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Ten players ejects in NBA game

Only 1:15 minutes left to play, Denver ahead by 19 points over the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, what could have been an uncontested lay-up, or another Nuggets dunk on the failing new york defense, ended up with a mass brawl. A flagrant foul by New York`s Mardy Collins on Denver`s J.R. Smith who was driving to the basket quickly erupted into a fight. All 10 players on the court at the time were ejected from the game. Denver won 123-100 in the end.

Among the ten players involved in the brawl ? the ten ejected ? was NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony. Throwing a punch that hit Collins` face will likely cost him an ejection for 5 to 10 games. The NBA office is expected to punish both teams for the extreme incident, especially as it is still recovering from the incident between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons in November 2004.

Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said his players` frustration, trailing for the entire game and still seeing Anthony and Marcus Camby playing and not sitting out the garbage minutes led to the flagrant foul. Anthony led Denver with 34 points and Marcus Camby added 24. Stephon Marbury scored 31 points for New York.