NEW YORK -- If David Stern harbors any hope of crushing the sort of repulsiveness witnessed inside The Mecca of Basketball, if he entertains grandiose visions of forever eradicating a reenactment of Saturday night's violence, he won't fumble the opportunity that's fallen into his lap, won't recoil from reaching an appropriate retort to his league's latest outbreak of senselessness.

First let's dispense with the obvious:

Coming down hard on those who incited the riot, those who escalated it and those who prolonged it indefinitely is as uncomplicated a decision as it gets.