The 2 Most Memorable Brawls at the Most Famous NBA Arenas
In almost every NBA game some kind of skirmish between the players take place; it seems to be a rite of passage in professional basketball. However, there are some games where there are out right brawls which escalade into a team wide free-for-all showdown. In this basketball scoreboards article, I have taken a look at the most memorable brawls which occurred at two of the most famous NBA arenas.
1 – The Palace of Auburn Hills – one of the most memorable brawls in the history of the NBA occurred at this arena. On November 19th 2004, the Detroit Pistons met the Indiana Pacers for the previous season’s Eastern Conference Finals rematch. When 45.9 were remaining on the basketball scoreboards, and Indiana were leading 97-82, the Pistons’ Ben Wallace was fouled by the Pacers’ Ron Artest from behind whilst doing a layup, thus igniting the brawl. The resultant shove from Wallace to Artest started a confrontation among both the teams. Later, as Artest was lying down on the scorer’s table, John Green, a spectator, threw a cup at him. Inflamed by this, Artest ran into the stands and started punching a man whom he mistook for Green. Following Artest’s lead, the Pacers’ Stephen Jackson ran into the stands and started throwing punches as well. Next, players from both teams took a leaf out of the two Pacers’ book and came crashing into the stands too. At this point the game was called off and awarded to the Pacers (97-82). The brawl resulted in the suspension of 9 players, cumulating in a total of 146 games and $10 million in players’ salaries. 5 players were charged with assault and sentenced to one year of community service. 5 fans were also banned for life from attending a Pistons’ home game. This incident, later, came to be more popularly known as “Malice in the Palace”.
2 – Madison Square Garden – on December 16th 2006, the New York Knicks met the Denver Nuggets and gifted the NBA world with one of the most memorable brawls in NBA history. The brawl started when there were 75 seconds remaining on the clock and the Nuggets were ahead at 119-110. It all began because Mardy Collins pushed Nuggets’ J.R. Smith to the ground by slapping his arms on his neck. The two players started arguing profusely, but just as it seemed that the argument was coming to an end, the Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony punched Mardy Collins. Enflamed, the Knicks’ Jared Jeffries and Nate Robinson made a bee-line for Carmelo Anthony, and this quickly lead to a team wide on court brawl. Soon after, the 10 players on the court were expelled from the game by the game officials. It resulted in the suspension of 7 players (3 Nuggets and 4 Knicks) for a total of 47 games and a cumulative total of $1.2 million in lost salaries. The player who faced the biggest suspension was Carmelo Anthony – 15 games, and his salary loss amounted to $640,097. Ironically, Carmello Anthony was traded to the Knicks in 2011.
Source:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nene_Fights_to_the_Hoop.jpg
For more information, go to:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Basketball_Association_arenas
