal with the 1351 00:57:36,750 --> 00:57:39,041 consequences later. 1352 00:57:41,375 --> 00:57:43,083 And now another fight's breaking out 1353 00:57:43,083 --> 00:57:45,917 in front of the Pistons bench. 1354 00:57:45,917 --> 00:57:48,917 It's a -- It's a fan on the court. 1355 00:57:48,917 --> 00:57:51,583 This is very, very dangerous. 1356 00:57:51,583 --> 00:57:53,417 But a guy comes at me. 1357 00:57:53,417 --> 00:57:54,959 At the time, I'm like, "This guy is crazy." 1358 00:57:54,959 --> 00:57:56,875 You know, now, I'm like, you know, I always wanted to know 1359 00:57:56,875 --> 00:57:59,083 what he was thinking, but if he -- 1360 00:57:59,083 --> 00:58:01,417 he's really lucky there was beer on the floor, 1361 00:58:01,417 --> 00:58:03,625 because I slipped. I couldn't quite get a grip, 1362 00:58:03,625 --> 00:58:06,291 'cause the punch would've connected even more. 1363 00:58:11,917 --> 00:58:13,667 I think about the animosity that we had 1364 00:58:13,667 --> 00:58:15,291 amongst each other as teammates. 1365 00:58:15,291 --> 00:58:16,917 But that very moment, we came together 1366 00:58:16,917 --> 00:58:18,250 to protect each other. 1367 00:58:18,250 --> 00:58:20,083 It was all put to the test that night. 1368 00:58:20,083 --> 00:58:24,125 As the captain of the team, um, you 1369 00:58:24,125 --> 00:58:26,000 are put in positions and have to make 1370 00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:27,500 decisions for your team. 1371 00:58:27,500 --> 00:58:30,125 And, um, when you're making decisions for your team, 1372 00:58:30,125 --> 00:58:30,959 you're standing with your team. 1373 00:58:30,959 --> 00:58:33,125 I believed in what I did 1374 00:58:33,125 --> 00:58:36,458 and I would absolutely do it again. 1375 00:58:36,458 --> 00:58:39,166 I would absolutely do it again, because at that point, 1376 00:58:39,166 --> 00:58:41,750 people are trying to kill you. 1377 00:58:41,750 --> 00:58:44,125 Over a basketball game. 1378 00:58:44,125 --> 00:58:46,875 Fans are throwing cups 1379 00:58:46,875 --> 00:58:50,125 with liquid in them now onto the court. 1380 00:58:50,125 --> 00:58:51,625 Ron Artest has a look in his eye 1381 00:58:51,625 --> 00:58:54,125 that's very scary right now. 1382 00:58:54,125 --> 00:58:56,291 That incident magnified everything. 1383 00:58:56,291 --> 00:58:58,917 It magnified where I was in my life, 1384 00:58:58,917 --> 00:59:02,625 and it magnified how much of an asshole these guys were. 1385 00:59:04,625 --> 00:59:06,667 There were security guards coming, cops coming everywhere 1386 00:59:06,667 --> 00:59:08,709 and I was looking at my buddy, I'm like, "Holy cow." 1387 00:59:08,709 --> 00:59:10,000 He goes, "Yeah, let's get out of here," 1388 00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:12,166 so we took off. 1389 00:59:12,166 --> 00:59:14,375 And, uh, and then it started 1390 00:59:14,375 --> 00:59:16,291 We were heading out and we saw it kind of escalating 1391 00:59:16,291 --> 00:59:18,542 down on the court. 1392 00:59:18,542 --> 00:59:19,750 You wonder if the official 1393 00:59:19,750 --> 00:59:21,166 is gonna let this game continue. 1394 00:59:21,166 --> 00:59:23,834 Now they're throwing bottles out onto the floor. 1395 00:59:23,834 --> 00:59:26,333 15 -- You know, 12 to 15 of you, 1396 00:59:26,333 --> 00:59:28,583 uh, as a team, um, and then 1397 00:59:28,583 --> 00:59:30,500 you look and all the exits are blocked 1398 00:59:30,500 --> 00:59:32,625 because the people are running on -- on the court. 1399 00:59:32,625 --> 00:59:34,166 : They're trying to get the Pacers to go back 1400 00:59:34,166 --> 00:59:36,500 to the locker room. 1401 00:59:36,500 --> 00:59:39,166 It was crazy. It was crazy, 'cause, like, 1402 00:59:39,166 --> 00:59:43,291 it literally was like a movie, man. It was like a movie. 1403 00:59:43,291 --> 00:59:47,500 You have these ridiculous fans trying to... 1404 00:59:47,500 --> 00:59:50,542 I remember Chuck ... trying to protect me, but m-- 1405 00:59:50,542 --> 00:59:53,000 I -- I wanted to go back in the stands again, 1406 00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,000 because more people was throwing beer and popcorn. 1407 00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:56,041 I'm like -- I'm trying to figure out -- 1408 00:59:56,041 --> 00:59:58,709 I'm trying to find the faces 1409 00:59:58,709 --> 01:00:01,083 of the person who threw the popcorn and who threw the -- 1410 01:00:01,083 --> 01:00:02,333 more beer and more soda, 1411 01:00:02,333 --> 01:00:05,542 'cause I'm ready to take on more people. 1412 01:00:05,542 --> 01:00:06,959 Somebody could really get hurt. 1413 01:00:06,959 --> 01:00:08,208 We were coming off the courtand we had 1414 01:00:08,208 --> 01:00:09,709 just made it through the tunnel. 1415 01:00:09,709 --> 01:00:11,709 You know, from getting hit with soda, popcorn, 1416 01:00:11,709 --> 01:00:12,834 all kind of stuff. 1417 01:00:12,834 --> 01:00:16,709 our adrenaline's still pumping and, uh... 1418 01:00:16,709 --> 01:00:18,542 Chuck Person's got Ron. He's bringing Ron. 1419 01:00:18,542 --> 01:00:20,000 There's a number of cameras right there. 1420 01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:20,875 This is a bad showing from the 1421 01:00:20,875 --> 01:00:23,208 Pistons fans here. 1422 01:00:27,500 --> 01:00:30,083 I'm the mode at that point where, you know, I got -- 1423 01:00:30,083 --> 01:00:33,000 I had my brother's back. I'm proud of it. 1424 01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:35,583 So I'm looking at these people run and throw chairs and you 1425 01:00:35,583 --> 01:00:37,583 got people rocking chairs and, I mean, it just -- 1426 01:00:37,583 --> 01:00:39,792 stuff coming and people got these water bottles and 1427 01:00:39,792 --> 01:00:41,792 running up to us and just lining us up. 1428 01:00:41,792 --> 01:00:44,417 Would you be the person that go to my home 1429 01:00:44,417 --> 01:00:47,417 and tell my wife and my kids that their dad 1430 01:00:47,417 --> 01:00:50,166 is dead from one of these chairs that you see 1431 01:00:50,166 --> 01:00:51,417 on these camera angles? 1432 01:00:51,417 --> 01:00:53,667 When they -- we got whole iron chairs flying 1433 01:00:53,667 --> 01:00:55,208 and people throwing them at us. 1434 01:00:55,208 --> 01:00:56,083 This is one of the worst scenes 1435 01:00:56,083 --> 01:00:57,208 I've ever seen. 1436 01:00:57,208 --> 01:01:01,291 This is a low moment in NBA history. 1437 01:01:01,291 --> 01:01:03,166 When I knew it was really bad was when 1438 01:01:03,166 --> 01:01:06,959 we got in the locker room and Coach Brown... 1439 01:01:06,959 --> 01:01:09,333 You know, coaches always address the team after, 1440 01:01:09,333 --> 01:01:12,291 and Larry was crying. 1441 01:01:12,291 --> 01:01:14,792 He was crying. I looked at him, he was crying. 1442 01:01:14,792 --> 01:01:18,792 And when he finally calmed and came to, 1443 01:01:18,792 --> 01:01:22,792 he said that we gave the game a black eye, 1444 01:01:22,792 --> 01:01:26,542 um, tonight and we will always be remembered for that. 1445 01:01:26,542 --> 01:01:27,875 I'm sitting there looking at my socks. 1446 01:01:27,875 --> 01:01:30,625 Just blood everywhere, my legs are all scratched up. 1447 01:01:30,625 --> 01:01:32,125 And he -- and he's leaning back in the locker room 1448 01:01:32,125 --> 01:01:33,959 and he was like, "Jack... 1449 01:01:35,875 --> 01:01:37,208 You think we gonna get in trouble?" 1450 01:01:37,208 --> 01:01:40,500 I asked Stephen that because I just wanted to 1451 01:01:40,500 --> 01:01:44,709 confirm that we are in some ... trouble. 1452 01:01:44,709 --> 01:01:47,125 In my mind, I had a lot going on, 1453 01:01:47,125 --> 01:01:49,458 and I remember asking this to room, 1454 01:01:49,458 --> 01:01:51,291 "Do you think we're gonna be suspended?" 1455 01:01:51,291 --> 01:01:53,000 Because I already been suspended so 1456 01:01:53,000 --> 01:01:54,834 many times already. 1457 01:01:54,834 --> 01:01:56,750 I say... 1458 01:01:57,542 --> 01:02:00,458 "Trouble? You lucky if we have a job." 1459 01:02:00,458 --> 01:02:02,458 And Jamal ... and everybody bust out laughing 'cause 1460 01:02:02,458 --> 01:02:05,667 they couldn't believe that he would ask this question. 1461 01:02:05,667 --> 01:02:08,125 "Bro, we just beat up fans. We just went in the stands. 1462 01:02:08,125 --> 01:02:09,709 This has never been done before, okay? 1463 01:02:09,709 --> 01:02:11,375 We brought the hood to Auburn Hills, okay? 1464 01:02:11,375 --> 01:02:12,917 This has never been done before. 1465 01:02:12,917 --> 01:02:14,750 You might've played your last basketball game, Ron. 1466 01:02:14,750 --> 01:02:16,458 Me -- Me too. 1467 01:02:16,458 --> 01:02:18,000 We might be, uh, going overseas together, brother, 1468 01:02:18,000 --> 01:02:18,959 okay? 1469 01:02:18,959 --> 01:02:20,542 Uh, just letting you know. I 1470 01:02:20,542 --> 01:02:21,917 Now you know I'm your friend, okay?" 1471 01:02:21,917 --> 01:02:25,417 He definitely said, "We might not have a job again." 1472 01:02:25,417 --> 01:02:26,917 He definitely said that. 1473 01:02:26,917 --> 01:02:28,542 No, that was the dumbest question ever. 1474 01:02:28,542 --> 01:02:29,834 I don't know what he was thinking asking 1475 01:02:29,834 --> 01:02:31,500 that question, but that lets you know 1476 01:02:31,500 --> 01:02:33,208 he wasn't in his right mind at the time. 1477 01:02:33,208 --> 01:02:35,792 And I just went directly to him. 1478 01:02:35,792 --> 01:02:37,333 You know, I tried to fight him. 1479 01:02:37,333 --> 01:02:39,041 They really didn't make it to each other, 1480 01:02:39,041 --> 01:02:40,417 but he got up upset. 