As expected, the NBA handed down its list of suspensions from its Saturday night fights at Madison Square Garden. In case you’ve been in hibernation and still haven’t heard about it, or seen it, the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets got into a so-called fight.

It started when New York’s Mardy Collins hog-tied J.R. Smith as he was about to go in for a dunk late in the Nuggets’ blowout win at the Garden. It escalated from there, Carmelo Anthony threw a sucker punch, the little midget Nate Robinson tried to prove how tough he is by wrestling Smith and trying to fight whoever else he could find, Smith punched Robinson back.
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There has been a Shawne Williams sighting. After not playing all season, rookie Shawne Williams, the Indiana Pacers first round draft pick from Memphis, FINALLY got in his first NBA game Monday night. In the Pacers 106-91 loss to Chicago, Williams scored 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the floor.

Helping his cause to get on the court was the fact the Pacers were without starters Al Harrington and Marquis Daniels, both of whom had a stomach ailment, and Stephen Jackson, who was suspended for one game after an altercation with coach Rick Carlisle.

Williams was inactive for the Pacers first 21 games.

It was nice of NBA commissioner David Stern to recognize he made a mistake by switching from leather basketballs to a composite one prior to this season without any input from current players. The players have complained vehemently since training camp.

But Stern’s announcement Monday to switch back to the leather balls on Jan. 1 wasn’t the right move either. While some players are still complaining, most have gotten used to the new balls. Therefore, why switch in the middle of the season, and have everyone have to get readjusted to leather balls? It would have been much better to admit the mistake and say we’ll go back to the leather balls next year. The NBA Development League will continue using the composite balls to evaluate it performance. While that league may end up continuing to use the ball, don’t expect to see it return to the NBA.

The two had never squared off against each other before. It took a matchup clear across the world for former University of Memphis point guards Antonio Burks and Darius Washington to get it on.
Burks, the former Grizzly backup guard, was leading his Crvena Zvezda team from Serbia against Washington’s PAOK team from Greece. Washington, who left the U of M after two seasons for the NBA but was undrafted, scored 19 points to help PAOK deal Crvena Zvezda its first loss of the season, 85-81.
Burks, who was released by the Miami Heat during training camp, had 16 points and six assists for Crvena Zvezda.

Dajuan Wagner’s NBA career suffered yet another bump in the road this weekend when the former University of Memphis star agreed to a buyout with the Golden State Warriors. Wagner, who sat out last season after having his colon removed in 2005, was an early training camp favorite of coach Don Nelson. He started six of Golden State’s seven preseason games, twice leading them in scoring. But Wagner, 23, was eventually passed in the rotation by players like Monta Ellis and former Grizzly Anthony Roberson. He only played in two regular season games, scoring four points in a blowout win against Detroit.
The former No. 6 overall pick of Cleveland will be paid handsomely for his release, though. He agreed to a buyout of his two-year contract. His salary of $798,112 this season was fully guaranteed.

Tonight marks the start of another NBA season. And with that comes the start of my new gig as The Commercial Appeal’s new NBA writer. As part of my new duties, on our Sunday NBA page, we will feature a mailbag section where readers can send me their NBA-related questions and I’ll do my best to give you answer. In order for this to be a success, though, I need for you all to do me a favor and keep the mailbag full. Send your questions to morgan@commercialappeal.com. Then, be sure to check out our new, revamped NBA page, which makes its debut this Sunday.