Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry, Doc Rivers & Avery Johnson comment on Celtics vs. Nets fight

Following the dust-up that occurred Wednesday night in the Celtics vs. Nets game, both head coaches and several players had their own comments to add on the situation. Sorry, no comments from Rondo as he was escorted by security from the arena, Kris Humphries or Gerald Wallace. I’m sure they were thinking about the impending suspension to come from this and not wanting to add more waves to that boat.

Comments ranged from Celtics coach Doc Rivers calling his team soft to Nets Reggie Evans referring to Rondo as a mosquito buzzing around Kris Humphries face and Jason Terry calling Kris Humphries a fake tough guy… Wait, who SERIOUSLY believed Kris was a tough guy? He’s STILL married to Kim Kardashian AND he showed off photos of his scratches on Twitter last night… Nobody thinks he’s tough.

Remember after the divorce announcement when he went on “Good Morning America” with his mom to defend himself? But I digress, let’s focus back on the subject at hand.

Jason Terry:

“Some guys are tough. Some guys pretend to be. He’s one of those that pretends to be,” said Terry. “I played with him (on the 2009-10 Dallas Mavericks). Maybe that’s the role (head coach) Avery (Johnson) wants him to have, but he could leave that to somebody else.”  

Reggie Evans:

On the brawl:

“It was all for no reason. There was no reason for that. We are just playing hard. That’s all we are doing. You aren’t going to let mosquitos in your face. You are going to get bumps all over your face. So you have to knock the mosquito down”

On Humphries defending himself: 

“That’s just like a mosquito in your face. Eventually, you are going to swat at the mosquito, right?

Kevin Garnett:

It was just a hard foul… We all back each other up here… We have to protect each other. We’re a family around here.

This ain’t the Girl Scouts. This ain’t the Boy Scouts. This is the NBA.

Doc Rivers:

“If I’m Brooklyn and the league, you’ve got to think we’re pretty soft the way we’re playing. We’re a soft team right now; we have no toughness….That stuff’s (fighting) not toughness. All that stuff, that’s not toughness.”

Paul Pierce:

“Sometimes you just react. If someone’s pushing you the natural reaction is to push back.”

Avery Johnson, according to ESPN:

Johnson was proud of the way his team handled itself during the fiasco. 

“First, nobody left the bench. Guys were protecting their teammates,” Johnson said. “And our guys, we play pretty hard in practice, so a lot of what you see on the court is a product of what I see everyday. Like I said, when you have Reggie Evans and Gerald Wallace and Keith Bogans, and guys with those types of spirits, you know, those guys are rough guys. But fortunately we were able to win the game and nobody got injured.” 

Johnson was asked what Humphries could do to avoid a suspension. 

“I think guys just try to defend themselves,” Johnson said. “I think the league should really take that into account. Because I don’t know if guys can just walk away all the time — they’ve got to kind of protect themselves, not necessarily drawing a punch, but you’ve got to protect yourself. There’s a right way to do it.”

Truthfully, I don’t consider this a “brawl.” It was a fight, serious altercation perhaps but not a “brawl.” I can’t get the Malice at the Palace out of my head. THAT is a brawl.