James Dolan Statement
Statement released by James Dolan, Madison Square Garden chairman:
"I was sitting just a few feet away at the end of Saturday night's game. I believe the Commissioner acted appropriately, as it was an ugly incident, not worthy of the Knicks, Nuggets, Madison Square Garden or the people of New York. I am grateful to the fans and our security personnel for remaining calm during some very chaotic moments. The incident was deeply regrettable, unacceptable on every level and I hope and expect to never witness anything like it again. We are all very sorry it happened. We will have no further comment on this matter."
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Comments (4)
jim,now fire the head thug...thomas.bring in a coach who knows the game not thuggery
Let me preface my comments by saying I don't condone fighting as part of basketball, but what every happened to the good old days when protecting the basket was not a passive activity and committing a hard foul was assumed every once in a while. I find it sad that the Knicks players can't figure that out on their own and need to be reminded of this by their coach.
It's time for the NY media to move on with regard to Saturday night's brawl.
Regardless of what people choose to infer (and I believe that David Stern inferred the same things, hence the $500,000 fines against both teams), there is no concrete evidence that Isiah Thomas ordered Mardy Collins to commit the foul, and Collins says that Thomas did not tell him to do it. There is also no way to prove that George Karl was trying to run up the score, even if I believe that. To reach either conclusion requires one to be a mind-reader.
Stern made the right decisions, and those who say that Thomas should have suspended are wrong. I believe that Stern decided in his mind that Karl was running up the score and that Thomas ordered the foul, but could not prove either, so he simply fined each team rather than suspending either or both coaches.
I am personally glad that the Knicks are beginning to realize that other teams are not supposed to come into Madison Square Garden and hold dunk contests at their expense.
I have one final question to Berger, Berman, Vaccaro, Lupica, Isola, Lawrence, and the other Knick-haters: WWRD (What Would Riley Have Done)? Riley's Knicks would have done the same thing, and all of you know it and would have loved it.
That fight was the best thing to have happenend to the Knicks, They played without pride now they have players finally playing with some kind of fight in them, Just like the fight that the Boston red sox had against the yankees to destroy the curse, pride and focus thats a good start