1481 01:02:40,417 --> 01:02:43,750 And it spiraled to J.O. 1482 01:02:43,750 --> 01:02:45,875 really did -- he was so mad at Ron that 1483 01:02:45,875 --> 01:02:47,917 he turned to the coaches 1484 01:02:47,917 --> 01:02:51,583 and said, "When we're fighting or get into a -- a argument 1485 01:02:51,583 --> 01:02:53,375 or a type of scuffle, do not grab us." 1486 01:02:53,375 --> 01:02:54,875 He's talking to the coaches. 1487 01:02:54,875 --> 01:02:56,375 So at that time, 1488 01:02:56,375 --> 01:02:58,709 the players and coaches charging each other. 1489 01:02:58,709 --> 01:03:00,333 And a c-- a couple of us jump in. 1490 01:03:00,333 --> 01:03:01,834 We're like, "No! No! No, no! We're here together!" 1491 01:03:01,834 --> 01:03:04,083 So it got bad. It got bad 1492 01:03:04,083 --> 01:03:06,458 and that comment sparked a lot of stuff in the locker room. 1493 01:03:06,458 --> 01:03:08,709 It sparked a lot. 1494 01:03:08,709 --> 01:03:10,375 : And another incident for Ron Artest. 1495 01:03:10,375 --> 01:03:12,333 So unfortunate, and again, 1496 01:03:12,333 --> 01:03:16,208 the fan... Hopefully, security is able to get the fan 1497 01:03:16,208 --> 01:03:18,583 and he'll receive proper punishment. 1498 01:03:19,250 --> 01:03:22,000 I always liked Ron 1499 01:03:22,000 --> 01:03:27,583 because here was a guy who had realized the ultimate dream, 1500 01:03:27,583 --> 01:03:31,667 to make something of his life using basketball. 1501 01:03:31,667 --> 01:03:33,917 And then... 1502 01:03:34,291 --> 01:03:36,333 ...He threw it all away. 1503 01:03:36,333 --> 01:03:38,458 And for what purpose? 1504 01:03:38,458 --> 01:03:41,417 For a quick moment before I went to bed, 1505 01:03:41,417 --> 01:03:42,917 I had a moment. 1506 01:03:42,917 --> 01:03:45,250 I was a little upset. 1507 01:03:45,250 --> 01:03:46,417 I might've cried a little bit. 1508 01:03:46,417 --> 01:03:47,667 But when I woke up, I'm like, "Yo, 1509 01:03:47,667 --> 01:03:48,917 this is not my fault, man. 1510 01:03:48,917 --> 01:03:50,417 This guy was an asshole. 1511 01:03:50,417 --> 01:03:51,625 And what did you want me to do?" 1512 01:03:51,625 --> 01:03:54,917 The fan made a $50 bet 1513 01:03:54,917 --> 01:03:58,125 that he couldn't hit me. 1514 01:03:58,125 --> 01:04:01,792 So when John threw the cup, 1515 01:04:01,792 --> 01:04:05,208 um, he had to pay the fan that raised his hand $50. 1516 01:04:05,208 --> 01:04:08,083 So everybody's feeling sorry for this stupid-ass fan. 1517 01:04:08,083 --> 01:04:09,875 His ass made the $50 bet. 1518 01:04:09,875 --> 01:04:11,583 That night, when I got home, 1519 01:04:11,583 --> 01:04:14,041 I was with a few of my buddies, and I could see my wife 1520 01:04:14,041 --> 01:04:16,250 sitting on the porch smoking a cigarette. 1521 01:04:16,250 --> 01:04:18,250 And I'm like, "Oh, this is not good," 1522 01:04:18,250 --> 01:04:20,083 'cause she doesn't smoke. 1523 01:04:20,083 --> 01:04:22,083 And, uh, all she could say was, 1524 01:04:22,083 --> 01:04:24,375 "Did you guys have fun tonight?" 1525 01:04:24,375 --> 01:04:26,750 And, uh, I said, "Yeah, it was a good time." She goes, 1526 01:04:26,750 --> 01:04:29,500 "You and you and you need to get the ... out of here 1527 01:04:29,500 --> 01:04:30,959 and you need to come inside and watch." 1528 01:04:30,959 --> 01:04:32,542 She goes, "They're looking for you." 1529 01:04:32,542 --> 01:04:35,125 And sure enough, they're showing my face 1530 01:04:35,125 --> 01:04:38,959 with a halo over it saying, "We're looking for this guy." 1531 01:04:39,583 --> 01:04:42,709 John Green will face two counts of assault and battery. 1532 01:04:42,709 --> 01:04:44,959 One involving a cup that struck Ron Artest 1533 01:04:44,959 --> 01:04:47,625 in the chest and face area. 1534 01:04:47,625 --> 01:04:50,125 The second is also an assault on Ron Artest 1535 01:04:50,125 --> 01:04:51,500 from behind when he struck him. 1536 01:04:51,500 --> 01:04:53,875 John Green, uh, we will depict 1537 01:04:53,875 --> 01:04:55,959 what, in my mind, single-handedly 1538 01:04:55,959 --> 01:04:59,291 incited this whole interaction between the fans and players, 1539 01:04:59,291 --> 01:05:01,125 and probably is the one that's, um, 1540 01:05:01,125 --> 01:05:02,792 most culpable. 1541 01:05:02,792 --> 01:05:04,959 I mean, I threw a cup up in the air, you know? 1542 01:05:04,959 --> 01:05:06,125 I -- I... 1543 01:05:06,125 --> 01:05:08,291 They charged me with assault from throwing a cup 1544 01:05:08,291 --> 01:05:10,250 up in the air, you know? 1545 01:05:10,250 --> 01:05:11,959 Then they charged me with assault 1546 01:05:11,959 --> 01:05:13,625 for punching Ron Artest, 1547 01:05:13,625 --> 01:05:15,250 which I didn't even understand, because he 1548 01:05:15,250 --> 01:05:17,000 came up into the stands and grabbing some kid 1549 01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:20,834 and I'm trying to defend this kid, so... 1550 01:05:20,834 --> 01:05:24,000 They -- They found me not guilty for throwing the cup 1551 01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:28,083 and they found me guilty for punching Ron Artest, so... 1552 01:05:28,083 --> 01:05:31,166 Then I was given, uh, 30 days in work release. 1553 01:05:31,166 --> 01:05:33,083 Ron Artest will face one count 1554 01:05:33,083 --> 01:05:35,875 of assault for mistakenly striking 1555 01:05:35,875 --> 01:05:40,417 and pushing and shoving the fan by the name of Mike Ryan. 1556 01:05:40,417 --> 01:05:42,375 I felt when he went into the stands, 1557 01:05:42,375 --> 01:05:43,667 that's automatic. 1558 01:05:43,667 --> 01:05:45,875 So I knew there was gonna be suspensions. 1559 01:05:45,875 --> 01:05:49,917 Somebody hit him in the face with a, uh, drink 1560 01:05:49,917 --> 01:05:53,834 and anywhere in the world, 1561 01:05:53,834 --> 01:05:56,166 you'd know, I throw a drink in this guy's face, 1562 01:05:56,166 --> 01:05:57,709 he's coming after me. 1563 01:05:57,709 --> 01:05:58,709 And he went after him 1564 01:05:58,709 --> 01:06:00,625 and that's what happened. It -- 1565 01:06:00,625 --> 01:06:02,500 You know, he violated one of the biggest principles 1566 01:06:02,500 --> 01:06:05,208 of the game by going into the stands. 1567 01:06:05,208 --> 01:06:06,542 It's not about the stands. 1568 01:06:06,542 --> 01:06:08,542 It was about somebody had a issue. 1569 01:06:08,542 --> 01:06:10,083 Somebody ... hit you. 1570 01:06:10,083 --> 01:06:13,959 His -- Whether it was at Starbucks 1571 01:06:13,959 --> 01:06:19,792 or whether he was at, uh, IBM in the office 1572 01:06:19,792 --> 01:06:22,208 and then 1573 01:06:22,208 --> 01:06:24,542 the mailroom guy 1574 01:06:24,542 --> 01:06:26,709 throws a water in your face, 1575 01:06:26,709 --> 01:06:28,959 the CEO of IBM's gonna kick his ass. 1576 01:06:28,959 --> 01:06:32,500 I'm always tempted to compare him to Tyson. 1577 01:06:32,500 --> 01:06:36,709 For Ron, like Tyson, there's always this 1578 01:06:36,709 --> 01:06:40,542 tacit expectation, "When's the guy gonna blow? 1579 01:06:40,542 --> 01:06:42,792 When's he gonna come undone? 1580 01:06:42,792 --> 01:06:44,834 When's he gonna go nuts?" 1581 01:06:44,834 --> 01:06:46,625 And that night, 1582 01:06:46,625 --> 01:06:48,792 in Detroit, you saw it. 1583 01:06:48,792 --> 01:06:50,417 That had nothing to do with any 1584 01:06:50,417 --> 01:06:51,750 anger management issues. 1585 01:06:51,750 --> 01:06:53,291 In my neighborhood, you wasn't 1586 01:06:53,291 --> 01:06:54,792 you're not allowed to get bullied. Or if you been 1587 01:06:54,792 --> 01:06:56,583 bullied, you're never gonna let it happen again. 1588 01:06:56,583 --> 01:06:57,917 Your first reaction is, "See? 1589 01:06:57,917 --> 01:07:00,417 I knew that guy was gonna go crazy." 1590 01:07:00,417 --> 01:07:02,750 And for years and years, 1591 01:07:02,750 --> 01:07:05,750 this is not just what the league feared 1592 01:07:05,750 --> 01:07:09,125 or the sport feared or all American sports feared. 1593 01:07:09,125 --> 01:07:11,583 This is what middle America feared. 1594 01:07:11,583 --> 01:07:13,667 And, you know, the hammer had to come down. 1595 01:07:13,667 --> 01:07:17,834 I announce the, uh, following suspensions, uh, resulting 1596 01:07:17,834 --> 01:07:19,542 from the actions at the Indiana Pacers 1597 01:07:19,542 --> 01:07:23,917 and the Detroit Pistons game on November 19th. 1598 01:07:23,917 --> 01:07:27,000 Uh, Indiana's Ron Artest has been suspended 1599 01:07:27,000 --> 01:07:29,542 for the remainder of the season. 1600 01:07:30,291 --> 01:07:35,166 Indiana's Stephen Jackson has been suspended for 30 games. 1601 01:07:35,458 --> 01:07:39,750 Indiana's Jermaine O'Neil has been suspended for 25 games. 1602 01:07:39,750 --> 01:07:41,625 I got the word on TV 1603 01:07:41,625 --> 01:07:44,125 that I was suspended indefinitely. 1604 01:07:44,125 --> 01:07:46,291 And then, 1605 01:07:46,291 --> 01:07:47,834 I'm like, "Okay, I might never, ever 1606 01:07:47,834 --> 01:07:49,041 be in the NBA again." 1607 01:07:49,041 --> 01:07:52,000 Whatever assistance he has received to this point 1608 01:07:52,000 --> 01:07:54,667 did not keep him from doing something that was 1609 01:07:54,667 --> 01:07:57,125 unforgivable on Friday night. 1610 01:07:57,125 --> 01:07:59,792 It was hard, it was hard, 'cause I lost my LA Gear deal. 1611 01:07:59,792 --> 01:08:03,750 I had my own sneaker. Carl's Jr. commercial's coming. 1612 01:08:03,750 --> 01:08:07,750 Um, a ESPN and TNT commercial, you know? 1613 01:08:07,750 --> 01:08:09,166 Um, the face -- 1614 01:08:09,166 --> 01:08:11,667 Well, one of the faces of my team at that time. 1615 01:08:11,667 --> 01:08:15,041 And one of the faces of the league at that time. 1616 01:08:15,041 --> 01:08:20,583 Players cannot lose control and go into the stands. 