Honestly, even though it was a horrible play, and he should be suspended at least 5 games IMO, some of these analysts are going overboard. And the only reason is because of the "Malice at the Palace" where I feel he got a raw deal on that situation.
For me, this elbow, and even confronting Pat Riley during a game were more egregious than the Palace brawl. Ben Wallace overreacted to a foul that wasn't even that serious, then he kept going at Ron when the officials should've been tossed him out the game. The reason Artest was on the scorer's table in the first place was to get away from Wallace. Then after he gets hit with the cup, he charges into the stands, but doesn't swing. Stephen Jackson jumps up there and starts throwing punches, then the idiot fan behind Ron starts hitting him from the back.
After all of that, Artest still didn't actually hit anyone, and makes his way to the court. Then, he sees a fan on the court coming towards him. If you ask me, the fan got exactly what he was looking for. Then Artest is taken to the locker room, the first one back there by the way. That whole situation was heaped on him because of his reputation, and that's his fault, but I still think the overreaction to that is what's fueling the overreaction to this. James Jones just hit Joakim Noah in the face, blatantly, and nobody really made a big deal about it because he's James Jones.