TALKIN’ TURKEY
After Knicks’ epic meltdown, Kanter keeps squawking
I don’t care who you are. What do you call yourself? King, Queen, Princess. Whatever you are. We’re gonna fight. —EnesKanter
A point of contention that had been heating up for the 48 hours leading into tipoff involving LeBron James, Frank Ntilikina, Phil Jackson and somehow Enes Kanter finally reached its boiling point late in the first quarter Monday night at the Garden.
Eleven-plus minutes into the game, the drama hit the court — with all the characters but the former Knicks president involved.
Ntilikina, James and Kanter traded shoves and plenty of words in a scuffle that resulted in double technicals for James and Kanter and an issue that still wasn’t solved postgame as the Knicks fell to the Cavaliers 104-101.
“I don’t care who you are. What do you call yourself ? King, Queen, Princess, whatever you are. We’re going to fight. Nobody out there is going to punk us,” Kanter said.
Kanter first backed up Ntilikina on Sunday after James said the Knicks should have drafted Dennis Smith Jr. — and not Ntilikina — and did it again on the court Monday night.
After Ntilikina put a shoulder in James’ chest, when the four-time MVP wouldn’t move out of his way following a dunk, Kanter quickly came over and got face-to-face with James. James eventually shoved Kanter out of the way before the two had to be separated.
James, who brought up Kanter on his own Monday morning as someone who’s “always got something to say,” had a clever line in response after he was apprised of the Knick’s postgame comment.
“I’m the King, my wife is the Queen and my daughter’s the Princess so we got all three covered,” said James, who finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks.
Pressed on the scuffle, James said it was “nothing.”
“We got the win,” James grinned. “I’m not going to get — I’m not even going to say that guy’s name again. Next question, please.”
James, who was booed heartily throughout the game any time he touched the ball, said earlier in the day his opinion about Smith was not a shot at Ntilikina, instead one intended for Jackson. He wasn’t done taking aim at the Knicks’ former president, delivering a parting postgame shot too, when asked about the Knicks’ improvements.
“I think Jeff Hornacek is finally — with the release of the old fel- low — he’s finally allowed to implement what he wants to do on the team,” James said. “It’s showing. It’s very effective.”
At the Cavs shoot-around Monday morning, James expanded on his opinion of Smith over Ntilikina.
“I wasn’t throwing shade at Frank at all, for people that got their pants in bunches and things of that nature here in New York, that look for any controversy here,” James said. “I was basically stating what I saw in Dennis Smith and what I saw from him coming out and watching the draft. I thought that he would be a great fit here with Porzingis. That’s not saying Frank won’t be a great fit. I haven’t seen much of him.”
But he followed up by saying it was “definitely” a shot at Jackson.
“I wasn’t even thinking about [Ntilikina] when I was talking about Dennis Smith,” James said. “I was talking about just the Knicks organization and Phil Jackson at the time and Dennis Smith’s talent and Porzingis. That’s all I was thinking about.
“... We all know how they handled the Carmelo situation, but I’m not a fan of Phil Jackson.”