Marcus Camby threw a punch at Danny Ferry and Jeff Van Gundy got in the way. The coach got the worst of it, and Camby hung around Madison Square Garden for nearly an hour after the game looking for more.
On a bizarre afternoon when a blowout turned into a brawl, Van Gundy ended up needing 12-15 stitches to close a cut above his left eye after his head collided with Camby's late in the fourth quarter of New York's 104-82 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
"He got the shot in that everyone of our players would like to do to me. He just got a free one," Van Gundy said afterward, his eye badly swollen and partially covered by a bandage.
Camby, who had been poked in the eye by Ferry, was ejected for throwing a punch, while Van Gundy was led bloodied and dazed back to the locker room for treatment.
After the game, Camby stood outside the San Antonio locker room for 10 minutes until Knick officials--including President Dave Checketts, General Manager Scott Layden, forward Larry Johnson and several security officers--persuaded him to leave. Camby then went downstairs to the area where the Spurs' bus was idling and spent another 20 minutes waiting for Ferry as team officials continued to try to calm him down.
Camby was finally persuaded to leave, and nearly a dozen security officers then escorted Ferry to the team bus.
"We were banging around the whole game," Ferry said. "I don't remember doing anything to lead to something like that."
It was a strange ending to another dominant performance by the Knicks, who got 31 points from Allan Houston, 20 from Glen Rice and 19 from Latrell Sprewell.
Utah 116, Houston 104--Karl Malone scored 29 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out nine assists, barely missing his fourth career triple-double as the Jazz won in overtime at Salt Lake City.
Denver 122, Seattle 111--Voshon Lenard scored 30 points and Nick Van Exel had 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Nuggets at Denver.
Cleveland 107, Golden State 101--Clarence Weatherspoon had five of his 22 points in the final two minutes as the Cavaliers rallied to beat the Warriors at Oakland.
Five Cavaliers scored in double figures as Cleveland won for the first time on its six-game Western road trip.
Philadelphia 84, Charlotte 79--Allen Iverson scored 25 of his 35 points in the second half and George Lynch grabbed 16 rebounds for the 76ers at Philadelphia.
