Brawl in the Knicks/Nuggets game tonight.
- All ten players on the court ejected.
- Carmelo Anthony throws punches, is the most noticeable participant in fight.
- The fight leads SportsCenter, ahead of Cowboys/Falcons.
My opinion: pretty bad. Not quite as bad as Miami/FIU, but a black eye for a league still recovering from Pacers/Pistons. Obviously, as nobody went into the stands, this will likely disappear fairly soon (i.e., the Antonio Davis incident earlier this year). Still, it’s a black eye for at least Carmelo Anthony.
‘Melo was on the cover of Sports Illustrated this year with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. After early growing pains that included being part of a controversial video, he was on his way to being a respected star in the NBA. This will set him back significantly.
Yes, other stars have been involved in brawls. Alex Rodriguez was one of the major players in a brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox two years ago. Pedro Martinez infamously threw down Don Zimmer in a playoff game in ’03. But this is different; this wasn’t in the heat of a rivalry. This was garbage time in a blowout game. This wasn’t ‘rival’ anger, this was just being a dick.
By the way: if any Knicks fans were left, they’re probably gone.
UPDATE: I noticed that I got on ESPNews anchor J.W. Stewart for referring to this as a black eye for the league, even though I did myself in this post. The fact is, I was wrong to refer to it that way too.
