NBA Power: Something to keep an eye on...

Today an arbitrator gave his ruling on the appeals of the suspensions of Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, and Anthony Johnson from the Pistons-Pacers-crowd fight. While he choose to uphold the NBA's suspensions for Artest (the rest of the season), Jackson (30 games), and Johnson (6 games), he reduced O'Neal's suspension from 25 games to 15 games.

The interesting part is that the NBA never agreed to go to arbitration, has claimed it will not listen to whatever this arbitrator decides, and basically has said that nothing will change. And David Stern has the power to do so, because it was in the last collective bargaining agreement that he was the final word on cases such as this.

What will be interesting to watch is how the NBA responds to this ruling that they have refused to acknowledge the existence of through today. It will also be interesting to see how the media portrays it. Will Stern be the bad guy for sticking to his guns? Or will be he a wimp for going back on his call?

If the suspension is reduced to 15 games, Jackson would be eligible to play on Christmas day against the Pistons...

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