1617 01:08:20,583 --> 01:08:25,208 And, as a corollary, have to hold fans accountable 1618 01:08:25,208 --> 01:08:28,500 for their anti-social behavior as well. 1619 01:08:28,500 --> 01:08:30,834 What was your personal reaction when you saw, 1620 01:08:30,834 --> 01:08:33,083 for the first time, what had happened Friday night? 1621 01:08:33,083 --> 01:08:39,834 Um, I would say shock, uh, and revulsion. 1622 01:08:40,750 --> 01:08:42,834 And fear. 1623 01:08:44,583 --> 01:08:45,583 I was upset. 1624 01:08:45,583 --> 01:08:48,542 I just didn't want him to always be remembered 1625 01:08:48,542 --> 01:08:51,458 for that incident. I mean, he gave so much to the game, 1626 01:08:51,458 --> 01:08:54,709 he worked so hard just to make it to the NBA, 1627 01:08:54,709 --> 01:08:56,291 as all of us have. 1628 01:08:56,291 --> 01:08:58,083 I just didn't want him to -- to remember that, 1629 01:08:58,083 --> 01:09:00,208 and I didn't think he deserved that. 1630 01:09:00,208 --> 01:09:01,542 And after that happened, I said, "You know what? 1631 01:09:01,542 --> 01:09:02,709 I'm gonna retire." 1632 01:09:02,709 --> 01:09:06,458 So I started to promote my R&B album. 1633 01:09:06,458 --> 01:09:08,875 I had a great album at that time, too. 1634 01:09:08,875 --> 01:09:12,250 I produced a record, it was called Chapter III . 1635 01:09:12,250 --> 01:09:15,041 All R&B, Allure. 1636 01:09:15,041 --> 01:09:17,959 And I remember, when I had the brawl on November 19th, 1637 01:09:17,959 --> 01:09:20,041 the album came out on the 23rd. 1638 01:09:20,041 --> 01:09:21,250 That's not the image that David Stern 1639 01:09:21,250 --> 01:09:22,834 wants to put forth. He don't wanna put forth 1640 01:09:22,834 --> 01:09:24,041 a negative image, 1641 01:09:24,041 --> 01:09:25,542 and I've been working real hard on doing a lot of 1642 01:09:25,542 --> 01:09:26,917 positive things. 1643 01:09:26,917 --> 01:09:29,542 And, uh, you know, got this album coming out. 1644 01:09:29,542 --> 01:09:31,917 It's positive, it's about love, you know? 1645 01:09:31,917 --> 01:09:33,542 It's not rap, it's not hardcore. 1646 01:09:33,542 --> 01:09:37,125 But everything's positive and, uh, look at this. 1647 01:09:37,125 --> 01:09:40,333 -Ron, we -- we appreciate -- -Y'all have a good morning. 1648 01:09:40,333 --> 01:09:42,834 That album had to take a backseat. 1649 01:09:42,834 --> 01:09:44,709 We shelved it. 1650 01:09:46,917 --> 01:09:49,917 Well, he wasn't around. You know? 1651 01:09:49,917 --> 01:09:52,333 I got suspended 30 games, I came back. 1652 01:09:52,333 --> 01:09:53,250 I ended up coming back and playing. 1653 01:09:53,250 --> 01:09:54,667 We ended up going to the play-offs. 1654 01:09:54,667 --> 01:09:57,083 Ron wasn't around, so... 1655 01:09:57,083 --> 01:09:59,417 Nobody had seen him, nobody heard from him, you know? 1656 01:09:59,417 --> 01:10:02,583 Nobody -- nothing, so he kind of just, like, faded to black. 1657 01:10:02,583 --> 01:10:04,250 Well, I'm sure it killed Ronnie, 1658 01:10:04,250 --> 01:10:06,208 'cause Ronnie needed basketball. 1659 01:10:06,208 --> 01:10:07,500 He really did. 1660 01:10:07,500 --> 01:10:08,834 We would've won the championship, everybody 1661 01:10:08,834 --> 01:10:10,041 knows that. 1662 01:10:10,041 --> 01:10:12,250 Reggie would have a championship right now. 1663 01:10:12,250 --> 01:10:14,625 That's one thing I regret and I know he regrets too. 1664 01:10:14,625 --> 01:10:16,375 But, uh... 1665 01:10:16,375 --> 01:10:18,083 that's just the way it went down. 1666 01:10:18,083 --> 01:10:20,959 I never thought Ron was a bad person. 1667 01:10:20,959 --> 01:10:22,875 I never -- I never thought, even to this day, 1668 01:10:22,875 --> 01:10:24,125 I never thought Ron was a bad -- 1669 01:10:24,125 --> 01:10:27,208 I thought Ron didn't necessarily understand everything, 1670 01:10:27,208 --> 01:10:29,291 because he was still trying to understand himself, 1671 01:10:29,291 --> 01:10:31,500 so how do you expect for him to understand 1672 01:10:31,500 --> 01:10:34,375 other people's feelings and he's still reaching and 1673 01:10:34,375 --> 01:10:36,959 trying to grab help from other people? 1674 01:10:36,959 --> 01:10:40,000 And that's the part where I wish 1675 01:10:40,000 --> 01:10:42,542 I would've understood better as a teammate 1676 01:10:42,542 --> 01:10:44,792 instead of being angry as a teammate. 1677 01:10:44,792 --> 01:10:46,750 Ron kind of separated himself from everybody 1678 01:10:46,750 --> 01:10:48,792 because he felt like everybody was mad at him. 1679 01:10:48,792 --> 01:10:50,083 You know, he felt like everybody turned -- 1680 01:10:50,083 --> 01:10:51,959 turned their back on him. 1681 01:10:53,625 --> 01:10:55,834 When he was eligible to play his first game, 1682 01:10:55,834 --> 01:10:57,417 it was a summer league game 1683 01:10:57,417 --> 01:11:00,834 and I actually flew to the game to cover it 1684 01:11:00,834 --> 01:11:02,083 and to watch him. And you could tell 1685 01:11:02,083 --> 01:11:03,291 that he was just different. 1686 01:11:03,291 --> 01:11:05,000 He really looked like he had put through the ringer. 1687 01:11:05,000 --> 01:11:08,166 He almost had, like, this glazed look about him 1688 01:11:08,166 --> 01:11:10,041 where maybe he was feeling the pressure of "Yeah, I'm g-- 1689 01:11:10,041 --> 01:11:12,166 I'm being given another chance, 1690 01:11:12,166 --> 01:11:15,000 I gotta try to make the most of it." 1691 01:11:15,000 --> 01:11:16,667 I mean, nothing changed that particular year. 1692 01:11:16,667 --> 01:11:18,959 Um, you know, Ron was on the cover 1693 01:11:18,959 --> 01:11:20,792 of Sports Illustrated with Larry. 1694 01:11:20,792 --> 01:11:22,375 With all that he's been through, with all 1695 01:11:22,375 --> 01:11:23,792 that he's done, they stood behind him. 1696 01:11:23,792 --> 01:11:25,375 You know, we stood behind him. 1697 01:11:25,375 --> 01:11:27,500 And, uh, we felt we had a chance 1698 01:11:27,500 --> 01:11:29,625 to right our wrongs. 1699 01:11:30,542 --> 01:11:31,917 It's about Ron right now, though. 1700 01:11:31,917 --> 01:11:34,458 It's about Ron. Ron Artest being back. 1701 01:11:34,458 --> 01:11:36,375 Ron Artest's back! All-star. 1702 01:11:36,375 --> 01:11:37,959 You are back. A lot of people wondered 1703 01:11:37,959 --> 01:11:40,041 how long it would take you to get back in your playing form. 1704 01:11:40,041 --> 01:11:41,375 How comfortable are you? 1705 01:11:41,375 --> 01:11:44,000 I'm real comfortable. You know, the team is doing well. 1706 01:11:44,000 --> 01:11:44,917 You know, we -- we ready to win and that's it. 1707 01:11:44,917 --> 01:11:46,250 That's what we come here to do 1708 01:11:46,250 --> 01:11:47,834 and, uh, that's about it. 1709 01:11:47,834 --> 01:11:51,625 We were practicing and, uh, 1710 01:11:51,625 --> 01:11:54,375 all of a sudden, I -- I... 1711 01:11:54,375 --> 01:11:57,458 Ronnie comes out and says he wants to be traded. 1712 01:11:59,333 --> 01:12:01,667 If you want the truth, I looked at the pages like 1713 01:12:01,667 --> 01:12:06,333 "I told you. I told you." 1714 01:12:06,333 --> 01:12:08,166 And... 1715 01:12:10,959 --> 01:12:16,000 It put an incredible divide between me and the Pacers. 1716 01:12:16,000 --> 01:12:18,208 I say, "Ronnie, did you just say you wanted to be traded?" 1717 01:12:18,208 --> 01:12:20,875 "Nah, nah, nah, I don't want to be traded." 1718 01:12:20,875 --> 01:12:23,166 And he again said it. 1719 01:12:23,166 --> 01:12:26,709 The reason I wanted out of Indiana was because, um... 1720 01:12:26,709 --> 01:12:28,458 I didn't really want out, I just couldn't deal 1721 01:12:28,458 --> 01:12:30,709 with the pressure. 1722 01:12:30,709 --> 01:12:31,959 So I couldn't just 1723 01:12:31,959 --> 01:12:34,625 go professionally to Donnie Walsh 1724 01:12:34,625 --> 01:12:36,917 and to my agent and say, "Hey, I don't want to be in Indiana 1725 01:12:36,917 --> 01:12:39,709 because it's too much pressure." 1726 01:12:39,709 --> 01:12:41,917 I did it through the media. 1727 01:12:41,917 --> 01:12:43,583 I made excuses. 1728 01:12:43,583 --> 01:12:46,834 "This is really not a, um, a comfortable spot for me. 1729 01:12:46,834 --> 01:12:48,208 You know, is there any way you could help me 1730 01:12:48,208 --> 01:12:49,208 get traded?" 1731 01:12:49,208 --> 01:12:51,667 I'm really, um... 1732 01:12:51,667 --> 01:12:54,208 ...playing basketball and protecting myself from media, 1733 01:12:54,208 --> 01:12:57,709 and I'm protecting my, uh, mental, uh -- 1734 01:12:57,709 --> 01:13:01,208 uh, stability. Um... 1735 01:13:01,208 --> 01:13:03,083 My guard is up. 1736 01:13:03,083 --> 01:13:06,083 You know, so it's so much -- so many things that was coming 1737 01:13:06,083 --> 01:13:08,250 with putting that Indiana Jersey on. 1738 01:13:08,250 --> 01:13:11,208 His action that night put this whole franchise in jeopardy 1739 01:13:11,208 --> 01:13:12,667 for a whole year, 1740 01:13:12,667 --> 01:13:16,166 and it was gonna take a lot of work to get it back up again. 1741 01:13:16,166 --> 01:13:19,375 And I thought, "And here, this guy is saying 1742 01:13:19,375 --> 01:13:21,291 'I want to leave?' 1743 01:13:22,041 --> 01:13:25,250 Okay, you can leave and we'll do it without you." 1744 01:13:26,709 --> 01:13:29,875 I thought it was kind of... 1745 01:13:29,875 --> 01:13:32,083 It was cheap by him, you know, breaking out on us. 1746 01:13:32,083 --> 01:13:34,000 It -- It pissed a lot of people off. 1747 01:13:34,000 --> 01:13:36,542 It pissed a lot of people off. 1748 01:13:42,333 --> 01:13:45,333 It was very hard to trade him because 1749 01:13:45,333 --> 01:13:48,208 it had gone out, like, "This guy's crazy." 