Every player on the court at the time, including Carmelo Anthony, was ejected. And Isiah Thomas explains it thusly:



That's pathetic. It's no excuse for a deliberate foul that starts a fight.

Yeah and I think that the title to this post is appropriate. Why are NBA and football brawls so harped on but hockey fights are just allowed to go on without major consequences? I mean they fought...to me its no big deal because hockey players fight all the time and its considered part of the game.

I love that Isiah is telling George Karl how to coach the Nuggets. And he also said that he felt they were doing this to embarrass the Knicks on their home court. Um, Isiah I think you've cornered the market on that buddy.

If Karl is stupid and reckless enough to keep his franchise player in during garbage time, so be it. Is it bad form? Yeah. But does it warrant a physical attack? No. Perhaps the Knicks thought this would get the home crowd behind them and appreciate their fight. Instead it only makes them look more petty and foolish than they already do. And it's not like Isiah was winning any sportsmanship awards during his playing days.

apples and oranges, hockey fights are mano y mano...one on one events in somewhat controlled environments. What happened last night is similar to bench brawls that have occured in baseball and/or football.

You don't see security get involved when a hockey fight takes place.

Points are taken regarding the "controlled environment" but it still promotes unsportsmanlike conduct in a sport. If sports are really worried about trying to promote a positive image for themselves then why don't the refs get in the middle of the fights in hockey. That is the bigger picture to me. I don't care that hockey fights take place within an enclosed area. Its fighting and doesn't promote positive conduct. Thats a lame ass excuse if the best that can be come up with is that its one on one and its in a controlled environment. Isn't the bigger picture to also enact harsh consequences for them as well because it is a sport watched by impressionable youngsters. Its as if hockey promotes it as just being something that is ok. The way the media covers hockey fights are so matter of fact. Football players get fined, sometimes ejected, and almost always suspended for one on one altercations that take place in "controlled environments" so what exactly is the difference?

I've never understood why hockey hooliganism is tolerated. But let's not oversimplify things here. Remember that Marty McSorley and Todd Bertuzzi were suspended for a whole season (18 months for McSorley) for their goon attacks. Also, in hockey there's no danger of a fight spilling into the stands. In last night's NBA savagery, JR Smith and Nate Robinson (I think) ended up whacking at each other in the fan section. It would have easy for a little kid to have gotten his face smashed as a result of that. There's nothing more "impressionable" than a youngster's face.

Again I'm not disputing the environments which make it impossible for hockey fights to go into the stands (although they do need to strengthen those glass partitions so there's no more incidents of flying glass that sends children in the stands and hockey wives to the hospital) but its the idea of fighting PERIOD which the powers that be who control hockey seem to just let happen for the most part. And hockey players are just as "savage" and none of the players seem to come out against the fact that they can have "brawls" for the most part without consequence. Lets not make excuses simply because fights can't "spill into the stands"

"We had surrended"

I wouldn't want to play for Mr. Thomas.

I was basically making a play on the old joke about going to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out. I don't think there's anything to be served by comparing hockey fights to fights in other sports. But the fights that occur in NHL games today are NOTHING compared to what occurred on that basketball court.

Exactly...I believe all those players last night still have their teeth.

yes, and they needed more than just the on court officials to end the melee....

I am not a professional lip reader, but the Isaiah Thomas "warning" is pretty obvious.

I wasn't going to bring up this issue because I didn't want to get accused of playing "the race card" (the typical response when no one can consider the possibility and wants to just dismiss it from being possible) but I'm glad PTI brought it up today. During one of their snippets they said "Is Race an Issue?" in the whole situation with the NBA brawl. Without answering the question directly, Mike Wilbon said that NBA players are viewed in a certain light by the public. He went on to say, just as I said, that the NHL has embraced fighting in hockey pretty much and that there are fights in baseball. He also made the good point of saying that there are fewer NBA fights but that they are more scrutinized. He also went on to talk about how David Stern has to operate the NBA differently because of this perception about NBA players being thugs and what have you. I co-sign on what Wilbon said. I mean...the fight was despicable. I'm not defending the fight.

However, THERE ARE less NBA fights than there are baseball and hockey and yet NBA brawls are put under a microscope when they happen. I don't hear most people calling baseball or hockey players thugs, hooligans, etc when they fight, yet when there's an NBA fight it just seems to be reported differently...almost animalistic. Am I wrong here? I don't think so.

Race card is a possiblity in this, there will always be a segment of people out there who can not or will not look past that when they watch sports. ie....seeing hoopsters in general as "thugs".

But I think the fight over the weekend wouldn't have received anywhere near the coverage it is getting without the brawl at the Palace in '04. The NBA has been and is getting scrutinized for fighting in its sport for the time being thanks to that brawl. Fair? Maybe not, but has there ever been another incident quite like that one in sports in recent memory? No, and thus the scrutiny.

Now the you mention it there was an event of similar proportion in recent memory. How can we forget the brawl between Miami-Florida International. In that event 12 Miami players were suspended for 1 game and 1 indefinitely, while Florida International suspended 16 indefinitely. Even the Comcast Southeast color man got into the act basically endorsing the act. The coach will lose his job at the end of the season over this. So do we view College Football players as thugs? Probably not as it was hopefully an isolated incident.

Good point, and as a side note again that incident probably got more play thanks to the rep of one of the teams involved(Miami) who like the NBA currently may have a bit of an image problem based on its past behavior in that department. Had Miami not been one of the two teams, then maybe it doesn't get the coverage it gets.

Certainly the commentator(a former Hurricane) did nothing to dispel it.