NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony was suspended for 15 games Monday and six other players were penalized as commissioner David Stern came down hard on both teams after the Nuggets and Knicks brawled at Madison Square Garden.

Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith each got 10 games, and four other players also were suspended. Stern fined each organization $500,000. But there was no separate penalty for Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, who had warned Anthony not to go into the lane before the mayhem started Saturday night.
"The NBA and its players represent a game of extraordinary skill, athleticism and grace, and, for good or bad, set an example for the entire basketball world, on and off the court," Stern said in a statement.
Mardy Collins, whose hard foul on Smith sparked the fighting, was suspended six games and Knicks teammate Jared Jeffries will miss four. Also, the Knicks' Jerome James and Denver's Nene were both penalized one game for leaving the bench area during the chaos.
Ten players were ejected after the fight, which started with 1:15 left in Denver's 123-100 victory. It was the NBA's scariest scene since the brawl between Pacers players and Pistons fans in Detroit two years ago.
There was speculation Thomas would be penalized for his comments to Anthony. Stern acknowledged hearing about it, but said he relied only on "definitive information" when handing out punishments.

Stern said the fines to the organizations are meant to show he is serious about cleaning up the game.
"It's a more general message that I'm going to start holding our teams accountable," Stern said.
Collins prevented Smith from an easy basket by grabbing him by the neck and taking him to the floor. Smith rose and immediately started jawing with Collins, and Robinson jumped in to pull Smith away. Anthony shoved Robinson away, and Robinson and Smith then tumbled into the front row while fighting.
Just as things appeared to be calming down, Anthony threw a hard punch that floored Collins, and New York's Jared Jeffries sprinted from the baseline toward halfcourt in an effort to get at Anthony, but was tackled by a Denver player.
"I was very disappointed," Stern said. "Clearly, we're not getting through or players in certain circumstances just don't want to be restrained. I would suggest that those players will not have long careers in the NBA."

Wow I didnt think he would get that many games. Figured 5-10 at most. Thanks for the info.

i would throw them all out of the league..tell them to go join boxing or wwf

Is Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, UNTOUCHABLE ?????

I mean, I did see video with Him saying to Anthony stay away from the paint .........Shouldn't he Get Something for that ??

IMO I cant figure out how or why he is still coaching that team.

He put that miserable team together when he was GM. He should have to coach it.

I like that last post about him having to coach the miserable team he put together hahaha.

as for the guys in the fight....mannn those guys are all lil bitches. if you're gonna fight, then fight. lil girls grabbing each other and what not. if you're gonna throw down...THEN THROW DOWN. and the bigeest ***** of them all is carmelo. he is the biggest ***** I've ever seen. he sucker punches someone and starts running away?! what a lil *****. and everyone keeps calling that thing a "brawl" that wasn't a brawl. that was a bunch of lil girls calling each other names.

How come in hockey players don't usually get suspended for fighting and instead 5 minute penalties?
Personally, while not condoning fighting, I think Stern treats players like babies with his over reaction to fighting with suspensions;and don't forget HIS imposed dress codes also.
There have been many insinuations over the years that there are attempts to fix games(pointspreads and totals). Why not investigate this instead of trying to play "Father knows best" all of the time?

you know whats amazing about this whole thing? They said it started because denver kept their starters in and were running up the score. Well i disgaree with teams getting pissed by this.
The game is played for 48 minutes and if coaches want to play their starters for the whole game thats their business, on top of that fans pay to see the top guys play. Its total crap these million dollar babies are crying about getting dunked on, just because the other team is up big. Heres a thought if you dont want to get dunked on or running the score up, then play some defense until the game is over. Iam really sick of these million dollar spoiled brats. Lazy bastards dont want to earn their money, just want to coast thru the game when they are getting beat bad.
On top of that no lead is safe in the nba. I had houston the other night up 14 with 3:22 to go in the game and the lakers ended up sending the game to ot.
Like i said if a coach wants to keep his stars in a game, thats his business and it isnt the other teams business. People will say that its a mutual thing between coaches, well i say that mutual thing is crap and should stop. Coaches should just coach their own team.

if you have played any sport in your life, then you should know that there is an unspoken rule when it comes to sportsmanship. you don't disrespect a team by running up the score. there is no reason to disrespect a team, coach, organization by running up the score. it's a matter of respect having respect for your competition. the nuggets had all their starters in with the game way out of hand with less than 2 minutes to go in the game. it's just the same in football....would it be right to keep a starting qb in the game and let him keep ariing it out with the score 50-7 with 3 minutes left in the game? or in baseball...you're up 9-1 in the 8th inning and you continue to steal bases? it's a matter of respect. and i think in the case of the nuggets and knicks, there are other issues involved. the fact that george karl and larry brown are close friends and are closely connected through north carolina. and that george karl and the whole north carolina family have a bad taste in their mouths about the way he was let go without a fair chance. so there are other issues involved in this matter. but i side with isaiah in this one....it's a matter of respect and they shouldn't have had their starters in that late in the game with the score what it was.

is it right to beat up a mentally challenged person just because u can?