How the Knicks vs Nuggets Game Got Totally Out of Hand

When I was watching the New York Knicks basketball game Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets, I was astonished to watch a giant brawl break out at the end of the game. The fight started when Nuggets player JR Smith was driving down the lane to score a basket when the Nuggets were ahead by a wide margin at the end of the game. Out of nowhere, NY Knicks player Mardy Collins came at JR Smith with a hard foul by grabbing JR Smith by the neck, prompting Smith to come at Collins. That's when benches emptied, tempers flared, and the situation got out of control. Coaches tried to retrain players and prevent them from punching each other but it was too late. The brawl lasted for a good 10 minutes and suspensions were handed down.

Carmelo Anthony who is in the race for top scorer and MVP, received a 15 game suspension for the altercation. His suspension was the longest because he sucker-punched Knicks player Mardy Collins. JR Smith and Nate Robinson each received a 10 game suspension. Mardy Collins received a 6 game suspension for starting the fight with his hard foul. Jared Jeffries was suspended for 4 games, Jerome James and Nene Hilario were each suspended for 1 game for leaving their team's bench to go into the fight which is an immediate suspension if a player leaves his bench.

In the fight, Nate Robinson tried to push JR Smith away from Collins but then Carmelo Anthony started pushing Robinson and the two men got into a fight that went into the 1^st row of the stands. When that fight was over, Anthony got up and sucker-punched Mardy Collins which knocked him to the floor and a punch he never saw coming. Then Jared Jeffries saw the punch and came at Anthony but was stopped by a Nuggets player who tackled Jeffries to the floor.

The fight had started to rise in tension because the Knicks players felt that they were being disrespected by the Nuggets players, especially JR Smith and Carmelo Anthony who Knicks players thought that the two players were still on the court late in the game to impress their fans. JR Smith had thrown down a reverse dunk a few minutes earlier and Knicks players were getting pissed off.

The fight was reminiscent of the Indiana Pacers brawl with the Detroit Pistons when Ron Artest went into the stands and started the fight with the spectators who had thrown items at Artest. For Knicks fans, it also conjured up memories of the past fights the Knicks have had with Patrick Ewing, John Starks and Allan Houston.

Commissioner David Stern has repeatedly said that this kind of behavior and fights will not be tolerated. Suspensions have been harsher than in past years as evidence of Carmelo Anthony's 15 game suspension and Ron Artest's 50 game suspension last year.