1750 01:13:48,208 --> 01:13:50,083 And I remember thinking to myself that 1751 01:13:50,083 --> 01:13:54,959 somewhere along the line, there'll be a guy that will say 1752 01:13:54,959 --> 01:13:56,792 "That guy was the hardest playing guy 1753 01:13:56,792 --> 01:13:59,333 I ever saw in my life." 1754 01:13:59,333 --> 01:14:02,458 Out of nowhere, I got a call that, uh, 1755 01:14:02,458 --> 01:14:05,458 it was Sacramento would want to do a trade for him, 1756 01:14:05,458 --> 01:14:07,291 so we traded him. 1757 01:14:09,583 --> 01:14:10,917 When I came back, 1758 01:14:10,917 --> 01:14:13,959 it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. 1759 01:14:13,959 --> 01:14:16,458 It was a lot of barbershop talk. 1760 01:14:17,792 --> 01:14:20,083 It's an offensive foul. 1761 01:14:20,083 --> 01:14:24,166 Artest is down on the drive by Ginóbili. 1762 01:14:24,166 --> 01:14:26,917 Well, Ginóbili elbowed me in the mouth. 1763 01:14:26,917 --> 01:14:29,208 I had a big, 1764 01:14:29,208 --> 01:14:31,917 swollen lip 1765 01:14:31,917 --> 01:14:34,333 and had to get stitches. 1766 01:14:34,333 --> 01:14:35,709 Ginóbili deserved to be smacked in the back 1767 01:14:35,709 --> 01:14:37,333 of the head. 1768 01:14:37,333 --> 01:14:40,834 But I didn't. I just gave him an elbow to the chest, 1769 01:14:40,834 --> 01:14:44,166 said "You asshole." 1770 01:14:44,166 --> 01:14:46,792 So that was, like, a situation where that's -- 1771 01:14:46,792 --> 01:14:49,542 People be reaching. It was definitely white or black. 1772 01:14:49,542 --> 01:14:53,000 You either like Ron at that time or you don't. 1773 01:15:22,041 --> 01:15:24,834 Obviously, the, uh... 1774 01:15:24,834 --> 01:15:28,583 You know, the events of -- of this past Monday, uh, 1775 01:15:28,583 --> 01:15:33,375 remain a very, very serious issue, uh, going forward. 1776 01:15:34,291 --> 01:15:37,291 First, I wanna, uh, 1777 01:15:37,291 --> 01:15:41,166 apologize to my wife, 1778 01:15:41,166 --> 01:15:43,291 to my family. 1779 01:16:10,750 --> 01:16:12,834 Take a minute. 1780 01:16:28,500 --> 01:16:32,458 I want to apologize to the Kings. 1781 01:16:33,542 --> 01:16:37,458 To my teammates, the NBA. 1782 01:16:37,458 --> 01:16:40,500 Everybody that, you know, supported me and, uh, 1783 01:16:40,500 --> 01:16:43,959 for another incident to come, uh, to come up 1784 01:16:43,959 --> 01:16:46,250 is very unfortunate. 1785 01:16:46,250 --> 01:16:48,875 I definitely want to apologize for my behavior. 1786 01:16:48,875 --> 01:16:51,625 You know, Ron Artest, uh, once again is, you know, 1787 01:16:51,625 --> 01:16:55,417 in the media for something other than basketball. 1788 01:16:55,417 --> 01:16:57,458 I definitely apologize, once again, to the fans 1789 01:16:57,458 --> 01:16:59,375 hoping that, you know, Ron Artest can, you know, 1790 01:16:59,375 --> 01:17:01,458 pretty much stay on a straight path. 1791 01:17:01,458 --> 01:17:03,458 And, uh, I want to prove to them that I can. 1792 01:17:03,458 --> 01:17:05,458 I figured out that, uh, I need help. I figured that out. 1793 01:17:05,458 --> 01:17:09,125 And I figured out that in order to fix some, um, 1794 01:17:09,125 --> 01:17:12,000 people call them "demons" or "mental health issues" 1795 01:17:12,000 --> 01:17:16,125 or, um, "depression." 1796 01:17:16,125 --> 01:17:19,417 Or, um, the opposite of depression, "anxiety." 1797 01:17:19,417 --> 01:17:22,333 Right? Those were the things I had. 1798 01:17:23,041 --> 01:17:26,166 Yeah, hereditary, um... 1799 01:17:26,166 --> 01:17:29,917 Um, biological, and then also, environmental. 1800 01:17:29,917 --> 01:17:32,834 So many things that can mold anybody. 1801 01:17:32,834 --> 01:17:34,125 And I realized that, 1802 01:17:34,125 --> 01:17:37,667 so then just addressing all those different issues. 1803 01:17:46,041 --> 01:17:48,875 There's a lot of stigma when it comes to mental illness, 1804 01:17:48,875 --> 01:17:50,834 things like that. Well, it doesn't mean you can't 1805 01:17:50,834 --> 01:17:52,125 have a normal life. 1806 01:17:52,125 --> 01:17:53,542 Or a successful life. 1807 01:17:53,542 --> 01:17:56,083 Um, definitely, there was some damage control. 1808 01:17:56,083 --> 01:17:58,125 We had to do some of that. 1809 01:17:58,125 --> 01:18:01,959 And I remember not wanting to overnight change. 1810 01:18:01,959 --> 01:18:04,375 I wanted to just let it happen naturally. 1811 01:18:04,375 --> 01:18:06,083 You know, um, and then that's what happened. 1812 01:18:06,083 --> 01:18:07,041 You know, you just -- 1813 01:18:08,250 --> 01:18:10,542 People get over it. It was -- It took a long time for me. 1814 01:18:13,375 --> 01:18:15,000 I'm in Boston and I'm just there because 1815 01:18:15,000 --> 01:18:16,250 I want to see the game. 1816 01:18:16,250 --> 01:18:19,875 I also wanted to experience, um, 1817 01:18:19,875 --> 01:18:21,583 championship. 1818 01:18:21,583 --> 01:18:23,041 'Cause I'm like, "Oh, I'm getting older. 1819 01:18:23,041 --> 01:18:24,041 I need to get a ring. 1820 01:18:24,041 --> 01:18:26,083 So how is it gonna be when I get here?" 1821 01:18:26,083 --> 01:18:29,041 After a 22-year absence, the Boston Celtics 1822 01:18:29,041 --> 01:18:31,750 are NBA champions once again. 1823 01:18:31,750 --> 01:18:34,750 Banner number 17, soon to be raised to the rafters. 1824 01:18:34,750 --> 01:18:38,250 I felt bad for the Lakers 'cause Lamar's on that team. 1825 01:18:38,250 --> 01:18:40,500 So I go in there and I say to Phil, 1826 01:18:40,500 --> 01:18:44,750 "I want to say 'Good job' to Kobe. 1827 01:18:44,750 --> 01:18:47,417 Kobe's in the shower 1828 01:18:47,417 --> 01:18:49,875 and I don't feel like waiting around long." 1829 01:18:49,875 --> 01:18:53,500 I was naked in the shower and, um... 1830 01:18:53,500 --> 01:18:54,875 I just -- I just hear my name 1831 01:18:54,875 --> 01:18:57,250 and I turn around and it's -- it's Ron. 1832 01:18:57,250 --> 01:18:59,208 He was just like, "Hey, 1833 01:18:59,208 --> 01:19:01,458 I'm -- I'm gonna come help you. I'm gonna come join you. 1834 01:19:01,458 --> 01:19:04,542 This is not gonna happen again. I got you." 1835 01:19:04,542 --> 01:19:09,250 Obviously, I would love to play with Kobe, but, um... 1836 01:19:09,250 --> 01:19:10,875 I'd much rather play against Kobe. 1837 01:19:10,875 --> 01:19:12,458 The next season, he went to the Rockets. 1838 01:19:12,458 --> 01:19:14,583 You know, gave us some headaches. 1839 01:19:14,583 --> 01:19:17,458 Ron and Kobe pushing on each other. 1840 01:19:17,458 --> 01:19:19,792 Pushing and shoving Ron and elbowing Kobe. 1841 01:19:19,792 --> 01:19:22,625 Kobe, right back at Ron. Ron, back at Kobe. 1842 01:19:22,625 --> 01:19:25,291 I think a lot of players let him get away with stuff 1843 01:19:25,291 --> 01:19:27,583 because he's so strong and, you know, 1844 01:19:27,583 --> 01:19:29,709 tends to scare people a lot. 1845 01:19:29,709 --> 01:19:32,250 Um, but every time he hit me with a elbow, 1846 01:19:32,250 --> 01:19:34,709 I threw one right back at him, twice as hard. 1847 01:19:34,709 --> 01:19:36,625 Boy, Bryant threw that arm out 1848 01:19:36,625 --> 01:19:40,792 and Artest will not back down to anybody. 1849 01:19:40,792 --> 01:19:44,959 And then he started talking trash. And I said, "You know..." 1850 01:19:44,959 --> 01:19:48,291 I said, "Ron, is this something you're sure you want to do?" 1851 01:19:48,291 --> 01:19:50,625 He said, "Oh, I..." I said, "Excuse me? 1852 01:19:50,625 --> 01:19:53,458 Okay." And then I went and proceeded to score 1853 01:19:53,458 --> 01:19:56,208 whatever next point straight or whatever and 1854 01:19:56,208 --> 01:19:57,500 winded up winning the game. 1855 01:19:57,500 --> 01:19:59,542 Ron pokes it away, Kobe tracks it down, 1856 01:19:59,542 --> 01:20:02,500 spins left, shoots ... three at the buzzer, nails it. 1857 01:20:02,500 --> 01:20:05,125 He basically let Ron run right past him 1858 01:20:05,125 --> 01:20:08,000 so he could get an open look at a three... 1859 01:20:09,417 --> 01:20:12,333 Loose ball for ... 1860 01:20:12,333 --> 01:20:14,458 I love Kobe. Yeah, Kobe's my man. 1861 01:20:14,458 --> 01:20:16,500 But at that time, we're super competitive. 1862 01:20:16,500 --> 01:20:18,041 : Ron Artest against Kobe Bryant. 1863 01:20:18,041 --> 01:20:20,625 He's gotta be very careful that he does not get a technical. 1864 01:20:20,625 --> 01:20:23,333 He said that, uh, he's gonna go over here. 1865 01:20:23,333 --> 01:20:24,917 He's talking to Kobe. 1866 01:20:24,917 --> 01:20:26,834 Wow, here -- here we go. 1867 01:20:26,834 --> 01:20:27,875 Uh oh. 1868 01:20:27,875 --> 01:20:30,250 I just kept thinking, "Don't get ejected." 1869 01:20:30,250 --> 01:20:31,583 That's all I kept thinking. "It's play-offs. 1870 01:20:31,583 --> 01:20:32,792 Don't get ejected." 1871 01:20:32,792 --> 01:20:34,625 He went right over to Bryant. 1872 01:20:34,625 --> 01:20:38,291 Artest has, uh, gotten very, very upset. 1873 01:20:38,291 --> 01:20:40,875 I think they have thrown Ron Artest out of the game. 1874 01:20:40,875 --> 01:20:43,667 I don't think that shit should've surprised anybody. 1875 01:20:43,667 --> 01:20:45,333 You know what I'm saying? You've got two 1876 01:20:45,333 --> 01:20:49,125 strong-headed alpha males. 1877 01:20:55,667 --> 01:20:57,208 Yeah, Ron, Kobe, was quoted as saying 1878 01:20:57,208 --> 01:21:00,291 he's "not sure you're -- Lakers are a better team with you." 1879 01:21:00,291 --> 01:21:03,000 Do you feel you have to win him over? 1880 01:21:03,000 --> 01:21:05,166 Uh, I gotta win myself over first. 1881 01:21:05,166 --> 01:21:07,542 I gotta -- I gotta make sure I, um... 1882 01:21:07,542 --> 01:21:08,667 I'm doing everything. 1883 01:21:08,667 --> 01:21:11,041 It's not a given. The Lakers -- He's right. 