<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Always the competitor in a small, explosive package, Nate Robinson never ran from a confrontation, never backed down from a challenge when he was wearing a University of Washington basketball uniform. While that was an admirable trait, Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar also made sure he had a line tethered to Robinson to reel him in, just in case. In most instances, it came in the form of fellow guard Will Conroy. "When Nate played here, and something was about to break out, I'd yell, 'Will, grab Nate!' " Romar said. From Edmundson Pavilion to the South Seattle home of Robinson's mother, the reaction was the same regarding a brawl Saturday night in New York between the Knicks and Denver Nuggets that involved Robinson and six other players: The 5-foot-8 1/2 dynamo did what he thought was right, protecting a teammate under attack while refusing to step aside, and it probably went too far. On Monday, NBA commissioner David Stern announced seven participants had been suspended and the teams fined $500,000 each. Robinson drew a 10-game penalty, and will miss a Jan. 5 appearance in his hometown against the Sonics. Renee Busch, Robinson's mother, said she taped the incident once it was replayed on TV and watched it over and over in dismay. "It was, 'Oh, my God, Nathaniel! You are something else,' " she said. "But I'm not mad at him or disappointed in him or embarrassed by him." At Madison Square Garden, in the closing moments of Denver's 123-100 victory over the Knicks, New York's Mardy Collins purposely committed a hard foul on the Nuggets' J.R. Smith. As tempers flared, Robinson tried to pull Smith away from Collins and was shoved by Denver's Carmelo Anthony. Robinson and Smith tumbled into front-row seats, flailing away. Anthony later sucker-punched Collins. Romar didn't condone the fracas and emphasized it never should have happened. Yet he stopped short of condemning Robinson's actions. "He was involved," the Huskies coach said. "He could have walked away. But I didn't say, 'Nate, what were you doing?' I didn't say that at all. He was protecting his teammate. He could have been in the brawl further and he wasn't. He didn't punch anybody. It was back off. When the guy charged Nate, he defended himself."</div> Source
