A Davis runs into the stands

[Matt]

alright everyone has heard about this by now. He's undoubtedly going to be suspended, the question is how many games for?

He didn't make contact with anyone, but i expect 5+ games for this.

[Matthew]

Are you going to say he's nuts as well like you said Artest was(is). Family comes first always, and when the security at the arena isnt good enough it forces the players to do whatever it takes to protect themselves and their families. But how about talking about the great game between the bulls and the knicks? Why was it that ESPN decidied to spend 5 + minutes at the start of sportscenter reliving the brawl at the palalce and comparing the two situations? Why cant they talk about the game first? We as fans are sick of this soap opera shit that espn is trying to ram down our throats. Whether its T.O., Artest, or this incident, or Larry Brown or whatever; the game should always come first.

The only sports that arent are college basketball, and most of the time NFL and College Football. I guess they want the mindless fans to view the nba as an out of control league and the other sports to be viewed more positively. It's pathetic.

[J@3]

I've got no problem with this at all, I wouldn't even fine him.

I never had any problem with the action of Artest entering the stands, it was the reasons for doing it that I didn't agree with.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

he should get a slight slap in teh cheek for doing that, but his reaction was understandable. Let's just keep pretexts and give him a 1 game ban, eh, David?

[Jugs]

What exactly happened, an article or video link?

[j.23]

what i got out of it was that AD saw some drunk guy harassing his wife, so he went over to his wife's aid before security even got there.

i know rules are rules, but the NBA has to look into the context as to why AD went into the stands. i'm not a big advocater of AD, but they should let the suspension/fine go.

man the knicks and the bulls are providing one hell of a series the last two seasons, all with chicago prevailing i believe. last year ben gordon beat the knicks twice with game winning shots, and he did it again.

[J@3]

If Davis can go from the court, up into the stands in time to help his wife before security gets there there's something seriously wrong. I like the fact that Larry Brown defended him also.

[Matthew]

The Knicks had a win earlier in the season. Remember the Ariza dunk on nocioni?

[playkalla]

What exactly happened, an article or video link?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt= ... 2006011804

[Fresh8]

It would be stupid if he got a long suspention. I guess that rules are rules and he broke the rule that you shouldn't go up into the stands. A Davis will get a suspention but it better be a short one cause there was no violence nro were Davis' motives to cause any.

[Fitzy]

If that was my mrs, id do the same thing

[Matt]

it'll be interesting to see what Stern does. On one hand we understand what Davis did and probably would have done the same, on the other hand, rules are rules.

[The X]

was perfectly fine in my books but he will no doubt get fined & suspended due to the incident in Detroit last season....

[Axel]

I completely agree w/ Matthew on this.. ESPN and their hyping of pointless shit is getting to be ridiculous. From the Larry Brown coaching situation to the T.O. ""SAGA"", and many others... like this made-up "feud" between Kobe and Shaq. Their obsession with one topic is unbelievable. I am still amazed how they could mention the Colt's winning streak in at least 5 minutes of Sportscenter every single day up till they lost... I was rooting for a loss so I could quit hearing about their damn streak.

For AD, at least Joey Crawford wasn't officiating that game... maybe he will come out of this without a long suspension.

[Null17]

Like a lot of poeple that have posted, I'm totally fine with what he did. I'd do it myself if I was in his shoes. It's not like he hurt anyone.

[Matt]

completely agree w/ Matthew on this.. ESPN and their hyping of pointless shit is getting to be ridiculous. From the Larry Brown coaching situation to the T.O. ""SAGA"", and many others... like this made-up "feud" between Kobe and Shaq. Their obsession with one topic is unbelievable. I am still amazed how they could mention the Colt's winning streak in at least 5 minutes of Sportscenter every single day up till they lost... I was rooting for a loss so I could quit hearing about their damn streak.

Indeed ESPN is the great hype machine. They really try to make rivalries out of nothing. No wonder their TV schedule sucks balls.

[Jugs]

I don't think he should get more than 3 games suspension or more than $5,000 fine. He did what any other grown man would do.

[Jing]

wow he kept calm... i wouldnt lol

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

On a sidenote, AD is the NBPA's president, so I don't think the league would want to unecessarily rile up the players further by imposing s strict fine or suspension on him.

[Matt]

Chris Sheridan reports that 8 games is fair

The morning line on the over/under for Antonio Davis' suspension is eight games.

Anything less, and commissioner David Stern will be pilloried for not being tough enough on the latest player to jump the scorer's table and cross the invisible line separating paying customers and paid performers.

Anything more, and Stern will be accused of grossly overreacting to a post-Artest moment that never really spun out of control.

Eight is enough.

Because he went into the same section of seats as Ron Artest did during the infamous Palace brawl in 2004, there was an eerie similarity to the first few seconds of Davis' sprint out of the Knicks' huddle, over the table and into the courtside seats during overtime of Wednesday night's Knicks-Bulls game at the United Center in Chicago.

"I witnessed my wife being threatened by a man that I learned later to be intoxicated," Davis said in a statement issued after the game. "I saw him touch her, and I know I should not have acted the way I did, but I would have felt terrible if I didn't react. There was no time to call security. It happened too quickly."

Davis remained calm and walked away after security arrived, and the referees ejected him after he returned to the bench.

Now, it's Stern's turn to eject him for a few more games, and the question the commissioner must ponder Thursday is what the appropriate punishment should be (Davis' suspension is expected to be announced sometime during the afternoon before the Knicks' Thursday night home game against Detroit).

In the aftermath of the Palace brawl, Stern issued some of the harshest penalties he had ever handed down because he wanted to send the strongest possible message that players can never, ever, ever cross the line and go into the stands. No matter how benign Davis' foray ended up being, it was totally unacceptable. What would have happened if someone had tossed a beer on Davis? Or his wife?

Stern was actually lucky that someone as educated and affable as Davis was the first to cross the post-Artest line, but that should not be a mitigating factor when the commissioner sets Davis' penalty, nor should Davis' post as president of the players' union factor into the equation.

An eight-game suspension would cost Davis, who makes $13.8 million, a little over a million bucks in lost salary. It could go down in history as Davis' Million-Dollar Mistake, and if he makes a sincere public statement of contrition it'll allow everyone to put this episode behind them.

The last thing the commissioner needs is another extended debate tied in some way to the Palace brawl. He needs this one to go away, and the best way for that to happen is for Stern to issue a suspension that's fair.

In this case, eight is enough.

I agree, I like AD but the rules are rules, and unless their is an exception that allows you to do what he did under those circumstances then he needs to be suspended.

[hipn]

Dotn think he should get suspended...Family comes first, and he thought his family or his wife was getting harassed... I would do the same.

[ixcuincle]

I think 8 is too much...in my opinion 1 game is the most he should be suspended for. Rules are rules , but when your family is being threatened by a drunk you have to step in. If I was him I would have called security during a timeout to remove the drunk. That is the safe way and no suspensions would be handed out.

[Matt]

although most would have done the same, it's still taking "justice" into your hands. After the brawl, anyone that went into the stands for whatever reason would get a severe penalty and unfortunately it's AD.

[beau_boy04]

In his shoes, I'd have done the same. As a matter of fact if I truely saw a drunk guy harrassing my wife and family I'd kick his ass ASAP.

[Jing]

watched the replay over and over again on sportscenter. he kept really calm
at most a suspension of a game or 2