1884 01:21:11,041 --> 01:21:13,875 There's not a given that just 'cause you -- 1885 01:21:13,875 --> 01:21:17,417 you add me to a team, you know, it was just gonna be, 1886 01:21:17,417 --> 01:21:18,417 you know, the number one team. 1887 01:21:18,417 --> 01:21:20,166 We gotta put that work in. 1888 01:21:20,166 --> 01:21:24,041 I was in a position where the Houston Rockets 1889 01:21:24,041 --> 01:21:25,333 didn't bring me back. 1890 01:21:25,333 --> 01:21:27,875 The Lakers was the only team that offered a contract, 1891 01:21:27,875 --> 01:21:29,583 so what am I gonna do? 1892 01:21:29,583 --> 01:21:30,875 I didn't think they knew what to think. 1893 01:21:30,875 --> 01:21:32,750 Not too many people... 1894 01:21:33,709 --> 01:21:36,375 ...had the competitive skill or the heart enough 1895 01:21:36,375 --> 01:21:39,041 to stand, um, stand up against Kobe like that. 1896 01:21:39,041 --> 01:21:42,875 The first time I saw him when he joined our team, 1897 01:21:42,875 --> 01:21:44,875 I told him, I said, "Listen, 1898 01:21:44,875 --> 01:21:47,709 you're coming here to replace a player that was like a 1899 01:21:47,709 --> 01:21:50,417 brother to me and still is to this day. 1900 01:21:51,041 --> 01:21:54,542 Like, Trevor came here and played lights-out for us. 1901 01:21:54,542 --> 01:21:56,208 He didn't miss a three in the play-offs, 1902 01:21:56,208 --> 01:21:58,917 and he was tenacious on defense. 1903 01:21:58,917 --> 01:22:01,542 And showed up to work every single day, 1904 01:22:01,542 --> 01:22:03,792 came to practice early, stayed at practice late. 1905 01:22:03,792 --> 01:22:06,583 And this is who you're coming in here to replace. 1906 01:22:06,583 --> 01:22:09,291 So I better not get any bullshit from you." 1907 01:22:09,291 --> 01:22:11,959 And it was really that direct and him understanding this is 1908 01:22:11,959 --> 01:22:15,583 not a place to come in and goof around or 1909 01:22:15,583 --> 01:22:17,166 to act out or anything like that. 1910 01:22:17,166 --> 01:22:18,917 I'm expecting you to be extremely sharp 1911 01:22:18,917 --> 01:22:22,875 and be extremely crisp and I won't have it another way. 1912 01:22:22,875 --> 01:22:26,375 I think they provide a very interesting symbiosis. 1913 01:22:26,375 --> 01:22:32,125 However tough Kobe wants to be seen, he's a middle-class kid 1914 01:22:32,125 --> 01:22:34,750 who's fluent in Italian, who's seen the world, 1915 01:22:34,750 --> 01:22:37,667 who has a sense of -- of -- of culture. 1916 01:22:38,250 --> 01:22:40,291 And you have Ron... 1917 01:22:40,291 --> 01:22:42,041 ...from the projects... 1918 01:22:42,041 --> 01:22:43,792 ...who's scary. 1919 01:22:43,792 --> 01:22:46,625 And that season, they found something together. 1920 01:22:46,625 --> 01:22:49,583 I knew practice was gonna be intense because 1921 01:22:49,583 --> 01:22:51,792 if he's anything how I am, I'm intense in practice. 1922 01:22:51,792 --> 01:22:54,834 I build up hate for whoever's on the other side. 1923 01:22:54,834 --> 01:22:56,959 Um, so -- But Kobe was always 1924 01:22:56,959 --> 01:22:58,667 we was always on the same team, 1925 01:22:58,667 --> 01:23:02,709 so I had to somehow take the hate 1926 01:23:02,709 --> 01:23:04,834 that I went into practice with for Kobe 1927 01:23:04,834 --> 01:23:08,542 and turn it into... You know, and turn it into love. 1928 01:23:08,542 --> 01:23:10,625 Like, on defense, we knew we can get after guys 1929 01:23:10,625 --> 01:23:12,375 and just scare the living shit out of them. 1930 01:23:12,375 --> 01:23:13,959 We knew that. 1931 01:23:13,959 --> 01:23:15,417 We'd said, "Okay, we're gonna go get this player. 1932 01:23:15,417 --> 01:23:18,625 Let's just make his night a complete living hell. 1933 01:23:18,625 --> 01:23:20,458 Let's just harass him, let's beat him up, 1934 01:23:20,458 --> 01:23:21,875 let's intimidate him." And we -- 1935 01:23:21,875 --> 01:23:23,792 we'd have fun doing that. 1936 01:23:24,917 --> 01:23:26,500 Bryant shoots... 1937 01:23:26,500 --> 01:23:28,208 ...and comes up short. Artest... 1938 01:23:31,291 --> 01:23:33,667 Ron Artest! 1939 01:23:33,667 --> 01:23:35,875 That was like a dream come true. 1940 01:23:35,875 --> 01:23:37,291 I knew we were gonna win -- I knew I was gonna win 1941 01:23:37,291 --> 01:23:40,709 a championship ring with somebody that I grew up with. 1942 01:23:40,709 --> 01:23:43,000 So I was kind of looking forward to that. 1943 01:23:47,875 --> 01:23:50,333 On the finals, he had a thing with Paul going back 1944 01:23:50,333 --> 01:23:53,000 to his days in Indiana. 1945 01:23:53,000 --> 01:23:55,667 Right? I -- I think that's kind of where it started. 1946 01:23:55,667 --> 01:23:58,208 Game one, right during the tip-off, 1947 01:23:58,208 --> 01:24:01,542 they get tangled up like this, like fighting for position 1948 01:24:01,542 --> 01:24:03,083 and the ball go up. They fighting for position 1949 01:24:03,083 --> 01:24:05,291 and they throw each other down. Shit like that. 1950 01:24:05,291 --> 01:24:06,834 They always went at it. 1951 01:24:06,834 --> 01:24:09,500 Pierce and Artest already grappling. 1952 01:24:09,500 --> 01:24:12,875 It took 27 seconds for these two to go at it a bit. 1953 01:24:12,875 --> 01:24:14,917 He would cheap-shot Paul all the time and 1954 01:24:14,917 --> 01:24:17,709 be extremely physical with Paul. 1955 01:24:17,709 --> 01:24:20,333 Um, but to Paul's credit, Paul didn't back down. 1956 01:24:20,333 --> 01:24:21,041 I don't know if they deserve 1957 01:24:22,542 --> 01:24:25,083 the technicals, but that's a heck of a takedown by Artest. 1958 01:24:25,083 --> 01:24:28,041 And I was in a zone that play-off series. 1959 01:24:28,041 --> 01:24:30,959 ♪intense music 1960 01:24:43,709 --> 01:24:46,583 I wasn't getting a lot of shots, but I was in a zone. 1961 01:24:46,583 --> 01:24:48,500 And I wanted to stay there. 1962 01:24:55,583 --> 01:24:56,750 That was the only thing I was trying to do was 1963 01:24:56,750 --> 01:24:58,959 protect the zone that I was in. 1964 01:24:58,959 --> 01:25:00,000 I think, for him, it was 1965 01:25:00,000 --> 01:25:01,917 the mental aspect of the game. 1966 01:25:01,917 --> 01:25:03,792 He used to let a lot of things affect him. 1967 01:25:03,792 --> 01:25:06,750 Previous plays, uh, 1968 01:25:06,750 --> 01:25:09,291 bad shot turnover, he would carry it with him 1969 01:25:09,291 --> 01:25:11,000 to the next play. 1970 01:25:11,000 --> 01:25:13,792 And what he saw from me is how I wouldn't do that. 1971 01:25:13,792 --> 01:25:14,959 I'd stay in the moment. 1972 01:25:14,959 --> 01:25:16,542 I was only different psychologically 1973 01:25:16,542 --> 01:25:19,000 when I was a Laker because I had more help. 1974 01:25:19,000 --> 01:25:21,417 So all the work that Donnie Walsh did, 1975 01:25:21,417 --> 01:25:23,750 and all the work that my counselors did, 1976 01:25:23,750 --> 01:25:25,250 it led me up to the Lakers. 1977 01:25:25,250 --> 01:25:26,917 Well, I hope that we had something to do with that. 1978 01:25:26,917 --> 01:25:29,917 That was a -- a tough price to pay for it. 1979 01:25:29,917 --> 01:25:34,500 Without your mental health, I mean, you can't do shit. 1980 01:25:34,500 --> 01:25:35,792 You can't be yourself. 1981 01:25:35,792 --> 01:25:37,959 You can only be a shell of yourself. 1982 01:25:37,959 --> 01:25:41,333 And I think Ron realized that and he realized to 1983 01:25:41,333 --> 01:25:44,125 get where he needed to go in life, he had to be right. 1984 01:25:44,125 --> 01:25:48,417 It happened over time for me. I was determined. 1985 01:25:48,417 --> 01:25:51,500 After I got over the anger management 1986 01:25:51,500 --> 01:25:56,125 counseling sessions, it became sports psychology because 1987 01:25:56,125 --> 01:25:59,500 I never had a chance to just focus on the game. 1988 01:25:59,500 --> 01:26:04,166 You know? So when I was able to get past everything else, 1989 01:26:04,166 --> 01:26:05,083 then it was like, 1990 01:26:05,083 --> 01:26:06,208 "How am I focused in the fourth quarter?" 1991 01:26:06,208 --> 01:26:08,375 It became fun. 1992 01:26:14,875 --> 01:26:17,417 It's game seven in LA. 1993 01:26:17,417 --> 01:26:18,792 Paul Pierce is from LA. 1994 01:26:18,792 --> 01:26:21,250 There's no way we can let him walk out there 1995 01:26:21,250 --> 01:26:23,333 with that trophy. 1996 01:26:23,333 --> 01:26:25,792 The night before, I called Dr. Santhi and said, 1997 01:26:25,792 --> 01:26:29,208 "I need you to come tomorrow." 1998 01:26:29,208 --> 01:26:31,625 And she hopped on the flight, came from Houston. 1999 01:26:31,625 --> 01:26:34,583 We had a session after the shoot-around. 2000 01:26:43,333 --> 01:26:46,166 Well, we just talked about, um, I hated Paul Pierce. 2001 01:26:47,375 --> 01:26:50,458 That's really what that was about. I'm not gonna lie. 2002 01:26:50,458 --> 01:26:51,625 I hated Paul Pierce. 2003 01:26:51,625 --> 01:26:53,000 Not because I hated him as a person. 2004 01:26:53,000 --> 01:26:55,834 On the court, like I said, I have to build up hate. 2005 01:26:55,834 --> 01:26:57,417 But that hate, it -- it got in the way. 2006 01:26:57,417 --> 01:26:59,959 I did not want it getting in -- in the way. 2007 01:26:59,959 --> 01:27:01,750 And it was -- it was just real intense. 2008 01:27:01,750 --> 01:27:03,375 It was tooth and nail. 2009 01:27:03,375 --> 01:27:08,166 We couldn't rely on Kobe just to get it done. 2010 01:27:08,166 --> 01:27:10,208 Bryant nearly falls, gets back up, 2011 01:27:10,208 --> 01:27:13,125 ... puts it up, and it grazes the rim. 2012 01:27:13,125 --> 01:27:15,208 Artest with the rebound! 2013 01:27:15,208 --> 01:27:16,875 I just wanted to be focused on the game. 2014 01:27:16,875 --> 01:27:18,125 That's all I wanted. 2015 01:27:18,125 --> 01:27:21,250 And one of the things that we practiced was breathing. 