Mr.Bottomtooth
12-20-2006, 12:18 PM
Knicks' Collins says he would foul hard again
By Roger Rubin
New York Daily News
(MCT)
NEW YORK - If Mardy Collins had it all to do over again, he wouldn't change a thing.
He would still have taken down Denver's J.R. Smith with a hard foul. He would still have done anything to prevent another dunk against his floundering Knicks.
The NBA slapped Collins with a six-game suspension on Monday for his role in igniting Saturday night's brawl with the Nuggets at the Garden. The melee began with his two-hand tackle of a streaking Smith late in the fourth quarter of the blowout loss.
"I don't regret fouling him as hard as I did, I just regret the whole thing escalated the way it did," Collins said at Monday morning's shootaround. "I was out there competing. I didn't want the guy to get a layup. I was trying to stop him from going in the air and that's why I fouled him that hard - so he wouldn't get hurt.
"My job is to play hard. I felt the score - we were down 20 (actually 19). I didn't want the guy to do a dunk. I could have easily made the guy go in the air and it would have been a worse foul. I just tried to keep the guy from going up."
Though replays would appear to corroborate Carmelo Anthony's claim that Isiah Thomas warned Anthony that taking the ball to the basket would be a dangerous move, Collins and his teammates said no hard-foul order was given.
"(I) definitely wasn't told to commit a hard foul at all," Collins said. "Coach told us to play hard for 48 minutes and that's what I tried to do.
"I didn't mean to hurt the guy. I basically told (NBA officials) I wish it didn't escalate that far."
The only member of the Knicks less apologetic than Collins was Thomas, who couldn't even choke out an "I'm sorry" on Monday. However, other Knicks involved in the brouhaha were all apologies.
"What happened is tough. It got out of hand," said Nate Robinson, whose 10-game suspension for engaging Smith and escalating the fracas is one of the 10 longest suspensions in league history. "I'm sorry it happened.
"The whole thought process toward the fans and kids - that's not the type of message the NBA and myself are trying to send out, that it's cool to fight, because it's not. It's not cool to do the things that happened that night. My apologies (go) to the Knicks' organization, to the NBA and to Denver."
"At that time it was reaction and it was wrong. If I could take it back I would," said Jared Jeffries, who got a four-game ban for going after Anthony after he threw a punch to Collins' face. "I'd like to apologize to all the fans . . . basketball fans and the NBA. That's not how I want to project myself on the court. I would love for it to have gone in a different direction.
"It was unfortunate. I'm disappointed that happened," he continued. "That's not who I am as a person. I'm better than that. I don't know why I did it. It was definitely a mistake. I don't want the fans in New York or basketball fans in general to think that's OK - it was wrong. It's wrong to react like that to any type of situation."
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/basketball/16271847.htm?source=rss&channel=charlotte_basketball
By Roger Rubin
New York Daily News
(MCT)
NEW YORK - If Mardy Collins had it all to do over again, he wouldn't change a thing.
He would still have taken down Denver's J.R. Smith with a hard foul. He would still have done anything to prevent another dunk against his floundering Knicks.
The NBA slapped Collins with a six-game suspension on Monday for his role in igniting Saturday night's brawl with the Nuggets at the Garden. The melee began with his two-hand tackle of a streaking Smith late in the fourth quarter of the blowout loss.
"I don't regret fouling him as hard as I did, I just regret the whole thing escalated the way it did," Collins said at Monday morning's shootaround. "I was out there competing. I didn't want the guy to get a layup. I was trying to stop him from going in the air and that's why I fouled him that hard - so he wouldn't get hurt.
"My job is to play hard. I felt the score - we were down 20 (actually 19). I didn't want the guy to do a dunk. I could have easily made the guy go in the air and it would have been a worse foul. I just tried to keep the guy from going up."
Though replays would appear to corroborate Carmelo Anthony's claim that Isiah Thomas warned Anthony that taking the ball to the basket would be a dangerous move, Collins and his teammates said no hard-foul order was given.
"(I) definitely wasn't told to commit a hard foul at all," Collins said. "Coach told us to play hard for 48 minutes and that's what I tried to do.
"I didn't mean to hurt the guy. I basically told (NBA officials) I wish it didn't escalate that far."
The only member of the Knicks less apologetic than Collins was Thomas, who couldn't even choke out an "I'm sorry" on Monday. However, other Knicks involved in the brouhaha were all apologies.
"What happened is tough. It got out of hand," said Nate Robinson, whose 10-game suspension for engaging Smith and escalating the fracas is one of the 10 longest suspensions in league history. "I'm sorry it happened.
"The whole thought process toward the fans and kids - that's not the type of message the NBA and myself are trying to send out, that it's cool to fight, because it's not. It's not cool to do the things that happened that night. My apologies (go) to the Knicks' organization, to the NBA and to Denver."
"At that time it was reaction and it was wrong. If I could take it back I would," said Jared Jeffries, who got a four-game ban for going after Anthony after he threw a punch to Collins' face. "I'd like to apologize to all the fans . . . basketball fans and the NBA. That's not how I want to project myself on the court. I would love for it to have gone in a different direction.
"It was unfortunate. I'm disappointed that happened," he continued. "That's not who I am as a person. I'm better than that. I don't know why I did it. It was definitely a mistake. I don't want the fans in New York or basketball fans in general to think that's OK - it was wrong. It's wrong to react like that to any type of situation."
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/basketball/16271847.htm?source=rss&channel=charlotte_basketball