As you probably know by now, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnettalmost got into fight earlier this week following a Knicks/Celtics game after KG said something to 'Melo on the court that didn't sit well with him. They ultimately didn't end up fighting—they did a whole bunch of jawing at one another outside the Celtics team bus before they were separated by security—but the incident did shine a light on something that probably happens more often than you'd think. From the sound of things, NBA players scrap after games quite a bit. The media just isn't always there to cover it.
We're reminded of that fact in an excellent new Grantland piece that was published yesterday about the intertwining careers of Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, former North Carolina teammates who now both play in New York City (Stackhouse for the Nets, Wallace for the Knicks). In the piece—which you can read over here—Stackhouse talks about the time he beat up former Jazz forward Kirk Snyder following a game after Snyder threw a couple cheap shots at him on the court. Stackhouse, then with the Mavericks, revealed that he was going to attack Snyder on the court that night but thought about the fine and the suspension that would come along with it. So, instead, he decided to wait for Snyder outside of Utah's team bus to straighten things out.
"I ain't even shower," he told Grantland's Jonathan Abrams. "I put on some sweats, some sneakers, and I went and stood in the tunnel. As soon as [Snyder] came out, I fired on him. I got a couple. That was it. I don't know where all these security people came from. It probably lasted 20 seconds. Everybody pulled me off and that was it."
And, it didn't end there. The following season, they ran into each other again in a tunnel before a game. But, this time, Snyder—who was playing for the Hornets at that point—approached Stackhouse and did something pretty crazy. He thanked Stackhouse for beating him up.
"He started walking towards me," Stackhouse said. "I closed my fists, wondering what's this fool up to, thinking we're about to go in. He just came in and opened his hand out to me and said, 'Man, I really needed that.'…It was the weirdest thing I had ever witnessed. You got into some knuckles with someone and they come back and tell you, 'I needed that.'"
What a wild story. And, after hearing it, we can't help but wonder what other NBA players have fought, too. Hmmm...
RELATED: The 25 Craziest Brawls in Sports History (Video)
[via Grantland]
