There’s no greater respite from the mid-season NBA doldrums than a Knicks vs. Celtics grudge match, and Monday night delivered a classic. The NBA League Pass crowd, which likely ditched the BCS Championship Game after Alabama’s second touchdown, switched over to MSG Network and bore witness to Carmelo Anthony laying brick after brick (6-26 from the field) while master pest Kevin Garnett yacked away in his ear. Chippy play between the two All-Star forwards led to a double-technical early in the fourth quarter:

Later, with just under three minutes to play and the Knicks down three, Carmelo took an extra swipe at Garnett after being called for his fifth foul. As players headed to the bench, Carmelo can very clearly be seen yelling something that rhymes with “Truck You!”

Then, after the final buzzer, Carmelo — blowing off half-hearted attempts by his teammates to stop him — headed straight for the Celtics locker room.

Apparently Carmelo still wasn’t finished, as video from CSN New England shows him waiting for Garnett outside the Celtics’ team bus, for what could have been the All-Star, almost-assuredly-not-packing-heat version of a Chris Mills/Bonzi Wells situation.

[AzontoGhanaMp3, NBA4EVERYONE, beyondthebuzzer, CSNNE]