Davis incident nothing like last season's Palace brawl

	Antonio Davis said he entered the United Center stands because he thought his wife was being threatened. AP
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CHICAGO -- A wild, emotional game. A shoving incident on the court. A player hopping over the scorer's table and heading 10 rows up into the stands.

Yes, Wednesday night's Knicks-Bulls game bore some eerie resemblances to last season's infamous brawl in Detroit. It certainly did with 1:04 left in overtime, when Knicks forward Antonio Davis suddenly left his team's huddle, hopped over the scorer's table and went into the crowd.

From my vantage point behind the basket, about 50 feet from the Knicks' bench, it seemed as if David Stern's worst nightmare had repeated itself.

Davis, in his blue Knicks uniform, was standing in the middle of a section of seats. The fans were on their feet. Security guards were in the aisles. Both teams were milling about on the floor, looking up in disbelief.

As guard Jamal Crawford said in a quiet Knicks locker room after the game, "We didn't know what happened."

As it turns out, the incident was nothing like last year's Malice in the Palace. Davis, believing his wife was in danger, simply went into the stands to check it out.

That's all.

He didn't run up crazily, like Ron Artest did a year ago in Detroit. He didn't throw any punches. No teammates went in after him, a la Stephen Jackson.

Poor decision on Davis' part? Absolutely.

Another Artest-like embarrassment for the NBA? No way.

But Davis' actions -- coming in a game that already featured high emotions with the return of Eddy Curry to Chicago, as well as the ejections of Chris Duhon and Maurice Taylor for a shoving match in OT -- will surely draw the attention of the league office.

Davis can expect a hefty fine and a lengthy suspension, perhaps something like five games. The NBA can't have its players going into the stands, no matter how pure their intentions might be. Davis, a respected veteran who serves as the players' association president, even acknowledged in a statement afterward that he "should not have acted the way I did."

According to Taylor, Davis was actually watching the incident develop in the stands while running up and down the court. During a subsequent timeout, Davis saw his wife "falling back," according to Knicks coach Larry Brown, and decided to act.

Davis later said in his statement that he saw his "wife being threatened by a man that I learned later to be intoxicated."

But was Davis really in a position to know what was going on? According to one Bulls employee who was in the area, security guards reported the fan in question was simply telling Davis' wife to sit down -- and it escalated into a verbal spat. There apparently was no physical altercation at any time.

While Stern will have to investigate to get to the truth, Davis was getting total support from his teammates after the game. "Everybody loves Tony," Taylor said. "He's got integrity. He's a stand-up guy. He's not going to go up there [for no reason]. You've got to look out for your family. There are a lot of nuts out there."

When asked if it was realistic to expect Davis to hail security guards and have them take care of the matter, Taylor replied: "If you send a security guard and something happens to your family, you gotta live with yourself."

Whatever the case, the whole incident could have been a lot worse. As Davis bounded down the stairs back on the floor and United Center security escorted a few people out of the building, there was almost a perceptible sigh of relief in the building.