2016 01:27:24,000 --> 01:27:26,166 Don't matter if you're fighting for post position, 2017 01:27:26,166 --> 01:27:28,500 don't matter if it's shooting a free throw, 2018 01:27:28,500 --> 01:27:31,333 don't matter if you're locking somebody up or dunking, 2019 01:27:31,333 --> 01:27:33,583 the breath was always the same. 2020 01:27:36,333 --> 01:27:37,583 -No more threes! -Hey! 2021 01:27:37,583 --> 01:27:40,917 Kobe switched up, and then when -- when ... came down, 2022 01:27:40,917 --> 01:27:42,917 you didn't switch! 2023 01:27:42,917 --> 01:27:44,709 Come on, now! This shit ain't over! 2024 01:27:44,709 --> 01:27:46,291 Let's end it! We gotta end it! 2025 01:27:46,291 --> 01:27:49,917 And I'm just taking the same breaths. Throughout the game, 2026 01:27:49,917 --> 01:27:51,917 no matter how fast the game is going. 2027 01:27:51,917 --> 01:27:53,750 It was a technique that we practiced, 2028 01:27:53,750 --> 01:27:57,542 and it took me a while to master, you know. 2029 01:27:57,542 --> 01:28:00,208 And I was able to do that throughout the play-offs. 2030 01:28:00,208 --> 01:28:01,875 Coming up on a minute remaining. 2031 01:28:01,875 --> 01:28:03,375 I've had teammates in the past that were scared 2032 01:28:03,375 --> 01:28:04,959 to shoot that ball. 2033 01:28:04,959 --> 01:28:07,500 And, uh... You know, when I kicked it to him 2034 01:28:07,500 --> 01:28:09,083 and he loaded up to shoot the ball... 2035 01:28:09,083 --> 01:28:11,458 Paul, he took one step back, I came back. 2036 01:28:11,458 --> 01:28:14,291 I was just kind of like, "Go in, go in, go in, go in." 2037 01:28:14,291 --> 01:28:16,333 It wasn't so much like "Don't shoot it." 2038 01:28:16,333 --> 01:28:19,542 It was more like "Just go in." 2039 01:28:20,125 --> 01:28:21,625 Bryant looking. 2040 01:28:21,625 --> 01:28:24,500 Artest, that's a three. 2041 01:28:26,667 --> 01:28:29,250 Lakers by six... 2042 01:28:29,250 --> 01:28:30,542 I was right there. 2043 01:28:30,542 --> 01:28:32,625 I was ready for him to swing it one more time, 'cause I was 2044 01:28:32,625 --> 01:28:34,208 ready to shoot that bitch. 2045 01:28:34,709 --> 01:28:38,208 And he got it, and he lined up like he always does, 2046 01:28:38,208 --> 01:28:40,458 straight up, and he made it. 2047 01:28:40,458 --> 01:28:43,917 The Lakers repeat back-to-back titles! 2048 01:28:43,917 --> 01:28:48,125 The LA Lakers, the 2010 NBA champions! 2049 01:28:49,125 --> 01:28:52,208 First, I want to thank everybody in my hood. 2050 01:28:52,667 --> 01:28:56,000 When I seen him do that -- 2051 01:28:56,000 --> 01:28:57,750 I just... 2052 01:28:57,750 --> 01:28:59,709 ...I just looked and I just looked at all 2053 01:28:59,709 --> 01:29:01,667 my Queensbridge buddies, 2054 01:29:01,667 --> 01:29:03,750 And I just remember just 2055 01:29:03,750 --> 01:29:05,458 looking at my guys, you know. 2056 01:29:05,458 --> 01:29:08,625 Being honored, like, how do you -- how do you do that? 2057 01:29:08,625 --> 01:29:11,458 How do you win, like, one of the biggest honors 2058 01:29:11,458 --> 01:29:13,166 and you shout-out 2059 01:29:13,166 --> 01:29:16,792 one of the craziest projects in the world. 2060 01:29:16,792 --> 01:29:20,959 Notorious. People definitely don't want to go there. 2061 01:29:20,959 --> 01:29:24,375 And you stand there and you shout them out. 2062 01:29:24,375 --> 01:29:26,583 I definitely want to thank my doctor, Dr. Santhi, 2063 01:29:26,583 --> 01:29:28,625 my, um, my psychiatrist. 2064 01:29:28,625 --> 01:29:30,709 I started laughing. 2065 01:29:30,709 --> 01:29:33,417 Only Ronnie would get up and thank his psychiatrist 2066 01:29:33,417 --> 01:29:35,834 for winning the championship. 2067 01:29:35,834 --> 01:29:37,625 She really helped me relax a lot. 2068 01:29:37,625 --> 01:29:39,000 Thank you so much. 2069 01:29:39,000 --> 01:29:42,250 To me, it was his three-pointers 2070 01:29:42,250 --> 01:29:45,208 that saved the game, 2071 01:29:45,208 --> 01:29:48,542 beat the Boston Celtics in the seventh game at Staples. 2072 01:29:48,542 --> 01:29:52,542 Saved Kobe's reputation. At least, in part. 2073 01:29:52,542 --> 01:29:56,125 And what does he do? The guy thanks his shrink. 2074 01:29:56,125 --> 01:29:59,667 If that's not an evolved man, I don't know what is. 2075 01:29:59,667 --> 01:30:01,959 So difficult to play... 2076 01:30:01,959 --> 01:30:04,291 And so much commotion going on in the play-offs, 2077 01:30:04,291 --> 01:30:05,917 and she helped me relax. 2078 01:30:05,917 --> 01:30:07,250 I thank you so much. 2079 01:30:07,250 --> 01:30:09,458 -Ron, you were able to hit -- -I knocked down that three 2080 01:30:09,458 --> 01:30:10,500 just like you told me. 2081 01:30:10,500 --> 01:30:18,333 Who gets to have his worst part seen 2082 01:30:18,333 --> 01:30:21,083 on national TV 2083 01:30:21,083 --> 01:30:23,333 and rescue himself 2084 01:30:23,333 --> 01:30:25,917 by copping to it? 2085 01:30:25,917 --> 01:30:28,875 "Okay, I'm a little crazy. 2086 01:30:28,875 --> 01:30:32,709 I -- I -- I don't use the term casually. 2087 01:30:32,709 --> 01:30:33,875 But okay, you got -- I'm -- 2088 01:30:33,875 --> 01:30:37,000 I gotta take my meds. I'm gonna thank my shrink." 2089 01:30:37,000 --> 01:30:40,709 How many people are big enough to say that? 2090 01:30:45,000 --> 01:30:47,166 One of the best defenders of all time. 2091 01:30:47,166 --> 01:30:48,875 You saw it this series. 2092 01:30:48,875 --> 01:30:51,000 One of the best ever! 2093 01:30:51,000 --> 01:30:52,458 Ever! 2094 01:30:56,166 --> 01:30:58,375 I got Wheaties! 2095 01:30:58,375 --> 01:31:02,709 I got a Wheaties box! Get my Wheaties box. 2096 01:31:02,709 --> 01:31:04,458 I got Wheaties! 2097 01:31:04,458 --> 01:31:06,792 -You don't seem excited! 2098 01:31:06,792 --> 01:31:08,750 I'm leaving! 2099 01:31:10,083 --> 01:31:11,917 Y'all don't seem excited. I'm all excited. 2100 01:31:11,917 --> 01:31:14,417 I feel like a -- I feel like the oddball. 2101 01:31:14,417 --> 01:31:18,250 I never saw Ron that happy or that -- that excited. 2102 01:31:18,250 --> 01:31:20,250 Hey, people over there on your laptops! 2103 01:31:21,625 --> 01:31:23,250 Hey! 2104 01:31:23,250 --> 01:31:25,583 Hey, all the way over there on your laptop! 2105 01:31:25,583 --> 01:31:28,083 -Acknowledge me, please! 2106 01:31:28,083 --> 01:31:29,792 Hey! 2107 01:31:29,792 --> 01:31:31,083 It was he was like -- Like -- 2108 01:31:31,083 --> 01:31:33,250 like in a manic state, so to speak. 2109 01:31:33,250 --> 01:31:35,000 This is Diamond, my daughter, and my wife. 2110 01:31:35,000 --> 01:31:36,417 This my son, Jeron. 2111 01:31:36,417 --> 01:31:38,291 This is my sister, Angelica. 2112 01:31:38,291 --> 01:31:39,542 She got to meet Kobe, she's so happy. 2113 01:31:39,542 --> 01:31:41,792 This is my mom. 2114 01:31:41,792 --> 01:31:44,083 This is my big daughter. 2115 01:31:44,083 --> 01:31:46,792 -Where's Ron-Ron? -Ron-Ron's with Kobe. 2116 01:31:46,792 --> 01:31:47,875 Ron-Ron's with Kobe? 2117 01:31:47,875 --> 01:31:50,208 My other son's with Kobe instead of me, huh? 2118 01:31:50,208 --> 01:31:53,166 All right, whatever. This is my dad. 2119 01:31:53,166 --> 01:31:55,667 You see his muscles? 2120 01:31:55,667 --> 01:31:59,291 I think the championship validated me because... 2121 01:32:00,917 --> 01:32:03,458 ...the career that I was supposed to have, I had. 2122 01:32:03,458 --> 01:32:04,959 I hit a big-ass shot. 2123 01:32:04,959 --> 01:32:08,583 He passed me the ball. He never passes me the ball. 2124 01:32:08,583 --> 01:32:10,875 And he passed me the ball. 2125 01:32:10,875 --> 01:32:14,625 Kobe passed me the ball. And I shot a three. 2126 01:32:14,625 --> 01:32:17,041 If ... shoot the three, I heard him. 2127 01:32:17,041 --> 01:32:18,959 And he's the zen master, so he can speak to you without... 2128 01:32:18,959 --> 01:32:20,291 You know? 2129 01:32:20,291 --> 01:32:22,917 He can speak to you, and he don't need a microphone, 2130 01:32:22,917 --> 01:32:23,959 he just -- You can hear him in your head. 2131 01:32:23,959 --> 01:32:25,458 "Ron, don't shoot, don't shoot." 2132 01:32:26,583 --> 01:32:28,917 I said, "Whatever. Bong!" 2133 01:32:28,917 --> 01:32:32,333 Whoo! Yes! 2134 01:32:32,333 --> 01:32:34,667 Everything he does is -- is sincere. 2135 01:32:34,667 --> 01:32:36,834 As misunderstood as he is, 2136 01:32:36,834 --> 01:32:39,166 I think he felt it meant more to him, 2137 01:32:39,166 --> 01:32:40,709 and it would mean more coming from him 2138 01:32:40,709 --> 01:32:44,583 to these people if I'm thanking you at my highest point. 2139 01:32:44,583 --> 01:32:47,083 I'm winning the championship, I got a ring. 2140 01:32:47,083 --> 01:32:48,875 I got all eyes on me. 2141 01:32:48,875 --> 01:32:51,834 When I was younger, I bailed out on my Indiana team. 2142 01:32:51,834 --> 01:32:54,583 I was so young, so egotistical, 2143 01:32:54,583 --> 01:32:58,458 and I bailed out on Donnie, um, 2144 01:32:58,458 --> 01:33:00,834 Larry, Jermaine... 2145 01:33:00,834 --> 01:33:03,750 I wanted to let them know, like, you know, on -- 2146 01:33:03,750 --> 01:33:06,333 national TV, like, you know, "Thank you. 2147 01:33:06,333 --> 01:33:08,667 Um, and I appreciate you guys and always wish 2148 01:33:08,667 --> 01:33:09,959 I could've won with you guys, 2149 01:33:09,959 --> 01:33:13,041 and thank you guys." 'Cause they was always there for me. 2150 01:33:13,041 --> 01:33:15,542 I think, at that time, in 2010, um, 2151 01:33:15,542 --> 01:33:17,375 it was still very raw. 2152 01:33:17,375 --> 01:33:19,667 You know, we were still, you know, still on the -- 2153 01:33:19,667 --> 01:33:21,250 on the probation. 2154 01:33:21,250 --> 01:33:24,041 You know, um, we were still the team with a lot of 2155 01:33:24,041 --> 01:33:27,208 remnants of -- of -- of that situation. 