The back story behind Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett‘s bus stop faceoff after a hard-fought game at Madison Square Garden on Monday seems to have been over words K.G. said about Melo’s reportedly estranged wife, La La Anthony, according to Black Sports Online.
Those words allegedly were “your wife tastes like Honey Nut Cheerios.”
Scroll down for video of K.G. and Melo’s confrontation
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The two all-star players got tangled up several times during the hard fought game, which the Boston Celtics ended up winning 102-96. But not before Melo and K.G. were both hit with technical fouls after elbowing each other under the rim and getting in each other’s faces. The back and forth was so intense that the players had to be separated. K.G. is seen jawing off at Melo during the back-and-forth but it is not clear what was said.
(Melo has declined to confirm what K.G. allegedly said that angered him)
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Apparently, Melo wasn’t satisfied with the battle ending on the court. The New York Daily News reports that he yelled furiously at K.G. outside the Celtics’ locker room after the game. Then he tried to confront him as the Celtics boarded their team bus. Five NYPD officers, Garden security and Knicks head coach Mike Woodson raced to the scene to break up the confrontation before it could escalate.
While Melo would not give specifics on what set him off, he did tell the Daily News he could have handled the conflict better:
“It’s something you just don’t say to men, another man,” Anthony said following practice at the Knicks’ training facility in Greenburgh.
“My mindset and motive of going back there to see him at the locker room and seeing him at the bus, I wanted to have a one-on-one conversation with him and talk about it like two grown men,” Anthony said.
Anthony, 28, did call Garnett, 36, after the confrontation at the Garden bus ramp, according to NBA sources.
League officials are looking into the incident, as it does with all matters involving players requiring police to stop an altercation.
“Nothing happened for me to be suspended,” Anthony said. “I wanted to talk to K.G. and I think it was something we both needed to get off our chests and see what really was the problem. There were no altercations. It was just words and a conversation we just needed to have.”
In hindsight, Anthony admitted, “I lost my cool.” “It just was out of character,” he said. “I allowed some negativity to come into my circle. “It’s over with for me. Whatever happened last night, happened. The words that was being said between me and Garnett, it happened; can’t take that away. I accept that, but there’s just certain things that push certain people’s buttons.”
Woodson came to Anthony’s defense, saying a great player’s loss of composure can be forgiven. “We’ve sat down and we’ve talked about it,” Woodson said. “Listen, Melo’s been playing at a high level and Melo likes winning. He’s tasted that here and he’s a big part of why we’re winning and hey, he just can’t have slippage like that.”
K.G., for his part, blamed the intensity of the game on he and Melo’s heated confrontation.
La La and Melo have been separated for several months, according to the Daily News. The reality TV star often attended every Knicks home game and even traveled on the road to see her husband play last season. Reportedly, she does not keep up the same schedule any longer and that her attendance at Monday’s game was her first this season. Also, she reportedly tweets less frequently about Melo than she did in the past.
K.G., a future Hall of Fame power forward, is known for trash talking and has a reputation for hitting below the belt with his words.
On Mother’s Day 1999, K.G. reportedly told San Antonio Spurs star Tim Duncan “Happy Mother’s Day, motherf—er!” Duncan’s mother died of cancer when he was 14. And, in 2010, he allegedly called Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva “a cancer patient.” Villanueva suffers from alopecia, which stops hair growth.
