Basket Brawl Recalls NBA's Image Troubles

Dec. 17, 2006 — -- "Gardens" and "palaces" are typically the setting for balls, not brawls. But on Saturday night at NBA's Madison Square Garden in New York, spectators witnessed a bench-clearing punching match between players from the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets.

The Madison Square Garden incident brought to mind 2004's infamous clash between the Detriot Pistons and the Indiana Pacers, which went down at the Palace in Detroit. Since then, the NBA has worked hard to clean up its image, but now even the smallest scuffles have wide-reaching implications affecting more than just the players involved.

There are many similarities between the two fights. Both games were blowouts and the outcome was already determined when the fights broke out near the end of the fourth quarter.

But Saturday's brawl was kept to the court. USA Today columnist and ABC News consultant Christine Brennan said that fact separates the Knicks vs. Nuggets fight from the Detroit debacle.

"The big difference is that the players didn't go into the stands," Brennan said. "That's a huge difference in the sense that it was a basketball brawl on the court. The visual image has a familiar look to it … but it didn't escalate into the stands.

Sports analysts say that Saturday's fight was a number three on a chaos scale, while the Pistons-Pacers brawl was a 10. But since 2004, every bit of hostility that hits the hardwood is being closely scrutinized by the league.

When considering what punishment to impose on the 10 players involved in Saturday's incident, the Pistons-Pacers match-up will be fresh in their minds.

"The Palace brawl was a huge black eye for the league," said ESPN.com writer Chris Sheridan. "They're going to look at this fight through a prism."

Although the Knicks-Nuggets fight wasn't quite so harsh, Brennan said it will be hard to escape the shadow of one of the most epic episodes in basketball history.