12/22/2004 11:04:01 AM|||Shep|||

"NEW YORK (AP) -- Jermaine O'Neal won a 10-game reduction Wednesday in his suspension for fighting with fans during the Nov. 19 Pacers-Pistons brawl, but an arbitrator upheld NBA commissioner David Stern's bans on Ron Artest and two other Indiana players.

Arbitrator Roger Kaplan's decision makes O'Neal eligible to return Saturday, when the Pacers host the Pistons in the teams' first matchup since one of the most violent melees in NBA history.

It was unclear whether the NBA would recognize Kaplan's authority to intervene. The league refused to participate in the arbitration hearing Kaplan conducted Dec. 9.

The NBA had no immediate comment."

This is obviously a huge victory for O'Neal and his fantasy owners alike. Interesting that the arbitrator cut the suspension to allow him back in time to play the Pistons... Not that the NBA wants to acknowledge that the game will be anything out of the ordinary, but they sure are hyping the Corvette-BrickWall matchup. It could be a bad-blood double-header for the ages. If the league marketing department is smart, they'll tell everyone to just keep their mouths shut and accept the arbitrator's ruling. "Revenge mean ratings" seems to be the marketing philosophy so far... why quit now?

Count it.
|||110373506416708639|||O'Neal suspension cut by 10 games