The message was pretty clear. Indiana coach Rick Carlisle had just seen his team take a relatively painless 104-88 decision over the Celtics in Game 1 of their playoff series -- and he was pretty hot about seeing his best player taken down. To some of Carlisle's players, the affair boiled down to "playoff experience." To Carlisle, it looked as though famed Celtics enforcer "Jungle" Jim Loscutoff had been reincarnated in the form of Brandon Hunter. "I was concerned," Carlisle said, referring to the incident, which came with 8:01 left in the first half. "I looked out there and I saw a young, strong player throwing an MVP candidate to the floor. And it looked like he did it intentionally. I don't like that style of basketball."

Jermaine O'Neal, the Pacers' franchise forward, got tangled up with the burly Hunter, who had entered the game 42 seconds earlier. The two were positioning for a rebound that would never come; Fred Jones had knocked down a trey to give the Pacers a 41-35 lead. Hunter then tossed O'Neal to the floor and things quickly escalated.

O'Neal started jawing at the rookie, who remained defiant and noncombative as he walked back up the floor. Carlisle raced onto the court to protest, as did Ron Artest, which the Celtics feel warrants some league action because Artest was not in the game at the time. However, replays showed Artest did an abrupt retreat once he realized what he was doing and quickly went back to the pine.

O'Neal had to be restrained, and when Ricky Davis got into the mix, O'Neal briefly tangled with him as well, pushing him away. Eventually, order was restored.

"You don't like to see a guy brought in like he was there to rough up your best player," Carlisle said. "I disagree with that kind of basketball. I think it was a factor [in getting the Pacers juiced]."

Hunter didn't see what all the fuss was about.

"We just got tangled up, that's all," he said. "That's really all it was. We were both trying to get a rebound and then the next thing I know, he's walking up to me, yelling. I didn't want any trouble."