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Not talking Unresponsive Camby not ready to forgive and forget
Posted: Sunday April 23, 2000 05:48 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Butch Carter was ready to forgive and forget. Marcus Camby wasn't feeling remorse. Camby glared in Carter's direction on his way downcourt following two baskets for New York, mouthing an expletive after the second, during the Knicks' 92-88 win over Toronto in the teams' playoff opener Sunday. Carter filed a $5 million defamation suit against Camby on Friday because the Knicks forward reportedly called the coach "a liar." But the coach said Sunday the suit "would go away" if Camby apologized. "It would be a start if we could just talk," Carter said after the game. "There's nothing for me to do. I will not slap an extended hand." Camby didn't make an overture on or off the court. With Toronto's bench at the same end of the floor as New York's basket in the second quarter, Camby let neither of his only two field goals pass without a deliberate look toward Carter. Camby dismissed the posturing - "That's not me trying to egg stuff on," he said -- but wouldn't say whether he would try to make amends with his former coach. Toronto traded Camby to New York after the 1997-98 season, a move at the root of the current flap. "I'm not going to let some person be that aggressive in not telling any semblance of the truth, and from a timing standpoint it was totally premeditated," Carter said. "I'm not above criticism, but I'm not going to allow that kind of attack." NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik criticized Carter, saying, "A coach suing a player over his public comments seems unprecedented and highly inappropriate." Camby was served papers after Friday night's practice. The suit, filed in New York Supreme Court, stems from comments by Camby printed in the New York Daily News on Wednesday. Camby said shortly before Toronto traded the forward, Carter had promised that the Raptors planned to build their team around him. "He is a liar," Camby was quoted as saying. "I don't like him. No one likes him, and no one wants to play for him. That's the kind of guy he is." Camby finished with more personal fouls (five) than points (four) in 24 minutes Sunday, though he did provide some strong interior defense that helped Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston hound Toronto's Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady into shooting a combined 12-for-41 from the floor. Carter has been getting almost as much attention as his best players of late. In addition to the Camby spat, there was his book charging Indiana coach Bobby Knight with racism, criticism for calling too many plays for youngsters Carter and McGrady, and an exchange of barbs with Milwaukee counterpart George Karl. The coach indicated some of the stir might have been by design. "The main thing is I kept the media off [Vince Carter and McGrady]," Butch Carter said. "I just couldn't keep Sprewell and Houston off them."
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