Derek Fisher Writes Essay Describing His Side Of The Story In Matt Barnes Incident

The feud between former teammates Derek Fisher and Matt Barnes is one that is still one of the most talked about moments of the past year in sports, as Barnes, allegedly, drove 90 miles to his ex-wife, Gloria Govan’s, house to confront Fisher and, according to witnesses, attacked the former New York Knicks coach.

We all know that by now, seeing as how it has been almost five months since the incident took place.

And while Fisher has been hush, hush about the whole thing, he finally broke his silence by writing a detailed essay entitled “Truth” for SI.com to tell his side of the story and try to set the record straight. Per SI:

So let’s set the record straight on my personal life — specifically, my relationship with Gloria Govan and how it relates to Matt Barnes.

First, I was stunned and disappointed by the way Gloria was treated in the media. After the much publicized (and unfortunate) situation went down in Los Angeles last year, story after story was published that portrayed her as a piece of property, instead of the strong, independent woman and mother she is; someone who is capable of making her own decisions. This is a human being we are talking about, not some pawn in a game.

During that time, we were teammates, and never had any issues. We never had any real relationship off the court, either. Our kids didn’t hang out, our families didn’t interact. There were no birthday parties. There were no post-game dinners. We weren’t friends and we had no mutual friends.

When Gloria and I started dating, she and Matt had already been separated and living apart for more than a year. Same thing for me. My wife and I were long separated; she was in L.A., I was in New York. Matt and Gloria were not trying to work things out, and I certainly wasn’t seeing her behind Matt’s back or in secret. The relationship wasn’t something I was trying to publicize, but it also wasn’t something I was trying to hide, either. There was no reason to.

I don’t know what was going through Matt’s mind that day in October when he showed up unannounced at Gloria’s house, and started swinging.

I didn’t retaliate. No one who was there did anything but try to get him to calm down, particularly because Matt and Gloria’s children were present. There was no fight.

That’s it. There’s nothing more to what happened than that.

The entire Derek Fisher essay can be found here, and, if you have a few minutes, I suggest reading it try and get an understanding of Fisher’s side.

As for Barnes, well, just last night he was heckled by a fan who brought up Fisher to try and rattle him, with Barnes responding as one might think:

There’s always two sides to every story, so it’s up to you to decide who to believe in this case—the wild man, Barnes, or the PC guy, Fisher. Either way, hopefully this helps bring closure to the whole thing.

[H/T The Cauldron.SI]