Knicks Brawl with Nuggets Likely to Result in 10 Suspensions

Madison Square Garden erupted into a boxing ring Saturday night (probably a better fight to be had here than in Vegas) during the Knicks game verses the Denver Nuggets.  Finally, those expensive tickets paid off!

Denver's Carmelo Anthony and the other nine players on the court at the time were ejected for fighting during a wild brawl between the Nuggets and Knicks, triggered in part by a New York team that felt it was being shown up on its home floor.

Multiple players, including Anthony, threw punches, and New York's Nate Robinson and Denver's J.R. Smith -- fouled hard by Mardy Collins on the play that started the brawl -- flew into the first row of the crowd while fighting during the NBA's scariest scene since Indiana players fought with Detroit fans in 2004.

According to the Knicks, the whole thing happened because the Nuggets still had their starters on the floor with 1:15 left and a 19-point lead. Denver won 123-100.

"They just wanted to embarrass us," Robinson said. "It was a slap in the face to us. As a team, as a franchise, we weren't going to let that happen. A clean, hard foul happened and after that it went down from there."
 

The foul wasn't clean at all. Collins grabbed Smith around the neck as he was going in for a breakaway layup. Anthony and Robinson quickly jumped in, and the melee went from one end of the court all the way to the other.

Anthony threw a punch at Collins, and now awaits what will surely be strong punishment from a league still trying to repair its image after the melee in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Outside of the brawl spilling over into the front row, no fans got involved in the ruckus. 

Anybody who leaves the bench and throws a punch automatically gets suspended in the NBA.  Ten players are likely facing suspension.

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Sports911.com News Wire

Originally published December 17, 2006 12:36 am ET