Looks like Christmas won’t be so happy for a few NBA players, namely those players who were slapped with suspensions for participating in the brawl that happened in Madison Square Garden between the Nuggets and the Knicks. It was the scariest sight in the NBA since the brawl back in 2004 between the Indiana Pacers and th Detroit Pistons in the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit - a brawl that reached the stands because of crazy fan. The Knicks - Nuggets brawl was such a heated one that all 10 players on the court were ejected from the game.

Nuggets star and current league’s leading scorer Carmelo Anthony was slapped with the longest suspension of 15 days for throwing a punch at Mardy Collins just as things were starting to calm down.

Also penalized: Denver’s J.R. Smith for 10 games; New York’s Nate Robinson for 10 games; Mardy Collins, six; teammate Jared Jeffries, four. The Knicks’ Jerome James and the Nuggets’ Nene each were penalized one game for leaving the bench area during the chaos.

It looks like Carmelo can attempt to reduce his “sentence” through the new CBA:

Per the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Anthony can attempt to get his suspension lessened through arbitration because it is longer than 12 games. So far, Anthony hasn’t announced whether he will try to do this. Regardless, his suspension begins immediately, starting with Monday night’s home game with the Wizards.

Lets see if he does and will be successful. Nevertheless, it will still be a pretty gloomy Christmas for Melo and the rest of the guys.

ESPN 12/18/06



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