I was a little surprised that the first violent act to come out of the NBA this season wasn't from Ron Artest. But then when I realized Isiah Thomas was behind it all, well I wasn't surprised at all. Saturday Night's fight had some highlights, but the true drama of it all is still unfolding. Did everyone see Isiah telling Carmello "not to go into the lane" before the whole ruckus happened? It was fine television. That leaves little doubt that Isiah Soprano ordered the hit that started the whole thing.

Ok, before I get to all that, I want to say the fight was rather entertaining. The good thing was it never really got out of hand, and no fans were involved. I liked JR Smith tackling Nate Robinson, who stands nine inches shorter then he does. Robinson was a huge procrastinator during the whole thing, and has a lot of bark in him. But he did back down when someone threw a notepad at him.*

Carmello Anthony would be the headline boxer of this match. He is seen as a huge wuss for hitting Mardy Collins and then running off. It kind of looks like he went to punch, but tried to turn it into a slap. That didn't work, and now he has 15 less games this season, and any chance of getting an MVP. David Stern really dropped the hammer hard on Melo, but one should expect that. Stern won't put up with any Shenanigans (can't wait until that All-Star game in Vegas).

And then there's Isiah. In his post game after the whole thing, he pretty much said Denver's starters shouldn't have been playing and were embarrassing his embarrassment of a team. Now that everyone has seen his smiley faces to Melo (did anyone else notice the chick right behind him?), it's pretty obvious this was another one of his bad ideas. It's insane he escaped without a slap on the wrist. Stern says there are ongoing investigations, so let's hope Isiah finds a big bag of coal with his name on it soon.

Overall it was a pretty solid fight, followed by Isiah shooting his mouth. George Karl is throwing some more gas on the flames by calling Isiah a "Jerk" and a few other names that will get bleeped. The story is far from over, and could end with Isiah losing his job. That should happen anyway, so it looks like the Nuggets are the biggest losers in this one. Actually, Isiah wasn't suspended, so maybe it's the Knicks.

*I had a discussion tonight with someone at work about people that wear a button downed collar shirt. It doesn't work people. Little Nate wore it in his press conference, Theo Epstein has tried it, and I'm noticing it more and more. Please stop. (The More You Know)