Basketbrawl

Remember the Pistons-Pacers brawl a couple of years ago (November 19, 2004 to be exact)? Remember how Ron Artest was suspended for almost a year because of what happened? Remember how that “basketbrawl' tainted the NBA's image?

Well, it seems like the NBA players never learned from that.

Another crazy fight occured. This time involving the Knicks and Nuggets. The fight started when Denver’s J.R. Smith was fouled hard by NY's Mardy Collins. Collins grabbed Smith around the neck as he was going in for a breakaway layup. There was 1:15 left and Denver had a 19-point lead.

Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony and Knicks Nate Robinson quickly joined the fray. Then Melo (not so mellow after all) threw a punch at Collins. Robinson and Smith tackled each other, and flew right into the first row of spectators. Many punches were thrown.

As a result, the 10 players on the court at the time were ejected.

Why did this all happen? I think the Knicks were just sore losers. They were simply angry at the Nuggets because the latter still had their starters in the game in the last 2 minutes despite a double-digit lead. In fairness to the Knicks though, their frustration was probably understandable coz they were playing at home. However, the foul was really malicious and was uncalled for.

Anyway, it's interesting to see how the NBA reacts to this – the suspensions and fines, etc. Considering that Melo, the league's leading scorer, is considered as one of the images and future superstars of the NBA, would they consider suspending him? (lol - 'consider' 3 times in a sentence) If they do, for how long? We'll just have to see.

The Dream Ends

Another big disappointment for USA basketball. After suffering failures in the last two major basketball tournaments, the 2002 World Basketball Championships and the 2004 Olympics, USA Basketball had high hopes as they assembled a new team and a new program for the 2006 World Basketball Championships. However, the end result was all too familiar. Another dream ends for the "Dream Team"

Greece used a sizzling stretch of shooting across the middle two quarters to turn a 12-point deficit into a 14-point lead, and beat the Americans 101-95 Friday in the semifinals of the world championships. "To lose any game is a shock to us," U.S. star Carmelo Anthony said. "We came in with the mentality to win the game and the gold medal." Done in again by their inept 3-point shooting and they weren't much better from the foul line the Americans will fall short of a championship in a major international tournament for the third straight time since winning gold at the 2000 Olympics.

Interestingly, the Greeks had no current NBA players on their roster. It just proves how much the rest of the world has caught up (and even surpassed) with the United States. Basketball is a team sport. And the better team always prevails. Sure, USA had NBA superstars like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. But as a team, they sure sucked. Basketball at this level is more than just athleticism and entertainment. It's about playing together. Before the game started, during the warm-ups, the US superstars were pleasing the crowd with high-flying warm-up dunks, while at the opposite side, the Greeks were doing their business, performing some drills and shooting some freethrows.

If only the US team knew. They should have practiced their outside shots more instead of do those acrobatic dunks. During the game, they weren't able to overcome their 32 percent shooting from 3-point range or 59 percent from the foul line. Dwyane Wade added 19 and LeBron James had 17, but the three U.S. captains were unable to make up for their disappointment from Athens. As the Greek coach said it best, "Basketball is not just about dribbling and shooting."

For the US team, it's back to the drawing board. They'll have to wait a couple more years to reclaim past glory. Changes have to be made.