Larry Brown Sports

Kenyon Martin encouraged his New York Knicks teammates to wear black to Madison Square Garden to symbolize their plans to end the Boston Celtics’ season with a funeral, but they were the ones who got buried.

The whole funeral talk began because of an exchange between Martin and the Celtics’ Jason Terry before Game 4.

“The guy was mouthing off before the game,” Kenyon Martin told the New York Daily News after Game 4. “[Terry] told me, ‘You’re not dancing at my funeral today.’’’

In response, Martin told his Knicks teammates to wear black to Wednesday’s game, which they lost 92-86. JR Smith said after the game that they were the ones who got buried.

“Well we was going to a funeral but it looked like we got buried,” JR Smith said, via NJ.com. “It’s all part of being humbled and basketball is a very humbling game.

“I’m done with this black stuff,” Smith told NJ.com. “I’m a superstitious person. I’m going to go back to my old routine.”

Meanwhile, Martin refused to talk about the black clothing when asked about it after the game. He even flashed the look of death at the reporter after being pressed on it:

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The Boston Celtics could use another big body right about now. Kevin Garnett is expected to miss as much as another two weeks with an ankle injury. KG has missed four of the past six games for the Celtics, and the team is currently in the middle of a five-game losing streak. Coincidence? I think not.

Boston could have signed Kenyon Martin to bolster their front court earlier this season, but Danny Ainge and company dragged their heels and lost him to the New York Knicks. After the Knicks beat the Celtics in Boston on Tuesday night, Martin was quick to say “I told you so.”

“It’s their fault,” he said according to Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com. “They lost. There was talks, there was negotiations, they chose not to do it. It was out of my control. I’m a Knick now, so they lost.”

The Knicks have been struggled with injuries to their front court, most notably Amar’e Stoudemire, so they decided to bring Martin in on two separate 10–day contracts before finally signing him to a deal for the veteran’s minimum. The acquisition has panned out nicely, as the 35-year-old is averaging 13.2 points and 7.0 rebounds during New York’s current five-game win streak.

When asked why the Celtics passed on Martin, Doc Rivers didn’t really have an answer.

“I don’t know,” Rivers said, via WEEI.com. “We looked at all the guys, we were still looking at guards at the time. So we were in no hurry at the time for a big. We were looking for more a big of size, if you know what I mean. And by the time we got around to it, he was gone.”

Perhaps Martin was not as much of a priority as he should have been when Garnett was relatively healthy, but the Celtics should have seen this coming given KG’s age and recent injury history. If Garnett cannot get healthy before the end of the season, the Celtics could be in danger of being bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Clippers have one of the best records in the NBA, but they have not played particularly well over the past month or so. At one point, LA ripped off a string of 17 straight victories in the month of December and looked like an early-season title contender. Since March began, the Clippers have been unable to win back-to-back games.

On Sunday, LA put a fairly convincing 93-80 beating on the New York Knicks. However, former Clipper and current Knick Kenyon Martin was not concerned about the loss because he believes Chris Paul and company are destined to fail in the postseason.

“They can’t do it in the playoffs, so it doesn’t matter,” Martin said, via ESPNLosAngeles.com. “Regular season, it’s all up-and-down. We know how the game goes in the regular season.

“I don’t care what they do, to be honest with you. I hope they lose every game.”

As Pro Basketball Talk pointed out, the Clippers last four losses have come against the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder. All four of those teams will be in the playoffs, so Vinny Del Negro is going to have to find a way to get his team to play consistently against quality opponents if LA is going to make a deep run.

Having said that, Martin is clearly biased toward his former team. The Clippers didn’t want to keep him around, so it’s only natural for him to want them to fail. As we have learned in the past, talk is cheap when it comes to the playoffs. LA could turn it on as soon as the postseason begins, or they could bow out and prove Martin right. Only time will tell.

George Karl has been adamant about the fact that he is more relaxed this season. Now that the Nuggets are without a true superstar, Karl has more control over his locker room and a team that is more willing to buy into his philosophy. With a record of 17-15, Denver has exceeded expectations through the first half of the shortened season. One of Karl’s former players, Kenyon Martin, feels that the Nuggets coach should stop talking about what a hassle his former players were.

“Man, listen, George needs to keep his mouth shut, first and foremost,” Martin told Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick. “Melo don’t play there no more. So Karl shouldn’t be commenting on Melo. If George was such a great coach, then Melo would want to stay. He wouldn’t want to leave.

“If the organization was ran right, he wouldn’t want to leave, so it ain’t Melo. With Melo, not one time when he was there did he bring that in the locker room when all that stuff was going on. Not one day. Everybody made it a bigger deal than it had to be. That’s a good kid. They act like this kid was a cancer, like he came in there and destroyed the locker room and made everybody hate him. No, it wasn’t nothing like that man. And it bothers me for people to be talking about how he’s a selfish player and he has to defend himself.”

