Tyson Chandler and Joakim Noah get ejected as Knicks and Bulls get chippy.
HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: Nothing like a a game with a little scrap to it. I love me a rivalry.
NBA fights
Top 5 NBA Brawls Of All-Time (Video)
The NBA has a long history of tussles between players.
HoopsVibe Very Quick Call: Basketball players are generally terrible fighters, with a few notable exceptions on the list below.
[vid] Glen Davis: Ticket Stub Is Coming Back
How do you replace The Big Ticket? Glen Davis said he's got the answer in his back pocket: The Ticket Stub.
That's the nickname Davis coined for himself during last year's playoffs, when he filled in admirably for an injured Garnett. Davis averaged 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, while helping Boston get within one game of the Eastern Conference finals. (The Celtics fell to eventual conference champion Orlando in seven games in the second round.)
While Garnett and the Celtics awaited official word from the league about whether Boston's starting forward would be suspended for his role in Saturday's Game 1 fourth-quarter melee -- the league made the one-game ban official Sunday night -- Davis said he'd be ready to once again fill Garnett's shoes.
"Well, if Kevin's out, I have to bring back the Ticket Stub," said Davis. "You all know the Ticket Stub, you all saw the Ticket Stub last year. If [Garnett is] gone, I've got the Ticket Stub right in my back pocket and I can bring it out."
NBA Suspends Kevin Garnett for Game Two
Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics has been suspended without pay for one game for striking the Miami Heat’s Quentin Richardson in the head with an elbow, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations. Richardson has been fined $25,000 for his role in the altercation.
The incident occurred with 40 seconds remaining in the fourth period of the Celtics’ 85-76 victory over the Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Saturday at TD Garden.
Garnett will serve his suspension Tuesday when the Celtics face the Heat in Game 2 at TD Garden.
[NBA press release]
Kevin Garnett: I Have to Keep My Composure
Celtics forward Kevin Garnett admitted on Sunday that his actions against the Heat on Saturday night could prove costly.
"You make your bed, you have to lay in it," he said. "So if I have to deal with it, then it is what it is. I'm just smarter than that. Composure is everything in the playoffs. ... I have to keep my composure in a situation like that."
Garnett threw an elbow at Heat forward Quentin Richardson in the final moments of Boston's victory over Miami.
He said Richardson came over "talking nonsense," and Richardson seemed to support that, saying of Paul Pierce: "He was on the ground crying. I don't know what was going on -- two actresses over there, that's what they are."
Joakim Noah: KG Is a Dirty Player
Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah isn't facing Kevin Garnett in the first round of the NBA playoffs. But as the NBA reviews Garnett's elbow of Quentin Richardson during a fracas near the Miami Heat bench in Game 1, Noah is offering his own viewpoint.
On Sunday, Noah called Garnett "a dirty player" who is constantly throwing elbows. He also said he's hurting because of an elbow he took recently from the Celtics' star.
"He's a dirty player," Noah said after the Bulls practiced at Quicken Loans Arena in preparation for Monday's Game 2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. "He's always swinging elbows, man. I'm hurting right now because of an elbow he threw. It's unbelievable. He's a dirty player. It's one thing to be competitive and compete and all that.
"But don't be a dirty player, man. He's a dirty player."
NBA to Investigate Kevin Garnett Scuffle
The NBA is investigating whether Celtics forward Kevin Garnett should be suspended for Game 2 of the team's first round series against the Heat.
Garnett was ejected with 40 seconds left in regulation after elbowing Miami's Quentin Richardson during a sideline scuffle.
Garnett "is an actress and so is Paul," Richardson said. "I was going to take the ball out over there. That was what I was trying to do. I told our trainer Jay [Sabol] that [Pierce] is cool and he's doing what he always do, lay down like it's a season-ending injury, then he gets up and he's miraculously fine. He gets a breath, takes his time or whatever and he did the same thing.
"It should be a suspension [for Garnett]. We'll see. That's up to the NBA. But I've seen things like that in the past and people get suspended. I was cool. I was going to try going at him, but with me being restrained, that's what it was."