I finally saw the fight (living in Asia and not having cable set up yet makes following these things difficult), and I'm at a complete loss for what Artest was thinking. The other guys at least get a shred of credit for trying to protect their teammate, but they lost that and a ton more when they didn't grab Artest and get back to the lockerroom immediately.

The NBA reaction is weak, and will do nothing to stop this sort of thing from happening again. Artest is going to hear it from fans at every away game when he comes back, and it will only be a matter of time before he snaps again.