The NBA has seen its fair share of on-court scuffles, some immortalized in league history. Think Malice in the Palace in 2004 or Scottie Pippen vs Patrick Ewing back in 1994. More recently, when Draymond Green put Rudy Gobert in a headlock, right in front of the refs and the entire world.
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Another incident that remains a hot topic was the melee involving Kevin Garnett and Carmelo Anthony in 2013. The verbal altercation between the Celtics and Knicks stars quickly turned personal and escalated. What was rumored to be said in the heat of the moment remains one of the most bizarre mysteries in modern NBA lore.
During that game, Garnett allegedly made a crude remark about Anthony’s then-wife, La La. The comment? That she tasted like “Honey Nut Cheerios” — a line both La La and Garnett denied. Still, the tension boiled over postgame, with Anthony confronting Garnett near the Celtics’ team bus.
Paul Pierce, then Garnett’s teammate on the Celtics, recently addressed the incident on Podcast P with Paul George. “So I didn’t hear what was said. It’s a lot of speculation on that, and I never asked him,” Pierce admitted. “I didn’t know it was going to escalate to that.”
Garnett later joked about the story to the media, claiming the rumor made no sense. “I’m a Frosted Flakes man,” he said. “I don’t even eat Honey Nut Cheerios.” But the moment lived on long past the final whistle.
Pierce added that Garnett was notorious for trash-talking and toeing the line during games. “KG used to get under people’s skin,” he said. “He’ll say something foul, but I don’t know if he ever… Well, maybe he had crossed the line a couple of times.” The studio cracked up as Pierce delivered the line with a knowing grin.
Despite being close friends with Garnett, Pierce has kept one thing sacred — never asking what was actually said. “Melo felt like it was something disrespectful [being said],” Pierce offered. But then came the kicker.
“To this day, I never asked KG what did you really say?” Pierce said. “Because I’ll be watching the tape, and I ain’t see where he said anything. To this day, I swear to you on my kid, I never asked him what he said in that situation.”
According to multiple reports from that night, things escalated beyond the court. Anthony reportedly waited for Garnett near the Celtics’ bus. Pierce painted the scene: “I was still in the locker room, I guess [KG], T. Lou and Big Baby went down. Carmelo was down.”
Pierce said the confrontation ended before he made it outside. “I got on the bus, and I [ask] where’s Ticket [KG]. [Someone says] they out there something going down. So I get off the bus. But about time all of that [happened] I guess they had shook hands.”
According to Pierce’s own words, despite whatever was said between Garnett and Melo, cooler heads prevailed in the end, and the two Hall of Famers had resolved whatever beef they may have had. We’ll probably never know exactly what Garnett said to Melo, too, because if one of his closest friends can’t ask him what words left his mouth, nobody can.
