Carmelo Anthony’s urge to confront the Boston Celtics’ Kevin Garnett has cost him. The NBA suspended the New York Knicks’ forward for one game after it reviewed details of Anthony’s post-game foray to the Celtics team bus after a Boston win Monday at Madison Square Garden.
Anthony and Garnett engaged in multiple confrontations and verbal disputes on the court and had to be separated by players. Internet rumors ran wild that Garnett, one of the league’s notorious trash-talkers, insulted Anthony with a barb about his wife, actress La La Anthony.
For the league, it did not matter what triggered Anthony’s actions.
“There are no circumstances in which it is acceptable for a player to confront an opponent after a game,” the NBA executive vice president of basketball operations, Stu Jackson, said in a statement. “Carmelo Anthony attempted to engage with Kevin Garnett multiple times after Monday’s game and therefore a suspension was warranted.”
After he and Garnett were called for technical fouls for jawing at one another in the closing minutes of Monday’s game, Anthony approached Garnett at the Celtics team bus. Madison Square Garden security, New York City Police officers, team security and even Knicks coach Mike Woodson intervened before the incident could escalate.
Anthony said his “motivation” in going to the Celtic team bus to approach Garnett after the game was to have a “one-on-one conversation” with him after the Boston big man spewed a verbal insult at Anthony.
“It’s certain things that you just don’t say to men, another man,” Anthony said Tuesday. “I felt that he crossed the line. Like I said, we’re both at an understanding right now; we handled it the way we handled it. Nobody needs to know what was said behind closed doors. So that situation is handled.”
Before the suspension, Anthony, who is averaging 29 points a game, said he did not think he would be disciplined.
“If you just go off the actual facts of what happened, I don’t think anything will happen,” Anthony said.
Wrong.
“That’s over with, don’t even want to go back to that,” Anthony said after practice Wednesday. “Whatever happened between me and Kevin, that’s done. That’s settled. It’s done and over with. We move on, got Indiana (on Thursday). No disrespect, but I don’t wanna keep talking about the same thing and beating a dead horse.”
