Basketball On The Internet.

AND, as is revealed by today's penalties from the NBL's Games Review Panel, that whole Brisbane-Adelaide mini-melee so predictably described by newspapers as "Basketbrawl" - how unbelievably imaginatively original - was, to paraphrase The Bard, quite typically much ado about precious little.

Without taking sides or jumping in with the great unwashed, predictably over-excited by the chaotic nature of such "all-in brawls" and making a Mount Everest out of a left butt-cheek mole, here's what I think I saw.

(And this is not just from the television angles but also the social media post of the fan who caught most of it from the reverse angle.)

The 36ers' combustible Serbian forward Nick Rakocevic, all 211cm of him, became slightly entangled, and no doubt irritated by Brisbane's 194cm import guard Hunter Maldonado boxing him out on a shot.

Both men lost balance, Maldonado falling over the baseline first and Rakocevic falling onto him. Deiberately? You could make that case, yes your Honour.

Bullets import Terry Taylor certainly thought so, rushing to Maldonado's aid and applying a headlock to Rakocevic in a concerted attempt to drag him off his teammate.

It's chaotic now, with players rushing in and several Bullets benchies, obviously unaware of the FIBA rule that automaticlly penalises anyone who leaves the bench to engage in a developing fracas, arrive to further muddy the incident.

Adelaide import Zylan Cheatham is in there somewhere too, until Bullets rookie centre Jacob Holt wisely dances him out of it all.

By now, 36ers coach Mike Wells is also engaged in it all but just as always eventually occurs when the initial steam is blown off, fraying tempers simmer, order is restored and the game resumes for its final mostly irrelevant 3:02.

The reason Rakocevic can comfortably be labelled as "combustible" is because he does have history, a one-match suspended sentence still hanging over his head from a recent indiscretion which cost him one game on the sidelines.

(Don't think opponents haven't noticed he has a shorter fuse than most and will ignite and exploit it when it suits.) But so it's obvious with his explusion from the match that this incident will automatically activate that one game suspended sentence.

So what else did the GRP dish out?

Nick Rakocevic -

Charge: Unsportsmanlike behaviour
Penalty: $775 (base penalty) or $585 with an early guilty plea.
If accepted, Rakocevic will be required to serve a one-match suspension arising from a previously suspended penalty.

OK, we knew that. Effectively he misses the match with South East Melbourne and is fined $585.

Not really that much of a penalty but then it wasn't that much of an incident, if we really sift through what occurred. Any comparisons with the Boomers-Philippines "melee in Manila" are seriously over the top.

Zylan Cheatham -

Charge: Engaging in a melee / brawl / scuffle.
Penalty: $775 (base penalty) or $585 with an early guilty plea.

Assistant Coach Kerry Williams
Charge: Bench clearing during a fight
Penalty: $775 (base penalty) or $585 with an early guilty plea

And for the Brisbane Bullets, it was not a lot worse, except for Taylor who copped one match for his involvement.

Terry Taylor
Charge: Unduly rough play (Intentional conduct, Medium impact, High contact)
Penalty: Two-match suspension (base penalty) or one-match suspension with an early guilty plea.

Alex Ducas, Sam McDaniel, Taine Murray and Casey Prather were all charged with clearing their bench during a fight with the same fine - $775 (base penalty) or $585 with an early guilty plea.

Assistant Coach Patrick Ewing Jr also learnt he cannot be out there, suffering the same hip-pocket fate as Williams of the 36ers. To date, everyone is taking the early plea.

Probably Maldonado was the stiffest. He was charged with unsportsmanlike behaviour, suffering the $775 (base penalty) or $585 with an early guilty plea.

Not sure how his behaviour was "unsportsmanlike" when he found himself underneath Rakocevic.

Wells made no friends with his over-wrought press conference comments where he erroneously used emotive and inflammatory language, describing Taylor as having Rakocevic "in a choke hold" and that his import was being "punched in the stomach" by Maldonado.

There is zero video evidence - none, zip, nada - to support that latter accusation which rightly brought an angry response from the Bullets, with South East Melbourne owner Romie Chaudhari also weighing in with a strong character reference, having had first-hand experience of Maldonado at the Phoenix.

But if your eyes say Maldonado deliberately pulled a 100-plus kilo centre onto him, you may think differently. 

The upshot is, like most "basketbrawls", it looks a lot worse in the moment than in the reality. Let's just be relieved no-one was hurt and move forward.