2156 01:33:27,208 --> 01:33:29,542 And then to see him do everything he did 2157 01:33:29,542 --> 01:33:31,041 leading up into the brawl 2158 01:33:31,041 --> 01:33:34,583 and then basically have our team dismantled 2159 01:33:34,583 --> 01:33:38,625 because of that, to go to another team and win it... 2160 01:33:39,375 --> 01:33:41,583 That's a hard pill to -- That's a hard pill to swallow. 2161 01:33:41,583 --> 01:33:44,041 And I feel some -- sometimes like a coward, you know, 2162 01:33:44,041 --> 01:33:46,166 when I see those guys, 'cause it's like man, 2163 01:33:46,166 --> 01:33:47,333 now I'm on the Lakers, we got a chance to win. 2164 01:33:47,333 --> 01:33:50,417 I had a chance to win with you guys, you know? 2165 01:33:50,417 --> 01:33:52,834 And I feel, you know, almost like a coward. 2166 01:33:52,834 --> 01:33:56,625 God says, "Forgive -- Forgive everybody." 2167 01:33:56,625 --> 01:33:57,917 But at the time, I had never even had 2168 01:33:57,917 --> 01:34:00,083 a conversation with Ron. 2169 01:34:00,083 --> 01:34:04,041 I was not happy for him when he won the championship. 2170 01:34:04,041 --> 01:34:05,917 The next person I'm about -- I'm about to bring out, 2171 01:34:05,917 --> 01:34:08,583 I've known since I was 12 years old. 2172 01:34:08,583 --> 01:34:10,750 -Um -- 2173 01:34:10,750 --> 01:34:14,875 Uh, we come from the same family tree in New York City 2174 01:34:14,875 --> 01:34:17,458 of basketball, and, uh, I just want to let him know 2175 01:34:17,458 --> 01:34:19,458 that his family's proud of him. 2176 01:34:19,458 --> 01:34:21,750 The one and only, Ron Artest. 2177 01:34:33,625 --> 01:34:36,834 I really don't care about the ring. I just wanted to win. 2178 01:34:36,834 --> 01:34:38,500 I hate losing. 2179 01:34:38,500 --> 01:34:39,583 The -- the ring's not important. 2180 01:34:39,583 --> 01:34:41,458 I don't even wear jewelry. 2181 01:34:41,458 --> 01:34:43,667 So, um, so what else can you do with the ring? 2182 01:34:43,667 --> 01:34:46,625 So I had interest in helping people, you know, who -- 2183 01:34:46,625 --> 01:34:49,125 or trying to bring awareness to, you know, mental health 2184 01:34:49,125 --> 01:34:50,500 and everything like that. 2185 01:34:50,500 --> 01:34:52,208 And I was like, "Wow, you know maybe the ring" 2186 01:34:52,208 --> 01:34:54,667 and then it was that simple. I was like, "Yeah, it's perfect" 2187 01:34:54,667 --> 01:34:59,375 You know, uh, that's something that can, um, help others. 2188 01:34:59,375 --> 01:35:01,291 Something materialistic, you know. 2189 01:35:01,291 --> 01:35:05,125 We raffled it. The strategy was to raise 2190 01:35:05,125 --> 01:35:06,917 enough money to give back to 2191 01:35:06,917 --> 01:35:09,125 some mental health institutions. 2192 01:35:09,125 --> 01:35:12,792 P. Diddy said he would pay $220,000 for it -- 2193 01:35:12,792 --> 01:35:15,917 which is pretty cool. I said, "That's not gonna be enough." 2194 01:35:15,917 --> 01:35:19,542 And I raised $670,000 in three months. 2195 01:35:19,542 --> 01:35:21,166 And the person who won the raffle, his mom 2196 01:35:21,166 --> 01:35:23,166 had mental health issues. 2197 01:35:23,166 --> 01:35:26,667 It's Ron being Ron, you know? 2198 01:35:26,667 --> 01:35:30,333 He -- he's gonna say or do a lot of things that most people 2199 01:35:30,333 --> 01:35:32,834 would look at and be like, "What?" 2200 01:35:32,834 --> 01:35:35,709 But he's doing it from his heart. 2201 01:35:35,709 --> 01:35:40,125 Yes, how's everybody doing today? Yes. 2202 01:35:40,125 --> 01:35:41,875 I went through, um, parenting counseling, 2203 01:35:41,875 --> 01:35:43,834 I went through anger management counseling, 2204 01:35:43,834 --> 01:35:46,917 I went through marriage counseling, and I was like, 2205 01:35:46,917 --> 01:35:50,291 "It was so expensive, but it helped me." 2206 01:35:50,291 --> 01:35:53,834 So I'm like, "How can a kid in East LA, 2207 01:35:53,834 --> 01:35:55,542 in Queensbridge projects, 2208 01:35:55,542 --> 01:35:58,375 in Detroit, you know, in Little Rock, Arkansas, 2209 01:35:58,375 --> 01:36:01,041 how can they get the same help, you know, 2210 01:36:01,041 --> 01:36:02,458 that I've -- that I've gotten? 2211 01:36:02,458 --> 01:36:04,458 You know, without paying so much." 2212 01:36:04,458 --> 01:36:07,875 You should never be surprised with Ron Artest's -- 2213 01:36:07,875 --> 01:36:09,542 what Ron Artest does. 2214 01:36:09,542 --> 01:36:11,542 You know, most of the things that he does is -- 2215 01:36:11,542 --> 01:36:13,583 is selfless. 2216 01:36:13,583 --> 01:36:19,250 Let's not lose sight of the completely unpredictable 2217 01:36:19,250 --> 01:36:23,166 beauty in the arc of his story. 2218 01:36:23,166 --> 01:36:26,375 He starts off in Queensbridge 2219 01:36:26,375 --> 01:36:29,583 with his father beating him up to toughen him. 2220 01:36:29,583 --> 01:36:33,750 We know that he's impaired, and he ends up 2221 01:36:33,750 --> 01:36:37,667 winning the title, thanking his shrink. 2222 01:36:37,667 --> 01:36:38,834 How great is that? 2223 01:36:38,834 --> 01:36:40,375 And when you think of mental health, you know, 2224 01:36:40,375 --> 01:36:42,500 I don't think you have to be, um, 2225 01:36:42,500 --> 01:36:44,709 you know afraid. It doesn't mean you're crazy. 2226 01:36:44,709 --> 01:36:48,083 That just means that, you know, um, you have 2227 01:36:48,083 --> 01:36:50,125 some issues in your life and you're a young teenager 2228 01:36:50,125 --> 01:36:51,709 or a young kid, 2229 01:36:51,709 --> 01:36:56,709 you know, that does not know how, you know, to handle it. 2230 01:36:56,709 --> 01:36:58,917 And... 2231 01:36:58,917 --> 01:37:01,333 This is gonna be a way where, I think, you know, 2232 01:37:01,333 --> 01:37:04,375 you'll be able to talk to somebody about your problems. 2233 01:37:08,917 --> 01:37:12,875 I reached out to some Twitter followers saying, 2234 01:37:12,875 --> 01:37:16,250 "Anybody that can find me this man, I'll take you to lunch." 2235 01:37:16,250 --> 01:37:18,333 I didn't say his name because 2236 01:37:18,333 --> 01:37:19,917 I didn't want people to think I'm looking for John Green 2237 01:37:19,917 --> 01:37:21,083 for a fight. 2238 01:37:21,083 --> 01:37:22,417 It was in the summertime. 2239 01:37:22,417 --> 01:37:25,250 We were actually getting ready to go out jetskiing. 2240 01:37:25,250 --> 01:37:29,542 This fan said, "I found a number, you owe me lunch." 2241 01:37:29,542 --> 01:37:32,333 I called the number, his wife answered. 2242 01:37:32,333 --> 01:37:35,083 I told her who I was, she was like, "Get the F out of here. 2243 01:37:35,083 --> 01:37:36,667 Stop playing a prank." 2244 01:37:36,667 --> 01:37:40,625 She was like, "Excuse me? This is who? What? 2245 01:37:40,625 --> 01:37:42,709 I'm -- I'm, like, looking at her going, "Who is it?" 2246 01:37:42,709 --> 01:37:44,458 And, uh, 2247 01:37:44,458 --> 01:37:46,583 she looks at me with her eyes and her kind of mouth 2248 01:37:46,583 --> 01:37:48,667 wide open and she's kind of handing me the phone 2249 01:37:48,667 --> 01:37:50,792 and she goes, "It's Ron." 2250 01:37:50,792 --> 01:37:52,709 I said, "Ron? Ron who?" And she goes, 2251 01:37:52,709 --> 01:37:54,250 "It's Ron Artest." 2252 01:37:54,250 --> 01:37:56,375 So I grabbed the phone, I said, "Hello?" 2253 01:37:56,375 --> 01:37:58,959 So I hear this voice on the other end of the phone, 2254 01:37:58,959 --> 01:38:01,041 real soft-spoken. 2255 01:38:01,041 --> 01:38:03,458 He says, "Hey, John?" And I said, "Yeah." 2256 01:38:03,458 --> 01:38:05,166 And he goes, "Hey, this is Ron." 2257 01:38:05,166 --> 01:38:06,583 John answers the phone. 2258 01:38:06,583 --> 01:38:09,125 "Hey, Ron. What's up?" Like he knew I was calling. 2259 01:38:09,125 --> 01:38:10,458 This guy's crazy. 2260 01:38:10,458 --> 01:38:14,333 I was amazed that this guy actually went to the trouble 2261 01:38:14,333 --> 01:38:18,291 to pick up that, you know, 400 lb phone 2262 01:38:18,291 --> 01:38:20,041 and make a phone call to me. 2263 01:38:20,041 --> 01:38:22,125 I mean, I -- I thought about it for a long time, 2264 01:38:22,125 --> 01:38:23,625 and I was like, "Man, that's really amazing." 2265 01:38:23,625 --> 01:38:26,208 I reached out to John Green because... 2266 01:38:27,291 --> 01:38:31,500 Just to, like, get rid of, um, animosity and stuff. 2267 01:38:31,500 --> 01:38:35,458 I just don't like to hold grudges too long. 2268 01:38:35,458 --> 01:38:36,709 Some things don't make it right, 2269 01:38:36,709 --> 01:38:38,792 some things you take back. 2270 01:38:38,792 --> 01:38:44,000 John was a alcoholic and he had taken AA meetings. 2271 01:38:44,667 --> 01:38:48,458 He was going through things with his family. 2272 01:38:48,458 --> 01:38:50,834 And who knows what the kid who actually made the bet 2273 01:38:50,834 --> 01:38:52,875 was going through. 2274 01:38:52,875 --> 01:38:57,834 So us three, we're pretty stupid-ass people. 2275 01:38:57,834 --> 01:39:00,000 We were able to talk a lot about the -- the -- 2276 01:39:00,000 --> 01:39:01,500 that night. 2277 01:39:01,500 --> 01:39:03,834 He shared with me that he's gone through some 2278 01:39:03,834 --> 01:39:08,250 mental illness and, uh, he's been seeing a counselor and 2279 01:39:08,250 --> 01:39:10,750 I've been through a lot of the same situations myself, 2280 01:39:10,750 --> 01:39:14,667 you know, with, uh, I'm a recovering alcoholic. 2281 01:39:14,667 --> 01:39:17,750 I remember turning on the TV maybe four, five years ago 2282 01:39:17,750 --> 01:39:22,166 and I saw him and the guy, um... 2283 01:39:22,166 --> 01:39:24,709 basically are friends now. 2284 01:39:25,375 --> 01:39:29,041 And that touched me the wrong way. 2285 01:39:29,041 --> 01:39:33,208 Because that impacted a lot of people. 