NEW YORK -- LeBron James' and Enes Kanter's war of words spilled onto the court in Monday's game between the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers -- and once again, Knicks rookie Frank Ntilikina was stuck in the middle of it.
James converted an alley-oop with 40.2 seconds left in the first quarter to put the Cavs up by one and immediately crowded Ntilikina, bumping his chest into the point guard while he tried to free himself up to receive the inbounds pass, causing Ntilikina to shove his forearm back into James.
Kanter then intervened and he and James barked at one another before referee Tre Maddox came in to separate the two. James and Kanter were both assessed a technical foul.
Over the weekend, James said that the Knicks should have drafted Dallas Mavericks guard Dennis Smith Jr. with the No. 8 pick in June's NBA draft instead of Ntilikina.
James elaborated on his position at the Cavs' morning shootaround Monday, saying his critique was meant for former Knicks president Phil Jackson and that he wasn't "throwing shade at Frank at all."
Kanter was the first Knicks player to come to Ntilikina's defense on Twitter on Saturday night, and backed up his support at practice Sunday.
"I don't care who, I just cannot let anyone disrespect my family like that, because when I play for an organization, I see my teammates and that organization as like a family," Kanter told reporters. "And it doesn't matter if it's LeBron or whoever it is, I cannot just let him disrespect him like that. The coaches, the GMs, the president, this organization knows what they're doing. ... I mean, come on. That's a rookie. You cannot just say anything like that about him.
"I don't care, it doesn't matter LeBron or whoever it is. I don't care who. I cannot let anyone disrespect my family like that."
James laughed off Kanter's rebuttal on Monday.
"For Enes Kanter, who always got something to say," James said. "He says ... I don't know what's wrong with him."
The chippy play between both teams continued in the second quarter when Kyle O'Quinn fouled Jeff Green in transition and landed hard on the Cavs forward. Injured Cleveland guard Isaiah Thomas was so fired up by the contact he received a technical foul for his reaction on the bench.
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