Much Ado About Nothing: Kevin Garnett, Antonio McDyess Ejected in Mini-Scrum

With 5:18 left in the fourth quarter of Friday's Pistons-T'Wolves game, Antonio McDyess and Mark Madsen got tangled up under the basket as Rip Hamilton sank a runner in the lane. That's when the AP says McDyess gave Madsen "a forearm shiver," though from the eyes of this biased Pistons fan I'd say it looked like McDyess simply, yet emphatically, shook himself loose from a defender clutching both of his arms. Whatever you want to call it, Madsen went sprawling to the ground. And somewhere, separated by hundreds of miles and two continents, Bill Laimbeer and Vlade Divac shared a very special moment.

Kevin Garnett was paying attention to Hamilton during this whole exchange, so he didn't have a frame of reference for why he turned to see his teammate tumbling to the ground. Instead, he saw Madsen fall out of the corner of his eye and proceeded to shove McDyess, who was already walking away, in the back. McDyess turned around and shoved KG, who grabbed the bouncing ball out of the air and chucked it at McDyess' chest at point-blank range.

This is where it gets interesting, right? No, this is where it fizzles out. McDyess started advancing toward KG, who actually threw a punch, but by that point KG was backpedaling so much he either missed or barely grazed McDyess' chest. Words were exchanged and McDyess clearly tried to get to KG, but KG was in full-fledged Carmelo hit-and-run mode, putting just enough space between the two for them to be separated by teammates, coaches and officials but staying close enough to hurl insults.

Both players were ejected from the game. Minnesota made it very interesting the rest of the way, but after Mike James and Chauncey Billups traded absolutely huge clutch three pointers the Pistons pulled ahead in the second overtime.

Said Antonio McDyess after the game, "I know they can win without me. I don't think they can win without K.G." Said Madsen, "Everyone in this locker room is behind Kevin Garnett 100 percent," which is what you'd expect him to say considering Garnett almost put himself in a situation that would have called for an automatic suspension simply because Madsen decided to flop.

In any event, Madsen also predicted this little episode would "galvanize" the Timberwolves. I suppose "team unity" is one potential outcome, though I'm guessing Ricky Davis is none too happy about being benched midway through the third quarter. T'Wolves head coach Dwayne Casey said he didn't like Davis' focus, and after KG got the boot the team was forced to play the rest of the fourth and both overtime periods without their top two scorers.