2286 01:39:33,208 --> 01:39:34,709 That was very personal to me. 2287 01:39:34,709 --> 01:39:36,417 I watched -- I -- it's hard to watch a city 2288 01:39:36,417 --> 01:39:37,959 be stripped down like that. 2289 01:39:37,959 --> 01:39:40,542 Out of all the times that I tried to reach out to Ron, 2290 01:39:40,542 --> 01:39:42,709 I tried to be a good teammate to him, 2291 01:39:42,709 --> 01:39:45,750 and then you go and you reach out to this guy. 2292 01:39:45,750 --> 01:39:48,709 Literally reached out and found -- found the guy. 2293 01:39:48,709 --> 01:39:51,375 But never spoke to me. 2294 01:39:51,375 --> 01:39:54,166 So that was -- that was a problem. 2295 01:39:56,291 --> 01:39:58,917 And Jermaine always, always was there for me. 2296 01:39:58,917 --> 01:40:01,208 Always -- always was there for me. 2297 01:40:01,208 --> 01:40:02,917 More than anyone. 2298 01:40:03,583 --> 01:40:05,083 He got my number. 2299 01:40:05,083 --> 01:40:07,208 He's reached out to me multiple times talking 2300 01:40:07,208 --> 01:40:10,333 about his regrets towards me and the Pacers and -- 2301 01:40:10,333 --> 01:40:11,583 And I knew it was really -- 2302 01:40:11,583 --> 01:40:14,000 he's really thinking about this. 2303 01:40:14,834 --> 01:40:19,375 And our friendship is now just starting. 2304 01:40:20,542 --> 01:40:25,041 It's years and years and years of psychology 2305 01:40:25,041 --> 01:40:27,041 and then, um... 2306 01:40:28,583 --> 01:40:29,792 ...and that's it. "Content" is a great word. 2307 01:40:29,792 --> 01:40:31,458 I love content. Content is very important. 2308 01:40:31,458 --> 01:40:33,542 A lot of people's not content. 2309 01:40:33,542 --> 01:40:37,875 Metta is receiving the mental health heroes award 2310 01:40:37,875 --> 01:40:42,041 because of his courage and willingness to come forward 2311 01:40:42,041 --> 01:40:44,750 and talk about mental health. 2312 01:40:44,750 --> 01:40:47,208 This is not common, as you know, 2313 01:40:47,208 --> 01:40:49,542 amongst professional athletes. 2314 01:40:49,542 --> 01:40:52,917 But Metta is setting the tone and bringing attention 2315 01:40:52,917 --> 01:40:54,792 to mental health disorders 2316 01:40:54,792 --> 01:40:57,458 and the importance of seeking help. 2317 01:40:57,458 --> 01:41:00,709 So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome 2318 01:41:00,709 --> 01:41:02,083 Metta to the podium. 2319 01:41:08,750 --> 01:41:10,583 I was affected by mental health. 2320 01:41:10,583 --> 01:41:13,041 Uh, my dad had functioned on medication. 2321 01:41:13,041 --> 01:41:15,458 My auntie has been in institutions 2322 01:41:15,458 --> 01:41:17,250 since she was -- since I was 10 2323 01:41:17,250 --> 01:41:19,291 and I'm 38 now. And, um, 2324 01:41:19,291 --> 01:41:22,417 and one of her sons has been locked away in institutions. 2325 01:41:22,417 --> 01:41:25,208 My little sister is, um, uh, 2326 01:41:25,208 --> 01:41:27,583 been in and out of institutions since she was 13. 2327 01:41:27,583 --> 01:41:29,792 She's about 23, 24 now. 2328 01:41:29,792 --> 01:41:32,625 And she's trying to get off medication and 2329 01:41:32,625 --> 01:41:35,834 trying to make a life for herself. And so... 2330 01:41:35,834 --> 01:41:38,917 I'm like, "The way I played defense 2331 01:41:38,917 --> 01:41:40,792 is the way I attack this." 2332 01:41:40,792 --> 01:41:44,291 It was the last day of my game with the Lakers. 2333 01:41:44,291 --> 01:41:47,458 I was post-traumatic syndrome. 2334 01:41:47,458 --> 01:41:49,083 I was going through a little bit. 2335 01:41:49,083 --> 01:41:50,458 I'm like, "Oh, my goodness. What am I -- 2336 01:41:50,458 --> 01:41:52,000 what am I gonna do? I have nothing to do this morning. 2337 01:41:52,000 --> 01:41:54,458 I'm not preparing for a next season next year." 2338 01:41:54,458 --> 01:41:57,291 And that was kind of haunting. 2339 01:41:57,291 --> 01:41:59,333 I got myself together 2340 01:41:59,333 --> 01:42:02,792 and I called, uh, UCLA. 2341 01:42:02,792 --> 01:42:05,834 I said, "I want to go back to school." 2342 01:42:05,834 --> 01:42:08,667 And I went to UCLA and took digital analytics. 2343 01:42:08,667 --> 01:42:11,500 Then I signed up for a coding class, 2344 01:42:11,500 --> 01:42:13,458 with technology being very important. 2345 01:42:13,458 --> 01:42:15,333 So I got a digital marketing team 2346 01:42:15,333 --> 01:42:17,750 and my digital marketing team, 2347 01:42:17,750 --> 01:42:20,166 I mean, we can do anything, you know? 2348 01:42:20,166 --> 01:42:22,458 Books... 2349 01:42:22,458 --> 01:42:25,542 ...sneakers -- We can market anything. 2350 01:42:25,542 --> 01:42:27,500 Can I have a hug before you go? 2351 01:42:27,500 --> 01:42:30,458 You all right? You good? Give me a hug. 2352 01:42:30,458 --> 01:42:33,000 I'm happy with my kids. My kids are doing well. 2353 01:42:33,000 --> 01:42:36,250 They're smart, and I'm so proud of my children. 2354 01:42:36,250 --> 01:42:38,250 Happy with where -- where I'm at. 2355 01:42:38,250 --> 01:42:40,959 I got a pretty simple lifestyle. 2356 01:42:40,959 --> 01:42:42,500 It's not too complicated. 2357 01:42:42,500 --> 01:42:44,875 Don't worry about fucking up. 2358 01:42:45,333 --> 01:42:48,041 Get your basketball body going. 2359 01:42:48,041 --> 01:42:49,834 If you've got two people in front of you, 2360 01:42:49,834 --> 01:42:53,333 if you've got a little bit of space, attack that shit. 2361 01:42:53,333 --> 01:42:56,792 Great thing to my mind about Ron Artest, 2362 01:42:56,792 --> 01:42:59,750 the everlasting accomplishment 2363 01:42:59,750 --> 01:43:02,834 is that you see athletes all the time 2364 01:43:02,834 --> 01:43:07,959 come back from drugs, come back from orthopedic ruin, 2365 01:43:07,959 --> 01:43:11,041 come back from jail time. 2366 01:43:11,041 --> 01:43:15,542 Who comes back from what we dismiss as crazy? 2367 01:43:15,542 --> 01:43:19,041 You know how much balls it takes to come back from crazy? 2368 01:43:20,542 --> 01:43:22,166 People evolve, man. That's -- that's it. 2369 01:43:22,166 --> 01:43:23,750 People evolve. 2370 01:43:23,750 --> 01:43:26,750 It took a long time to get there... 2371 01:43:26,750 --> 01:43:29,625 ...to be great. 2372 01:43:29,625 --> 01:43:32,417 I never thought I would be able to laugh about it. 2373 01:43:32,417 --> 01:43:36,125 And it wasn't a consistently great career, stats-wise, 2374 01:43:36,125 --> 01:43:37,750 but it was definitely a great moment, 2375 01:43:37,750 --> 01:43:41,333 and that's gonna go down in history. It's recorded. 2376 01:43:41,333 --> 01:43:46,125 Interterrestrial aliens don't really give a shit. 2377 01:43:46,125 --> 01:43:49,125 But we down here on Earth give a shit. 2378 01:43:49,125 --> 01:43:51,625 Hell of a moment. 2379 01:43:51,625 --> 01:43:54,125 Unless, somehow, all the electricity goes out 2380 01:43:54,125 --> 01:43:55,333 in the world, 2381 01:43:55,333 --> 01:43:59,166 that moment's gonna be replayed a long time. 2382 01:44:02,333 --> 01:44:04,875 ♪It's the Q to the B with the M-O-B-B♪ 2383 01:44:04,875 --> 01:44:07,917 ♪Queensbridge Brooklyn and we D-double-E-P♪ 2384 01:44:07,917 --> 01:44:09,583 ♪Y'all wish I lived the life I live♪ 2385 01:44:09,583 --> 01:44:13,000 ♪Ayo Prodigy, tell 'em what this is Dunn♪ 2386 01:44:13,000 --> 01:44:14,291 Somebody asked him one day, 2387 01:44:14,291 --> 01:44:19,333 "Who's the illest player you ever played against?" 2388 01:44:19,333 --> 01:44:21,250 He said, "Mike Chatfield." 2389 01:44:21,250 --> 01:44:22,875 Yo, listen to me. 2390 01:44:22,875 --> 01:44:26,125 I was in DFY with Mike Chatfield. 2391 01:44:26,125 --> 01:44:27,667 I could ne-- Listen. 2392 01:44:27,667 --> 01:44:29,959 I could never steal the ball from him. 2393 01:44:29,959 --> 01:44:32,625 Like, I was good at, like, getting the ball. 2394 01:44:32,625 --> 01:44:34,959 He would just be like this -- 2395 01:44:34,959 --> 01:44:37,834 So when he said that, I was like, "Ahh!" 2396 01:44:37,834 --> 01:44:39,208 He said Mike Chatfield! 2397 01:44:39,208 --> 01:44:41,166 He could've said he played against Michael Jordan 2398 01:44:41,166 --> 01:44:42,625 was the hardest person he played against. 2399 01:44:42,625 --> 01:44:45,291 He could've said Kobe! He could've said LeBron! 2400 01:44:45,291 --> 01:44:49,458 He said Mike fucking Chatfield, yo! 2401 01:44:49,458 --> 01:44:52,709 That's amazing! I was in jail with him! 2402 01:44:52,709 --> 01:44:53,875 ...I'm so sorry. 2403 01:44:53,875 --> 01:44:56,792 I went too far. I went too far. 2404 01:44:56,792 --> 01:44:58,583 Okay, let's get back to the question. 2405 01:44:58,583 --> 01:45:00,333 What was it? You didn't even ask that question. 2406 01:45:00,333 --> 01:45:02,834 I'm so-- I'm so sorry I went there. 2407 01:45:02,834 --> 01:45:04,500 He's not the perfect player, 2408 01:45:04,500 --> 01:45:07,583 he's not the perfect person, but anybody who knows him well 2409 01:45:07,583 --> 01:45:11,667 swear by his loyalty and what a big heart he has. 2410 01:45:11,667 --> 01:45:15,333 ♪Yo, Sevada d-d-drop that beat♪ 2411 01:45:15,333 --> 01:45:19,000 ♪minimal synth beats♪ 2412 01:45:34,333 --> 01:45:36,834 ♪ Artest, back to three♪ 2413 01:45:36,834 --> 01:45:39,125 ♪ Artest, back to three-three♪ 2414 01:45:39,125 --> 01:45:41,709 ♪ Artest, back to three♪ 2415 01:45:41,709 --> 01:45:44,041 ♪ Artest, back to three♪ 2416 01:45:44,041 --> 01:45:46,875 ♪ Artest, back to three♪ 2417 01:45:46,875 --> 01:45:49,000 ♪ Artest, back- back to three♪ 2418 01:45:49,000 --> 01:45:51,041 ♪ Artest, back to three♪ 2419 01:45:51,041 --> 01:45:53,917 ♪ Back to three back to three♪ 2420 01:45:53,917 --> 01:45:56,333 ♪ Artest, back to three♪ 2421 01:45:56,333 --> 01:45:58,709 ♪ Artest, back to three-three♪ 2422 01:45:58,709 --> 01:46:01,208 ♪ Artest, back to three♪ 2423 01:46:01,208 --> 01:46:04,375 ♪ Artest, back to three♪ 2424 01:46:04,375 --> 01:46:07,875 ♪minimal synth beats♪