Ron Artest suspended four games

NEW YORK, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Talented but volatile Ron Artest of the Indiana Pacers was suspended four games without pay by the NBA Wednesday for his confrontational and obscene behavior toward coaches, players and fans in Miami Monday night.

The punishment was announced by NBA senior vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson and came minutes after Artest completed a meeting with the media at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The forward of the Indiana Pacers maintained he is not "hot-headed" but admitted that "there were a few things that I've done this year that were out of control."

It was the second suspension this month for Artest, who will forfeit nearly $66,000 in salary.

In the fourth quarter of Monday's win over Miami, Artest confronted and made physical contact with Heat coach Pat Riley, taunted the Heat bench, committed a flagrant-2 foul against Miami rookie Caron Butler and made an obscene gesture toward fans.

"I want to apologize to the fans, especially to the kids," Artest said. "(The gesture) was definitely not at the fans, it was toward the Miami bench. I don't want to say toward who, but it was at the Miami bench."

The groundwork was laid in the first quarter, when Riley and Butler received technical fouls for arguing that Artest had fouled Butler. As Riley argued with officials, Artest joined in the argument, incensing Riley, who replays showed to be saying to Artest, "Don't talk to me."

"I never have even talked to an opposing player and I don't want anyone talking to me or coming over to my bench," Riley said after the game. "That's not the way it is and the officials are supposed to take care of that."

With 8:13 to play in the game, Artest received a flagrant-2 foul for shoving Butler into the row of seated cheerleaders along the baseline. Just over two minutes later, he scored and was fouled by Butler.

Between the basket and free throw, Artest wandered toward the Heat bench and brushed against Riley. Miami assistant Keith Askins came off the bench and moved toward Artest, who had words with Riley and Askins before being pulled away by teammates. Artest receieved a technical foul, his ninth of the season.

"I heard people say that I bumped into Pat Riley," Artest said. "Actually, I was just backing up from their assistant coach (Askins) walking away and I bumped into Pat Riley. We were just talking. I told him he needed to calm down his player (Butler)."

After his free throw, Artest ran upcourt with both hands raised, flashing the obscene gesture with one of them. Following the game, he admitted that was wrong.

"I shouldn't have walked over to the bench," Artest said at the news conference. "Their assistant coach said to me, `Don't come flexing your muscles over here.' I think I should have kept walking."

One of the best defensive players in the game, Artest is averaging 15.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.07 steals per game for the Pacers, who are leading the Eastern Conference with a 33-12 mark.

However, this is the third major incident Artest has been involved in this season. In December, he was ejected for fighting with Dallas swingman Raja Bell. Earlier this month, he smashed a TV monitor and camera following a loss at New York, drawing a three-game suspension and $35,000 fine.

"I'm not a hot-headed type of person," Artest said. "Sometimes I do things on the court that give them (referees) that impression. But it's not like that I'm out there starting fights or trying to hurt anybody, I give you my personal word. I play with passion. After that, there's nothing else that I can say or do that will show you that I'm not that type of person on the court."

Artest said he was disappointed that he was not selected as a reserve for the Eastern Conference All-Star team. This suspension gives him an early start to his All-Star break as he will miss games against San Antonio, at Toronto, Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers. He is eligible to return Feb. 11 against Cleveland.