The Associated Press reports: Los Angeles Lakers forward Rick Fox was suspended six games by the NBA on Monday and Sacramento Kings guard Doug Christie was hit with a two-game ban as punishment for their two skirmishes in last Friday's preseason finale in Los Angeles.

The league, however, opted against additional fines or suspensions for the Lakers and Kings despite the involvement of numerous members from both teams.

"Our rule contemplates players leaving the bench for an altercation on the court. The fact that this altercation took place in the tunnel, in the hallway, was different in our minds," NBA vice president Stu Jackson said. "We felt, at the end of the day, the players should not be penalized for leaving the bench for an incident away from the court."

Fox and Christie did not receive fines on top of the suspensions but will take hits to their salaries. Fox will be allowed to attend the ring ceremony for the Lakers, but then must leave immediately.

Paul Gutierrez of the Los Angeles Times reports that Rick Fox apologized for attacking Doug Christie after both were ejected during Friday?s Lakers/Kings exhibition game. He apologized to his teammates and their fans, but not Christie or the Kings.

"It's not anything that I condone," Fox said of his actions in the melee. "I mean, I'm a father and a husband and I have kids that look up to me. It's disappointing that for that moment I fell into the tactics of their attempt to be brave six months later."

Fox then offered some speculation as to how the incident may have started.

"They came to win a championship in a preseason game. They should have thought about that a few months back, it's a little late to get brave now. [Christie] made some statements about being scared in Game 7 [of the Western Conference finals] so I'm sure he was embarrassed of those statements and I'm sure his teammates have questions about his ability to perform. So he shaves his head, comes out and has something to prove.

"It's just a situation where my emotions got hijacked and I regret responding the way I did."

The mele started on the court where Fox and Christie traded blows, Fox with an elbow and an open hand to the face, Christie with a fist to the chin. After both were ejected, Fox sprinted through a corridor to meet Christie in the hallway to the Kings? locker room.

More punches were thrown as the entire Kings team and Lakers? center Shaquille O?Neal arrived to attempt to break up the brawl. According to several witnesses, Christies? wife was there as well. "I guess she thought he needed some help," Fox said.

Both teams will await the suspensions and fines likely to be announced ny the league today. Fox doesn?t know what would be a fair punishment. "What is fair depends upon what precedent they want to set," he said.

Martin McNeal of the Sacramento Bee reports: The Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers are awaiting the likely fines and suspensions for the friday night fight between Doug Christie and Rick Fox.

While a ruling might not be announced until monday, the kings might have more to worry about.

Christie and Fox figure to be suspended, but the question is how the league will react to the Kings as well as Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal leaving their respective bench areas.

Rule No. 12, Section VII, subsection C states, "During an altercation, all players not participating in the game must remain in the immediate vicinity of their bench. Violators will be suspended, without pay, for a minimum of one game and fined up to $35,000."

The rules state a team must have at least eight players suited up and ready to play in every game. Should all of the Kings be suspended, they will have to dress eight players and then have their suspensions served one game at a time with the order determined alphabetically.

Tim Brown and the Associated Press report: Bad blood simmering since the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated the Sacramento Kings from last season's Western Conference Finals boiled over Friday night when the Lakers' Rick Fox got into a fight on and off court with the Kings' Doug Christie.

Two minutes and seven seconds into Friday night's exhibition game at Staples Center, Rick Fox fought King guard Doug Christie twice, once on the floor and again in a tunnel leading to the Kings' locker room. The second drew most of the Kings from their bench, along with Laker center Shaquille O'Neal, though apparently no one was injured.

Christie and Fox are sure to be fined and suspended for at least opening night.

The altercation started when Fox accidently hit Christie with an elbow to the face. Fox was then called for an offensive foul and dropped the ball then Christie flipped it back into his face, then fox shoved him in the face and Christie then hit him with a left punch to the face.

After both players were ejected, Fox then darted from the Laker bench, through the tunnel, down a hallway that separates the locker rooms and to the mouth of the Kings' tunnel, where he met Christie coming off the floor.

According to witnesses, Fox put a headlock around Christie, who threw several more punches at Fox, some of which Fox returned. The two grappled there until they were engulfed by Kings rushing from their bench and arena security personnel, then fell into a black curtain.

"Crazy people. Stupid people. Seriously," King center Vlade Divac said. "Rick is the guy who did something. But Doug also crossed the line."

The Kings won the game 93-88.

Martin McNeal of the Sacramento Bee reports that the Kings suffered a pair of backcourt injuries and added another point guard as well.

Bobby Jackson and Doug Christie were playing a game of one-on-one before Friday?s practice when they butted heads while diving for a loose ball. Christie suffered a mild concussion and a small cut above his right eye. Jackson required eight stitches to close a cut above his right eye.

Both players sat out of Friday?s practice but both are expected to play in Sunday?s game against Seattle.

Unrelated to that incident, the Kings signed Piston?s free agent Damon Jones to a non-guaranteed contract. He will fill in while Mike Bibby and Mateen Cleaves recover form injuries. It is unlikely that he will be around when non-guaranteed salaries become guarnateed on January 10th.

"Right now, with Bobby, Doug and Hedo (Turkoglu) the only proven guys that can play really comfortably in the backcourt," Petrie said, "if one of those guys gets really seriously injured or in foul trouble in a given game, then that would force us to put somebody back there who hasn't had the experience. Jones is a proven, experienced player who played a solid role for Detroit last season. He has good three-point range, good size and quickness."

The Sacramento Bee reports: Kings point guard Mike Bibby has suffered a broken foot and is expected to miss the first six to eight weeks of the season.

No information was immediately available on how Bibby suffered the injury, but he is expected to undergo surgery to repair the broken bone.

He played for 23 minutes in Thursday night's 102-92 preseason victory over Utah, scoring 10 points (sinking three of 11 shot attempts and making all four free-throw attempts).

Bibby was a crucial cog in the Kings machine in last year's NBA playoffs and was expected to take an even bigger role in the coming year.

If Bibby misses six to eight weeks, there is a possibility he will be back with the Kings by the time they meet the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time in the regular season, a Christmas Day meeting.

This is the second year in a row the Kings will open the season without a marquee player. Last year, Chris Webber sprained his ankle in the preseason and missed nearly two months.

You can't have much of a duel if one side disarms.
   
The Jazz and Kings staged a preseason rematch of their emotional first-round playoff series on Thursday, but coach Jerry Sloan used only two of his regulars to start the game, and Sacramento took advantage. The Kings missed only four shots in a blistering first quarter, while the Jazz ran their offense like they were reading it off cue cards, and Sacramento relied on that cushion the rest of the night to take a 102-92 victory in the Lawlor Events Center.
   
Sloan, who has started only John Stockton and Karl Malone in all three preseason games, this time combined that duo with three players who didn't participate in the Kings' 3-1 series victory a season ago. Matt Harpring and training-camp invitee Michael Smith, who weren't even on the Jazz last May, took the wing positions and John Amaechi, who never got off the bench during the playoffs, was the center.
   
The results predictably were disastrous.