Melo Expecting Hostile Environment At Garden, But 'No Bad Blood' With KG
BOSTON (CBS) - It's going to be an interesting night at the TD Garden, likely filled with some cereal-related chants and jabs at New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.
But Melo is expecting that when the Knicks take on the Boston Celtics for the first time since a January 7th incident at Madison Square Garden that saw Anthony lose his cool during and after the game -- all thanks to a Kevin Garnett comment about his wife.
"It'll be a hostile environment. I'm expecting that," Anthony told reporters earlier this week. "It'll be a fun game just knowing what's at stake as far as us playing Boston in a divisional game."
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In addition to their in-game tussling in the paint throughout the game, Anthony claims Garnett made a cereal-themed comment about his celebrity wife, La La Vasquez. The Celtics have denied Garnett made the comment, but it angered Anthony so much that he tried to get at Garnett outside the Celtics locker room, and then again outside the team bus.
Those actions earned Anthony a one-game suspension from the NBA.
But the Knicks forward says the air is clear between him and Garnett, and there is no linger beef leftover from the encounter.
"It's no bad blood, no grudges between us (or) anything like that," Anthony told reporters on Wednesday. "I don't hold no grudges or have any bad blood towards the guy."
"On my end, there's nothing left over," he said earlier in the week.
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Whatever Garnett did or said to Anthony it worked that night. Melo was on a scoring tear, but shot just 6-for-26 that evening as the Celtics won their first meeting with New York 102-96.
While Anthony says there is no bad blood, that will likely change after another 48-minute battle against Garnett. Add in all the chants he'll hear from Boston fans, and it could be a long night for Anthony.
And given Melo's recent scoring streak -- he's averaging over 30 points in his last four games since serving that one-game ban -- the sputtering Celtics will need all the extra help they can get.
