Sunday, December 17, 2006

Sunday 12/17 A.M. Quickie:
It's All About the Brawl at MSG

NBA action: It's Brawltastic! MSG last night. Knicks-Nuggets. End of the game. Flagrant foul. Scrum. (Sucker punch?) Brawl. 10 players ejected, including the NBA's leading scorer. A brawl that came WAY too close to the fans (a David Stern super no-no). And, in the middle of it all, the Knicks, who seem to find new ways to amp up the drama. Here's a link to Chris Sheridan's front-seat column, plus the all-important link to the video. (How quick to YouTube?)

Melo melee? There will almost certainly be tons of suspensions, and I seriously wonder if Stern, after reviewing the tape, will clock his league's leading scorer with a suspension that runs into the double-digits. When Melo apparently turned the corner on his "Stop Snitchin'" rep by giving millions to a local Baltimore youth center, he also apparently felt the need to reclaim his cred by "Start Punchin,'" a novel tactic.

Just as the memory of the "Malice at the Palace" has receded, we have this. Your reactions?

16 comments:

Christian Thoma said...

The most interesting development is that Isiah may have ORDERED the hard foul that initiated the brawl. You know, because he hasn't done enough things wrong in his tenure with the Knicks so far.

Anonymous said...

Another interesting issue is the feud between Isiah and George Karl. Didn't they get into it last year about the way Isiah and the Knicks had treated Karl's friend Larry Brown? Was Karl deliberately trying to run-up the score and make the Knicks look bad (how hard is that)?

Also Nate Robinson fights pretty good for a little man!

Anonymous said...

Yesterday was a sad day for professional sports. In addition to this embarrassment, T.O. spit in DeAngelo Hall's face during their game last night. (And he admitted to it!) In the past, I've thought the whole T.O. thing was overblown by the media... but it's hard to blame anyone but him in this. Sad, sad, sad.

Anonymous said...

Yesterday was a sad day for professional sports. In addition to this embarrassment, T.O. spit in DeAngelo Hall's face during their game last night. (And he admitted to it!) In the past, I've thought the whole T.O. thing was overblown by the media... but it's hard to blame anyone but him in this. Sad, sad, sad.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Somehow Isaiah made himself look like the biggest jerk coming out of this. 29 out of 30 coaches would have been incensed at their Collins for the foul and Robinson for the body slam, and accepted full responsibility, but no there he is calling out the Nuggets for leaving their stars in. Anyone else see him trying to talk to Carmelo after the whole fracas? Wtf dude?

Jon said...

It would have been better if Melo would have sucker punched Isiah.

Stern was lucky that the Knick fans were nice enough not to throw any beer onto the court....then again down 20 with less than 2 minutes to go and it being a Knick game there probably weren't too many fans there anyway.

As for suspensions, Melo deserves to sit for a while along with Nate Robinson and Isiah. At least 10 games a piece since they were the 3 instigators.

Anonymous said...

In light of the T.O. and MSG antics, it's nice to see that racial demographic living up to their expectations. Please don't call me a racist when their actions degrade the accomplishments of many
African-Americans. You think Obama Barack and J.C. Watts just shake their head at the TV when they watch the highlights on Sportscenter?

Anonymous said...

j sherer: It's not a racial demographic, and I think you know this because you obviously know a few token black people who would never act like a thug (congratulations). It is instead a socioeconomic demographic. People brought up poor and taught that they don't need to improve their minds to earn respect are what's wrong with inner cities and, yes, the NBA courts. These people can be white or black or anything in between. But when you break it down by race when what--90% of NBA players are black anyway?--that is what's wrong with middle America.

Anonymous said...

and it's Barack Obama, not Obama Barack you bozo.

Anonymous said...

I think it's funny that Nene was the only one on the floor who didn't get kicked out of the game. You just know he was thinking "There's no freaking way I'm getting suspended after missing a whole season."

The heroin sheik said...

How bout them bucs coming back from 21 down to bring it to ot then gould misses a gimme. Even if I doubted their ability to pull off the upset OMG this game is freaking amazing.

Anonymous said...

ma4tt,

Funny how people are quick to call today's athletes thugs when the NBA in the 80's were much rougher.

If you're a fan of the "golden age", then you certainly remember Dr. J and Bird throwing punches and choking one another or McHale close-lining Rambis or the entire Detroit Bad Boys? Hell, even MJ got into in the playoffs when Greg Anthony (a Knick) hard fouled him.

People are overreacting, this wasn't the palace - no one was punching fans!!! Robinson, Smith, Carmelo, and the Knick who commited the foul should all get about 5 games.

Anonymous said...

Half-Man/All-Amazing- I totally agree. Please, this fight was nothing more than a couple punches and some shoving, and ESPN's front page calls it "revolting." C'mon, baseball brawls happen all of the time, and tend to be lauded by the media, where as everyone dumps all over the NBA for the most trivial incidents.

Kevin said...

Wouldn't suspending Isiah help the Knicks at this point? Wouldn't it be a better punishment for Stern to let Isiah coach through the season?

Unknown said...

As a NYer, I am a Nets fan. There is nothing left to cheer for about the Knicks.

Here is a link to a Wetzel article that pretty much says it better than I can:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AnjhiIMcZ..tDuCzU.mhwPW8vLYF?slug=dw-knicks121606&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Anonymous said...

Dan, you forgot to blame Larry Brown for the brawl. Well, either him or Favre.