Snyder fights Stackhouse

DALLAS - Jazz guard Kirk Snyder and Mavericks forward Jerry Stackhouse engaged in a 40-second fistfight in an American Airlines Center hallway Saturday night after the Jazz's 88-81 loss to Dallas.

Stackhouse, who had traded words with Snyder on the floor during the game, was standing near the entrance to the arena's garage, where the Mavericks players park their cars, and where the Jazz's bus was waiting. As Snyder walked past, according to witnesses, the pair began arguing again, and quickly came to blows.

Snyder was knocked to the concrete floor during the fight, according to one arena security official who witnessed the confrontation but declined to give her name. "They started yelling, and then there were several punches. [Snyder] got hit pretty hard a couple of times," the female security official said. "He was bleeding by the time it was over."

Dallas police officers rushed to the tunnel and helped break up the fight, ordering Snyder to the team bus and Stackhouse back to the Mavericks' locker room. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan soon came out to the bus, pulled Snyder off of it, and conferred with the rookie and his coaches. It appeared that Snyder was professing his innocence to the coach.

"I don't want to say much until I know what happened, until I hear from both sides," said Sloan, who was later interviewed by arena security personnel before the team bus finally departed. "There was a confrontation. It got physical. [Snyder] says he was not at fault."

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, however, told a group of reporters that Stackhouse also claimed he was innocent.

Stackhouse has been involved in a fight with a Jazz player before. During a game in 1996, Stackhouse, then a rookie, traded blows with Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek.

Snyder was also involved in another incident, less than two weeks ago. The rookie was informally suspended by Sloan after he taunted the Rockets' bench after a dunk.

pmiller@sltrib.com