Kevin Garnett Choke: Celtics Star Misses Shot Then Puts Hand To Throat Of Knicks Player (VIDEO)

Over four quarters, the Knicks-Celtics game was remarkably hard fought. However, a case can certainly be made that the Celtics choked away a win they had in hand. Having taken control of the season-opening Atlantic Division tilt with a dominating third quarter effort -- negating an similarly impressive first quarter by New York -- the Celtics seemed fully in control as the game entered the fourth.

But Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony put his team on his shoulders down the stretch, scoring 17 fourth quarter points. Anthony's final two points came on free throws in the waning moments. After being fouled with the game tied, 104-104, and 16 seconds remaining on the clock, Anthony sunk both free throws.

Given a chance to tie the game for his team, Kevin Garnett got enough space for an open midrange jumper from the wing. But the shot didn't fall. The Celtics had blown their fourth quarter lead, Garnett had missed a makeable shot with the game on the line and the Garden was jubilant.

After missing that final field goal attempt, Garnett then got into a heated exchange with Knicks player Bill Walker, who had contested the shot. Garnett had a few words for his former teammate and then put his hand to his throat. Stopping short of going full-on Sprewell on Walker, Garnett still shoved him back by the throat. Baron Davis, wearing street clothes as he recovers from an injury, quickly intervened on Walker's behalf.

Will Garnett be suspended for this? What would happen to Walker if he dared to put his hands on the neck of a superstar like Garnett?

UPDATE

A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com reported that Garnett, who refused to talk about the altercation with Walker after the game, may face a suspension for the incident. Walker, however, didn't shy away from talking about what happened.

"I guess he got mad I contested his shot. He grabbed my hand, tangled it up. I pulled my hand away, and then we had a situation," he said. "I'm a grown-up. You put your hands on my face, what part of the game is that? You know what the man does. Would you want me to put my hands on your face and push you away? I'm a man at the end of the day. It's disrespectful. You should not do that to any man."

Comments

[BruntLIVE]

08:38 AM on 12/28/2011

Choking someone out gets their attention better than any combination of words would. Its been around for many years and continues to work.

[OH canada]

10:56 PM on 12/27/2011

There ladies and gentlemen is the antics of an athlete way past his prime, sad!

[hemorrhage]

03:58 PM on 12/27/2011

NBA declares open season on Kevin Garnett. Now that the NBA has determined there is no fine or suspension for putting your hands around another player's throat, I expect they will allow players from every team to get away with it on Garnett, the dirtiest player in the league.

No double standards, Stern! When this happens, who will you blame then? The Players Association?

[baxtron]

12:20 PM on 12/27/2011

Garnett misses a 4th quarter shot? ahhh the memories in MN.

[OH canada]

10:55 PM on 12/27/2011

tell us how you really feel LOL

[hornbuckle56]

04:34 AM on 12/27/2011

Choke?

[blade1]

03:50 AM on 12/27/2011

There's a series on the NBA network that's "very" enlightning! It's called "Open Court". It features 7 retired Basketball players Charles Barkley, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith, Steve Smith, Chris Webber, and Shaq. It's hosted by Ernie Johnson who fields questions about past and present players, relationships and things the media doesn't address. No matter what your feelings are about any of the players I found it to be "very" informative about players in general and their perspective on the game and each other. I thought it was a excellent series. I hope they keep that forum and switch retired players from season to season!

http://ballislife.com/nba-open-court-episodes-1-2/

[Onegin]

03:24 AM on 12/27/2011

HP's sensationalism is sensational.

[SvrWx]

02:23 AM on 12/27/2011

That quote at the end makes no sense. It's like reading jibberish.

[leorangerie]

02:02 AM on 12/27/2011

Now, children, it's Christmas...play nice!

[ScorpioRN]

01:49 AM on 12/27/2011

Where is Charles Oakley when we need him? Basketball is supposed to be a sport without contact but even that being said the Knicks need an intimidator

[Bados]

01:37 AM on 12/27/2011

OK can you guys stop using "thug" as code for the N-word?
It's so transparent. Why are you pretending?

[Klous]

07:16 AM on 12/27/2011

Was it not Thuggish behavior?

[Leto II]

10:45 AM on 12/27/2011

That's funny, when I looked up 'thug' in the thesaurus, I didn't see the N-word as a synonym.

