Jamaal Tinsley Was Targeted
by Peter Vecsey
December 11, 2007 --
Today we're all susceptible to violence regardless of what hour of the day or night. Today we're all sitting targets for nut jobs, road-raging tailgaters, spurned lovers and dime-a-dozen wannabe punk gangsters looking to invade homes of the seemingly affluent and stick up athletes flaunting Benjamins, bling and rimmed-out rides.
Sunday it was Pacer point guard Jamaal Tinsley's turn to be targeted. After attending the R Kelly concert, Jamaal, three brothers and friends, including the team's equipment manager, went back to his Indianapolis condo to watch the Floyd Mayweather fight. At 1 a.m. they went to Cloud 9, an upscale club.
Informed a fight had occurred there earlier, Tinsley's group decided to leave almost immediately. Three males hovered near Jamaal's recognizable Rolls-Royce. They insisted on partying with him; wherever Tinsley was headed, they demanded to accompany him. Ticked at being told he was going home, they issued this menacing message: "We're going to party with you whether you like it or not."
Words you don't hear in the bible were then exchanged right about the time a truck packing backup muscle and an assault weapon arrived.
The 100 mph chase was on. Tinsley's three-car caravan of chrome could not shake the posse.
Rather than keep trying to get home, Tinsley's group headed to the Conrad Hotel, the city's priciest, most lit-up lodge, where there figured to be security on tap. At once the parking lot turned into a firing range, shots sprayed everywhere.
According to reports, two of the cars and Joey Qatato, 48, sitting behind Tinsley in the passenger seat, were hit; the veteran equipment man, brought to Indiana from Boston by loyal friend Larry Bird, may lose mobility in one of his two bullet-ridden elbows.
Tinsley's brother, James, one of three in Tinsley's group carrying licensed heat, pursued the vehicle with the shooter and returned fire.
A preliminary police investigation theorized the plan was to follow Tinsley to his downtown crib and rob him.
I know what you're thinking. When is Tinsley (and others at his plateau) going to learn to stay away from places that attract the rudest and crudest element?
Or might that actually be the attraction?
How many professional players must have welts on their necks from the necklace strippin' or killed outright before it's understood it might be wise to get off the streets at a reasonable hour? The incontrovertible comeback is, "See all of the above."
As anyone who was ever young, single and had too much time and money on their hands can argue convincingly, "Why shouldn't Tinsley be out and about?"
In that same position, I used to say to my friends at the start of the night, "If we're lucky we'll get in trouble."
But back then it was a much different kind of trouble. We were thinking women and glasses of beer. Today they're not thinking at all; we're talking deadly trouble.
Tinsley's biggest strength is his biggest weakness. Hanging tough is what he is, it's what he does. His attitude is Brooklyn to the hard core.
But unless your crew is instantaneously ready to escalate a confrontation with their crew to the red zone and not give a spit about the consequences, you cannot compete in that warped world.
A good idea would be to stay away from it as much as humanly possible.
You would think Tinsley would understand by now that criminals looking to drop his decimals have nothing to lose.
Meanwhile, Jamaal earns $6.3 million, has three years guaranteed remaining at $6.75, $7,2M and $7.5M, has a young son he adores, and is enjoying his most productive season by far under Jim O'Brien.
You would think one of the NBA's slickest point guards would exercise better off-the-court decision-making.
On the flip side, Tinsley could've been chilling in his Indy condo by 11 p.m. when, out of nowhere and without provocation, the same insane crew could've pulled a Biggie Smalls, "kick in his door, wavin' the .44."
peter.vecsey@nypost. com
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