Complex sentence: O'Neal intervened by punching Haddad in the jaw after a running start; the punch would have been much more powerful had O'Neal not slipped in liquid, but witnesses Scot Pollard, Jim Gray, and a Pistons executive briefly feared that O'Neal would kill Haddad.
Split into simpler sentences: O'Neal intervened by punching Haddad in the jaw after a running start; the punch would have been much more powerful had O'Neal not slipped in liquid. Witnesses Scot Pollard, Jim Gray, and a Pistons executive briefly feared that O'Neal would kill Haddad.