The Associated Press reports: New York Knicks forward Clarence Weatherspoon and San Antonio Spurs forward-center Kevin Willis were suspended for one game without pay by the NBA on Tuesday for fighting.

Weatherspoon also was fined $20,000 and will miss New York's game against Toronto on Wednesday. Willis will sit out the San Antonio's game Tuesday night at Washington.

In 1997 then-Warriors guard Latrell Sprewell attacked and attempted to choke then-Warriors head coach P.J. Carlesimo during a Golden State practice.  Sprewell was suspended for the remainder of the season, and Carlesimo was later fired.

The careers of both will forever be linked together as long as both are in the NBA, and Carlesimo's return to the NBA pine as the lead assistant coach in San Antonio is of no suprise to Sprewell.

"I figured somebody would pick him up sooner or later," said Sprewell, who has since made up with his former coach.

"I'm over it," Sprewell said of the incident. "I'm not surprised he's back. Not at all."

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Bucks? attendance numbers are plummeting. Milwaukee?s drop in attendance is the second largest in the league? and the other team has a good excuse.

The Bucks attendance is down 14.8% this season. Only the Spurs have seen a bigger drop. The Spurs are playing in a smaller arena this season which helps to explain their decline. The Buck?s 8-11 record this season compared to 13-7 last season is their main excuse.

The Bucks are averaging 15,789 per game this season through Dec. 10, compared to 18,533 last season. They are playing to 84.4% of capacity.

The Bucks' average attendance in the league is 16th in the 29-team league and ninth in the 15-team Eastern Conference. The Bucks had the 10th-highest attendance average in the league last year and fifth in the East.

Frank Hughes of the News Tribune reports that the Nets aren?t commenting about Jason Kidd?s future. The all-star guard will be a free agent next summer and more than a few teams will have the money to offer him a considerable contract.

Seattle will have a decision to make this summer as well. Gary Payton will be a free agent as well. If Seattle decides not to re-sign Payton, they would love to see Jason Kidd in a Sonics uniform. Considering the Sonics are a rebuilding team, Kidd is unlikely to put himself in that position. But Sonics owner Howard Schultz has a good relationship with Kidd.

When asked about the situation, Nets GM Rod Thorn said that it?s not a lock that Kidd will return to the Nets next year. "From the time he got with us, he has steadfastly maintained that he is going to become a free agent," Thorn said. "I think that because of the success we had last year ... if he feels we have a chance to do well, our chances are better that he will be with us."

Hughes writes that three teams will likely be able to offer maximum contracts to try and lure Kidd from New Jersey. Utah could have more than $20 million available if Karl Malone and John Stockton retire. Denver could have about $16 million, and San Antonio could have about $15 million with the retirement of David Robinson and is the team most likely to land him. Seattle could have about $9 million if it does not re-sign Payton.

Thorn did mention the possibility of a sign-and-trade deal for Kidd, but said it?s not in the Net?s plans right now. "At this time, we are not interested in a sign-and-trade," Thorn said. "But you never know what is going to happen. We have only played 17 games, we have a long ways to go this year, and strange things happen."

David Robinson walked out of the SBC Center on Saturday night with his right eyelid drooping shut, perhaps one final farewell present from Karl Malone.

Though the poke in the eye Robinson received from Malone was a bit painful, it wasn't nearly as ugly as the impression he left on his longtime rival.

With Robinson helping force Malone into missing 15 of 16 shots, the Spurs rolled to a 107-85 rout for their 10th consecutive victory over the Jazz.

The sellout crowd of 18,797 watched Malone pick up his 35,000th career point, but little else. Defended by Robinson and Malik Rose most of the night, he missed all nine of his shots in the second half ? including a point-blank layup attempt ? and finished with seven points.

Karl Malone got all the points he needed Saturday night to hit the 35,000 career-points plateau.
     
Unfortunately for Malone, who shot only 1-of-16 from the field and scored just seven, San Antonio made a pretty big point of its own on the evening of his milestone achievement.
     
And that is this: The Spurs have Utah's number, and those with the Jazz seem to know it.
     
San Antonio kicked Utah 107-85 at the SBC Center, sending the Jazz's winning streak to a screeching halt at six straight and pushing the 11-7 Spurs' dominance over coach Jerry Sloan's club to 10 wins in a row now.
     
"We played like it was a mental thing ? when you play like you're about half-scared," Sloan said after the Jazz, who have not beaten San Antonio since February of 2000, fell to 9-8 this season. "We go in there to make layups, and we throw the ball over the basket, we throw it short of the basket - I'd say . . . they've got us pretty well intimidated."

Not that anyone believes that fate or conspiracy played a part -- right? -- but how spooky is it that 35 was one of the winning numbers in the Texas Lotto drawing Saturday? Coincidence or not, it sure looked like 35 was everywhere in the Lone Star State.
   
Karl Malone scored the 35,000th point of his career. John Stockton passed Reggie Theus for 35th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. And most decisively, the Jazz shot, yep, 35 percent from the floor, trumping all the milestones with a brutally dispiriting loss to the Spurs, 107-85 in the SBC Center.
   
It only seemed as if the loss was the Jazz's 35th straight to their Midwest Division rivals.