“It’s MSG, gentlemen. The gods will not save you.” Apparently that’s the job of James Dolan’s hired goons.

Did you know Carmelo Anthony wanna bump and slump with Kevin Garnett? That’s also what Isiah Thomas called his MSG sexual harassment style but that’s neither here nor there. KG almost found out how the City That Bleeds get down when havoc broke loose at the Garden on Monday night.

The breakout star of Stop Snitchin’ took offense to Garnett mistaking him for a foreign player and things quickly went downhill from there.

‘Bows were thrown, words were said and that was the end of it. Well there was the small matter of Melo waiting for KG at the vistors locker room and following him to the Celtics team bus before being forced to stand down by MSG security, NYPD and Mike Woodson.

Anthony, according to eyewitnesses interviewed by the Daily News, waited for Garnett near the Celtics bus following Boston’s emotionally charged 102-96 victory on Monday night.

A potentially volatile scene was defused by Garden security personnel, five New York City police officers and even Knicks coach Mike Woodson, who rushed to the scene unfolding near the Garden ramp and ordered Anthony to leave peacefully.

A source on the scene claimed that Garnett seemed somewhat surprised and confused by Anthony’s presence and acted as a peacemaker as Celtics security ushered the All-Star forward onto the bus.

…Anthony could be in more trouble since, according to the MSG Network, the All-Star forward initially waited for Garnett outside the Celtics’ locker room immediately after the game ended.

Poor “surprised and confused” KG. One can imagine the thoughts running through his mind as he tried to figure out why the person coming at him was dark skinned and speaking native English instead of a romance or Slavic language.

Doc Rivers made things better when he commented on the hilarity that ensued after the game.

“If it were a playoff I’d tell on him, but since it’s not I’m just going to be quiet.”

Who knew Doc was such a fan of Melo’s film work? He may just rock a “big penny” around his neck when the Knicks visit the Celtics in Boston.

Wait there’s more. Rasheed Wallace apparently played the voice of reason by telling Melo that it wasn’t worth it. What was down is now up cause ball don’t lie.

Your musical reference: Rosa Parks by Outkast

Its the 16th championship title for the LA Lakers as they beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals by the score of 83-79. Shockingly, their Wheaties box is already set to go out to your local grocery store. Check your store shelves in a month or so for it if you want it. Personally, as a Washington sports fan I had no horse in this race but in the interests of not being a sore loser I wish the Lakers and their fans congratulations for an excellent season.

Even though it would’ve been a heck of a lot cooler to see Phil Jackson lose one of these things for once.  That guy is friggin bullet-proof. Also, can people put the rest the whole Kobe is as good as MJ now b/c he won almost as many titles?  Kobe wasn’t even the best player on the team for the ones he won with Shaq. He was the Jimmy Olson to Shaq’s Superman. Kobe is an excellent player, but he is no Michael Jordan.

If you don’t believe me, look up the stats on Basketball-Reference.com and you’ll see, its not even close. As a matter of fact, Lebron and Dwayne Wade are probably closer to his skills than Kobe is.

Nevertheless, congrats Lakers. John Wall is now gonna be gunning for you. TO BE THE BEST YOU GOTTA BEAT THE BEST!

Our boy, ‘Toine Walker finally got a plan together to pay back the various casinos that he owes over $770k because he failed to pay back a bunch of casino markers. With fines and restitution added, Walker has to pay up to the tune of just over $900,000. Ouch! That’s gotta be tough for a man with no job. He must pony up about $13,000 a month minimum at first and if he ever gets a basketball gig in the NBA or Europe he must pay a minimum of just over $21,000 a month. Double ouch! To use Antoine’s words:

“I’ve made some mistakes with some finances,

With the luck that Iverson has had finding a job this year, I’m sure that ‘Toine will have no problem getting a job. Everyone wants a me first, shoot first, out of shape, 33 year old forward on their roster. Well, maybe not here, but Europe might be calling, I mean he averaged 8.5 ppg last year in the NBA, that is like at least 13ppg there in Europe easy.

He’d better get a job quick because the judge in this case, Melanie Andress-Tobiasson (right), apparently has no tolerance for any sort of shenanigans with his payments:

“I can tell you at the point he stops making payments, I will bind him up so fast it’ll make your head spin,”

Or, maybe she’s just kinky like that?

From the Providence Journal

By now, most people have heard about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry “Skip” Louis Gates, Jr. by Cambridge Police. He broke into his house after coming back from a trip after being locked out and a neighbor called 911. Police responded and somehow ended up arresting him in his own home and charging him with disorderly conduct. The charges have been dropped but the controversy around the arrest lingers on. President Obama was asked a question about it during last night’s health care press conference. He responded by saying the Cambridge Police acted “stupidly”.

The officer in the middle of the controversy, Sgt. James Crowley, refuses to apologize to Gates for the events that led to the arrest. He told the Boston Herald that he bears no ill will towards the professor. However he insists that he isn’t a racist and didn’t do anything wrong. Here come the sports. Crowley performed mouth to mouth resusciatation on former Celtic Reggie Lewis 16 years ago after he collapsed from a heart attack which ended up killing him.

“I wasn’t working on Reggie Lewis the basketball star. I wasn’t working on a black man. I was working on another human being.”

Lewis’ widow, Donna Lewis, admitted she was shocked when she heard that Crowley was involved in Skipgate.**

“That’s incredible,” Lewis, 44, exclaimed. “It’s an unfortunate situation. Hopefully, it can resolve itself. The most important thing is peace.”

It’s honorable that Crowley did what he could to save Lewis’ life. However his actions that day don’t absolve him from future actions that can be seen as racist. Arresting Gates after establishing his identity is pretty suspect at the least. Would the same thing have happened to Larry Summers? N … Oh good point, Howard Fineman.

The 11 year veteran says the events 16 years ago and the reaction to his involvement still haunt him to this day which is understandable. The loss of Reggie Lewis was a shock to family, friends and fans (including this one who grew up in the same Baltimore neighborhood). I’ll have to ask The Matador what the odds would be on Crowley being involved in these two incidents. He’ll have an answer.

Sergeant Crowley probably took a page from Killing Them Softly.

Open and shut case, Crowley! Skip might want to check his pockets for crack residue before he gets picked up again.

**We’re going to push the name Skipgate until it takes.

Antoine Walker and Charles Barkley might have more in common than we think. Once thing we do know, besides their propensity to drive while under the influence, is that they both like to borrow insane amounts of money from casinos…and don’t give a damn about paying that debt back on time. Walker was arrested yesterday at a Harrah’s casino in Lake Tahoe yesterday for failing to pay back his markers by writing a string of bad checks to casinos…$1 million worth to be exact. Yea, that would make it a felony.

See, the thing about Chuck is, he had the money, he just took his sweet time to pay it back. Antoine apparently doesn’t. This is a particularly stunning assumption since he has made about $100 million just in his NBA salaries alone. His spending might have set a new record in blowing through one’s cash. I mean, unless you are Montgomery Brewster you have zero reason to burn your money that fast. None. One thing is certain however, Antoine Walker is the single worst gambler on the planet. Bar none. What on earth was he playing in there? Some bullshit Pai Gow Poker, War or some other crazy carnival game? Seriously, where were those 1-800-GAMBLER commercials when he needed them.

In any event, we might have a new title belt holder in the “Dumbest NBA Player” championships. Wait, I might’ve just thought of a new series on the Deuce. Thanks ‘Toine…you stupid bastard.

From Miami Herald