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It’s been more than ten years since Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett got involved in a very heated exchange that spawned a viral rumor concerning some trash talk involving Honey Nut Cheerios. It took over a decade, but we now have some more insight into what actually transpired after Melo decided to open up a bit.
Based on the many stories that have surfaced over the years, Kevin Garnett firmly earned a spot alongside Michael Jordan and Kevin Garnett on the Mount Rushmore of NBA trash-talkers due to his no-holds-barred approach to trying to throw other players off of their game.
How far was he willing to go? Well, Charlie Villanueva claimed the Hall of Famer called him a “cancer patient,” and there were multiple occasions where an opponent (Andray Blatche) and a guy on his own team (Glen Davis) were pushed to the verge of tears after ending up on the receiving end of one of his tongue lashings.
There are also a few unsubstantiated rumors that have made the rounds over the years, including one that can be traced back to a game between the Celtics and the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on January 7, 2013.
Toward the start of the fourth quarter, KG and Carmelo Anthony were each hit with a technical during a sequence where they got very physical near the top of the key and continued to jaw at each other before Tony Brothers stepped in to attempt to diffuse the situation by handing out the fouls.
Things took an unexpected turn after the game when Anthony tried to track down Garnett in the Celtics locker room before attempting to confront him near Boston’s team bus, and he was ultimately hit with a one-game suspension.
Melo declined to specify what KG had done to get under his skin to that degree, simply saying, “There’s some things as men that you just don’t say.”
However, the internet understandably ran wild with an entirely unsubstantiated rumor that asserted his foe had deployed Honey Nut Cheerios in a tasteless analogy (but one decidedly focused on taste) that involved LaLa Anthony, his wife at the time.
Both LaLa and Garnett have denied that was actually the case, and the latter insisted he never invoked any family members during his time in the NBA.
Now, a third party has come forward to echo those sentiments in the form of Anthony himself, who finally opted to reveal some more details when former Knicks teammate Iman Shumpert joined the 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast.
The segment in question kicks off around the 31-minute mark, and while Melo still declined to say exactly what set him off, he acknowledged KG did allude to him smelling like a certain part of the female anatomy before continuing with insults containing the unspecified “trigger words” that sent him into a rage (he also confirmed the Honey Nut Cheerios comment was “never said”).
It doesn’t seem like Anthony has any intention of going out of his way to reveal what was actually said (it does seem like it’s a bit of an open secret with some guys, as he told Shumpert not to share the intel he’s apparently privy to). He also suggested it wouldn’t bother him now as much as it did back then, noting, “We’re men now, but at that moment, he really crossed the line.”
I have some guesses on the general approach Garnett decided to harness, but this does seem like a mystery that may never truly be solved.