Kanter gets tough as Booker tossed
PHOENIX — Knicks center Enes Kanter was a bully inside, scoring 20 points with 10 boards, but his blocked shot on a Devin Booker drive was the best damage he wrought Friday night.
A Kanter-Booker dustup led to the ejection of the Suns star in the Knicks’ 107-85 victory at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Kanter blocked Booker on a drive and glared at the Suns’ 2015 lottery pick. It was likely payback for the flagrant foul Booker put on Tim Hardaway Jr., who had to leave for the locker room briefly.
As Kanter stared down Booker, the Suns guard shoved him into Greg Monroe, who reflexively pushed Kanter like he was a pinball. Kanter went after Monroe as chaos ensued.
When order was restored, Kanter received a technical and so did Booker, his second of the night, leading to an automatic ejection with 4:03 left in the third quarter.
“We needed that juice, we needed that energy. I know I’m going to get fined, and I’ll take the win,” Kanter said. “We need that little dirtiness. We needed that. It fired us up, the whole bench up. We just took it from there.”
Counting the win in Brooklyn, the Knicks are 3-4 in the seven straight road games they have played but still at 22-28 overall.
Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said he talked to Kanter before the game about playing even more tenacious than his usual game. “He’s tough, but I wanted him to play tougher,” Hornacek
said.