NBA Takes a Stern View of This Fight

Memo to NBA players:

If you plan to fight, pick a game that is not attended by Commissioner David Stern.

Derek Harper of the New York Knicks was suspended for two games and Jo Jo English of the Chicago Bulls for one for their part in Friday’s fight.

Harper was fined $15,000, English $10,000. Fifteen other players--eight Bulls and seven Knicks--were fined $2,500. Each team was fined $50,000 for a grand total of $162,500, the second-highest total in NBA history behind the $163,000 Charles Barkley-Bill Laimbeer Philadelphia 76er-Detroit Piston rumble April 20, 1990.

Harper and English tangled in the second quarter. Harper threw English to the floor and other players then dived on them, rolling over fans sitting courtside, directly in front of Stern, who was sitting five rows back.

Stern, asked how bad it was Friday, said only: “It’s bad enough.”