Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett, two of the league’s premier stars, had a post-game altercation Monday night in an exit tunnel of Madison Square Garden that a witness described as “like in a school yard,” requiring coach Mike Woodson, building security and New York City police officers to control.
Anthony and Garnett had received technical fouls for mouthing off at each other during the Boston Celtics’ hotly contested and physical 102-96 victory. Following the game, Anthony, sources told ESPNNewYork.com, remained angry and waited for Garnett by the Celtics’ team bus to confront him.
Woodson realized what was happening and hurried to the loading dock along with security and NYPD officers to prevent a fight.
Anthony, who first yelled obscenities outside the Celtics locker room, did not speak to reporters after the game. Garnett tried to minimize the situation, saying there was no altercation. “No, no, man. Just basketball. Just basketball.”
He added that the on-court battle was “heat of the battle, man, guys throw back and forth. He’s trying to get his team to go; I’m trying to get my team to go. Both teams are colliding. Not to mention that it’s the Knicks and the Celtics. Just what it is.”
Maybe for Garnett it was. For Anthony, it apparently was much more.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers would not concede anything. “I’m going to let y’all figure that one out,” he said. “I’m going to stay out of that. If it was the playoffs, I’d tell on him, but since it’s not, I’m going to just be quiet.”
According to ESPNNewYork.com, after the game, Anthony angrily walked off the floor and out of the tunnel that visiting teams use to exit the floor, instead of exiting out of the Knicks’ tunnel.
The website reported that Knick Tyson Chandler appeared to try to stop Anthony, to no avail. Anthony approached Garnett near the Celtics’ team bus, but security intervened.
A video by Comcast showed Anthony waiting outside of the team bus as Woodson works on calming him down. Team and building security are also present, as are several uniformed police officers.
Anthony could be fined and/or suspended for the incident.
“The game just got heated. It’s just basketball,” Rivers said. “There’s nothing wrong with getting heated. It happens. It’s a fun game, it’s competitive, it’s rough at times. That’s good, I think all that’s good. It should never carry over past that. I’ve had my moments as a player as well. It does, but you don’t want it to. And whenever it does, you feel terrible later. This is the way the game should be played to me, it should be a competitive, hard game. I thought overall the officials let us play, both teams. That’s good with us.”
Amar’e Stoudemire said: “It was more talk more than anything. Words are pretty sharp, so when you say certain things, it gets under your skin and it gets you a little angry. And that happens to the best of us. We’ve got to make sure that we keep our composure and see if we can beat a team like Boston.”
