Knicks Legend Details Infamous Kevin Garnett Fight

The one-on-one battle between Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett extended beyond the final horn at Madison Square Garden during one showdown in 2013.

Anthony and then-Knicks teammate Iman Shumpert offered a behind-the-scenes look at the infamous showdown the two legends on the latest episode of the former’s “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast.

In that January 2013 game against the Boston Celtics, Anthony and Garnett engaged in several extracurriculars en route to a 102-96 win for the visitors. One particular incident led to the rumor that Garnett told Anthony that his then-wife La La “tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios,” though both Garnett and La La have since denied such an utterance.

Anthony likewise denied Garnett’s breakfast barb but recalled that he was formulating a plan to confront The Big Ticket despite there being ample time on the clock in a close game.

“I checked out of the game,” Anthony said. “[After the game], I didn’t go the regular way to our locker room. I went [the Celtics’] way. There were 15 seconds left on the clock, I started creeping to that corner. I really wnted to have a conversation.”

Anthony said that Garnett was more or less escorted off the floor by green teammates Courtney Lee and Rajon Rondo but that he made the trek to the visitors’ locker room to land his desired conversation. Shumpert took over the story, recalling that he knew Anthony was serious about his quest when he skipped his postgame routines to go hunting for Garnett.

“At the end of the game, ‘Elo stormed off,” Shumpert said. “He don’t want to be calmed down, he don’t want to be touched. He is always the last one out of the locker room. My man gets treatment, ice, he might lift. My boy’s got a lot of recovery he’s got to do. [He] scratched it all off for this.”

Shumpert, as well as fellow Knicks Baron Davis, wound up accompanying Anthony to the Celtics’ locker room, where his anger failed to dissipate despite a lengthy wait. When Garnett finally emerged, accompanied by “five ushers” and “police officers,” he saw Anthony waiting and said, per Shumpert, “Melo, over a basketball game?!?!?”

Realizing he would not get the desired one-on-one conversation, Anthony backed off but expressed hope he could obtain it at the ensuing All-Star Game in Houston just over a month later. That likewise failed to pass but Anthony, declaring himself a “peace god,” invited Garnett onto his program to settle their differences.

Though the Celtics won the game in question, Anthony and the Knicks took revenge in the ensuing postseason, besting Boston in six games in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. That wound up being the last stand of the “Big 3” era that Garnett formed with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, as each moved on after that Mahattan defeat.

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