NBA Brawl

In 2004, there was the brawl in the Palace of Auburn Hills between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers.

This year, just as the NBA was putting away that ugly incident behind it, another embarrassing fight errupted, which ended with the ejection of 10 players. This time between the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks; towards the end of a 23-point Nuggets win in Madison Square Garden.



There is some speculation as to how the whole thing, which started when Denver's J.R. Smith was given a flagrant foul by the Knicks' Mardy Collins, escalated to the point that it did. One is that the Knicks, coach Isaiah Thomas in particular, were upset that the Nuggets still had some of their starters on the floor.

Just before Collins' foul, Knicks coach Isiah Thomas could be seen jawing with Anthony from across the court while the Nuggets were at the free throw line. Thomas admitted after the game that he was perturbed because Nuggets starters Smith, Anthony and Camby were still on the floor toward the end of a blowout. Reports out of the Knicks' locker room suggested that while the foul on Smith may not have been called for, it wasn't a surprise that it actually occurred. Though Thomas may not have instructed Collins to foul Smith, it's easy to see why Collins may have tried to curry favor with his beleaguered coach. After all, if the coach isn't above talking smack with players half his age, what's to stop a hard foul?

Another is that George Karl, a close friend of former Knicks coach Larry Brown, wanted to rub their win in the Knicks' faces.

George Karl and ex-Knicks coach Larry Brown are close friends, which may have led to Karl wanting to run up the score on Thomas' Knicks. This hardly absolves this sort of brawl, but it is worth pointing out.

Among the players ejected - and facing suspension - are Denver starters Marcus Camby, Carmelo Anthony (who also happens to be the league's leading scorer), Andre Miller, and Eduardo Najera; and the NY's Nate Johnson and Collins.

Seriously, when are these people, especially the Knicks, going to grow up?