Nuggets in big trouble without Anthony

On Saturday, ten players, including the NBA’s scoring leader Anthony, were ejected from the Nuggets’ 123-100 win over the Knicks late in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden.

The Nuggets had the game in hand and were headed towards victory late in the fourth quarter. However, Denver head coach George Karl still had some of his starters on the court, including Anthony, while New York had its reserves on the court to finish out the contest.

With Denver leading 119-100, New York rookie Mardy Collins committed a hard flagrant foul against J.R. Smith on a breakaway layup with about 1:15 left in the contest. Chaos then broke out.

Smith and Knicks guard Nate Robinson started to wrestle and both went onto the ground. Anthony lost his cool and blindsided Collins with a punch that seemed to knock the rookie to the ground. Knicks forward Jared Jeffries went after Anthony, who backpedaled towards his bench and away from Jeffries.

All 10 players who were on the court were ejected from the contest.

NBA Commissioner David Stern handed down suspensions on Monday. Anthony got the most amount of games, while Robinson and Smith were both suspended for 10 games, Collins got six, Jeffries received four and Nene and Jerome James both were suspended for one game.

The Knicks and Nuggets were both fined $500,000 for the incident.

Anthony, who is averaging 31.6 points per game, has scored more than 20 points in 20 of 22 games this season. The Syracuse product has netted 30 or more in 16 contests.

Denver, which begins a five-game homestand on Monday, is 6-4 at home this season. The Nuggets will also host Phoenix, Sacramento, Boston and Seattle on the current stand.

The Nuggets are 13-9 and trail the first place Utah Jazz by four games in the Northwest Division. Denver is scheduled to play the Jazz without Anthony on January 6, 2007 at the Pepsi Center.