Are you sure Bados? Maybe you're right and Webster's got it wrong. Maybe.

[Bados]

11:12 AM on 12/27/2011

Do you know I'm right?

[pleasantlyny]

01:12 PM on 12/27/2011

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTHANK You!

But its in their nature.... they cant stop.

[Backtalkisahorse]

01:36 PM on 12/27/2011

Just read in HP Crime a man babysitting an 8 year old girl bludgeoned her then cut her up with a hacksaw THEN pretended he was searching for her in her parents behalf as a friend of the family -- but its in their nature...apparently they can't stop either. PEACE!

[Bados]

01:35 AM on 12/27/2011

When is HP gonna post the hockey fights that happen practically every night?
On the rare occasion that they have in the past, rarely were the comments as harsh even though those fights were actually violent with actual punches to the face repeatedly. Not one of these athletes were called thugs. That title is reserved for black athletes who play a sport that has it's last brawl 7 years ago. Funny how that works.

It's clear that some of you sit in waiting for the perfect story to unleash your pent up bigotry on a story that can provide you cover at the same time. It's why there are so many more comments on this story than an NBA feel good story. You have no desire to feel good about the NBA and it's "thugs". To you the NBA is reserved for finger pointing and talking about how awful "those thugs" are.

[blade1]

03:35 AM on 12/27/2011

Agreed! White media will "always" reflect bias towards minorities. Though noted HP does attempt to offer diverse oppinions through "Black Voices", Latina Voices and Gay Voices as a side dish... Problem is Black publications and news outlets don't have the capital or resources for live up to the minute new's from a national and global perspective. This is what was sooo discouraging with BET and Robert Johnson! Now and "only" after being acquired by ViaCom BET is "starting" to commit to News with the recent acquistion of T.J. Holmes from CNN and to keep pace with Roland Martin on TV1.

Point is, use your contempt to support your "own"...

F&F for your consciousness!

[Jim Oxley]

07:34 PM on 12/27/2011

Own? That's defined by race? Let's not move backwards. Progressive intelligent people don't come in a single color.

[Klous]

07:23 AM on 12/27/2011

Fighting is a legitimate part of the game of Hockey not so much in Basketball. Hockey is a game where life altering injuries can occur in the blink of an eye. The "enforcers" who fight are there to help reduce the possibility of intentionally injuring a star player. You don't want a Bob Probert type player taking a run at your finesse star and having a goon on the ice to occupy them makes a big difference. They also serve to slow down the game when things get out of hand. Basketball on the other hand has none of those issues requiring a true enforcer on the court. This behavior has no place in a sport that in theory is low contact. Hand checking is a fault for Pete's sake. You are comparing tootoos to anvils sir.

[Iain Banks]

08:13 AM on 12/27/2011

Everyone fights in hockey, not just enforcers. The best hockey player is currently sidelined due to a idiot slamming him into the ground, but in hockey its civilized because its a bunch of north western farm boys giving each other concussions every night, in basketball its considered the fall of western civilization. Don't try to kid yourself for a second thinking this isn't about race.

[Bados]

11:11 AM on 12/27/2011

How many basketball fights have you ever seen?

You'll be hard pressed to name 5.

Well over 99.9% of basketball games go off without a hitch.

To me that's hardly the problem it's being made out to be.

[dgtsakos]

01:28 AM on 12/27/2011

walker must have asked for it since there is no fine or suspension for kg.

[dudedrum]

01:10 AM on 12/27/2011

Starting to lose my faith and trust in Huffpost for these kinds of bogus and sensationalized "grabber" headlines. At first glance I see a single frame with Garnett's hand on the other guys throat with the headline including the word "choke." Pretty damning stuff and definitely got me to click on the story. Then I watch the footage and see it's a completely ordinary tough guy posturing scenario seen over and over again in just about any sport in any given week. And it turns out the one frame where the hand is on the throat is the one frame used. I go to Huffpost to get away from this stuff. Please stop doing it.

[Iain Banks]

08:15 AM on 12/27/2011

I noticed an immediate change when the AOL group took over. We now have editors from the NYpost and Drudgereport who salivate when they think of these headlines. Nothing garners more reads and comments articles like this.