Melo may not have discussed wanting a trade in the actual locker room, but there was no question the issue became a cloud over the organization. Karl said this season that he grew tired of the whole situation with Melo last year, but who wouldn’t? It can be almost impossible to do your job as a coach with a disgruntled superstar on the team. In a certain sense, Martin is right. Karl needs to let it go and focus on the team he has now. That doesn’t mean Carmelo was completely innocent, either.

H/T Pro Basketball Talk

These pictures of Kenyon Martin’s lips tattoo being covered up, courtesy of Sports by Brooks, seem to indicate he has suffered a serious break-up with his former girlfriend — a rapper named Trina.  Brooks’ source sent him the photos that he had taken in a Miami night club called Lux Nightclub and said K-Mart was with a woman that night that was not Trina.  Here’s what Martin had to say about the tattoo when he got it back in 2008:

It’s just something that I wanted to get a while ago, but I’m not just gonna get it for anyone .. (someone) who is special to me, who means something to me.“

If breaking up with this woman means getting rid of arguably the most ridiculous tattoo a professional athlete has ever gotten, then I’d say it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to K-Mart.  That thing was tough to even look at.  Who wants to see a grown man playing basketball on national television with a red pair of lips tattooed on his neck?  Certainly not me.  Maybe I’ll be able to watch a few more Nuggets games now.  Probably not.

Source:
Photo: Kenyon Martin Covers Lips Tattoo On Neck [SPORTS by BROOKS]

I love a good prank. I don’t know about you, but some of my favorite sports stories are the ones where they talk about the shenanigans going on between teammates. Baseball pranks generally are the best, but some basketball pranks aren’t far behind. Though they’re good for the audience, they sometimes leave the people involved less than laughing. Such was the case for Kenyon Martin of the Denver Nuggets.

On Thursday, April Fools Day, Nuggets former ball boy Laquan Johnson went into the Nuggets’ locker room to take Martin’s car keys so he could fill the car with popcorn, replicating a Sacramento Kings prank from last year. Seems pretty harmless right? Oh, I forgot to mention the interior of Martin’s car is white and the popcorn was buttered. Oops. Needless to say Martin was pretty ticked off. He stormed into the locker room and said the following:

“That ain’t no [expletive] joke. I’m going to find out who did it … put my [expletive] hands on one of y’all. I’m going to put my hands on whoever did it. You better believe that. It’s [expletive] personal. You better believe it.”

Apparently, Martin was more angry that someone could just go into the locker room and steal his keys than the prank itself. He was worried that something more serious could have happened.  He even threatened to sit out for the post season if someone didn’t fess up for the prank.

This isn’t the first time that Martin has decided to take matters into his own hands. Last year he got into it with Mark Cuban who was fighting with Martin’s mom. Eventually the ball boy apologized to Martin and said he would pay for the damages. I think it’s K-Mart who should lighten up; it’s only a car and it’s not like he can’t afford to get his interior cleaned.

Sources:
Martin upset about popcorn prank [ESPN]

Sometimes the NBA just really starts to resemble the WWE in ways that it shouldn’t. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was pretty heated following the controversial Game 3 loss to Denver on Saturday night, as previously mentioned. That’s no surprise considering how quickly the Mavs went from being in control and back in the series to losing and being out of it. In the dust-up after the ending to the game, Mark Cuban apparently had some words for Kenyon Martin’s mom: “Cuban said Sunday by e-mail that when he walked off the court, a fan was screaming about the Nuggets being “thugs,” so Cuban said to Martin’s mother: “That includes your son.” The two know each other from an incident earlier in the series when Martin’s mom approached Cuban and instigated by talking crap. Not satisfied to merely let his play on the court do the talking, Kenyon Martin is now getting in the middle of things:

“I don’t feel I need to call his name in the media and all that, but it’s a little personal. And I’m going to take care of it.”
…
“(Heck) yeah, don’t say nothing to my kids or my family. If you got something to say, say it to me. But I’m going to take care of it. I’m not going to do the whole media thing, back and forth. That’s his thing. I’m more of a face-to-face type of dude.

“So whenever the opportunity presents itself, then I will address it. But I got a game to go win. At some point I will, but I got a game to go win, first and foremost. So that’s my focus and concentration right now.”

Come on Mark, it’s Mother’s Day! I think it’s fair to say that Martin’s mom was out of line the first time she approached Cuban to gloat and that Mark’s reaction after Game 3 wasn’t called for either. Any wonder why MLB didn’t want this guy owning a team? I still say he should get one — he makes everything more interesting.

(photo credit: Getty Images)

UPDATE: You might want to see this video taken after Game 4. Believe me, the language from Kenyon Martin directed towards Mark Cuban is very strong.