November 20 1999
Latrell Sprewell makes his much anticipated first appearance as a visitor against the Warriors, his first since the P.J. Carlesimo incident. Sprewell had an emotionally intense showing, jawing with Chris Mills and multiple times staring down the man he choked for almost 10 seconds. Spree was met with majorly boos from the crowd-some cheers- and began playing into the response. Carlesimo couldn't help but smile when Sprewell was introduced and met with boos. Jeff Van Gundy was described by Walt "Clyde" Frazier as one of Carlesimo's "best friends", which adds an interesting wrinkle to the whole outcome of the incident. After his first make, you can see Sprewell glaring straight at Carlesimo, which becomes an ongoing occurrence during this game. He was met with boos practically every time the ball was in his hands. He would finish with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists on an inefficient 6 of 17 from the field. No matter how much Sprewell hated Carlesimo, Carlesimo showed him respect throughout the game by sending double teams his way.
Sprewell choked out Carlesimo after having enough of Carlesimo's alleged college-like coaching style. Carlesimo told him according to Tony Delk to "put more mustard" on a pass, to which Sprewell erupted into a physical assault.
The following is copied and pasted from Latrell's Wikipedia page: "Sprewell responded [to Carlesimo] that he was not in the mood for criticism and told the coach to keep his distance. When Carlesimo approached, Sprewell threatened to kill him and dragged him backward by his throat, choking him for 7–10 seconds before his teammates and assistant coaches pulled him off Carlesimo. Sprewell returned about 20 minutes later after showering and changing and again accosted Carlesimo. He landed a glancing blow at Carlesimo's right cheek before being dragged away again by the assistant coaches."
Sprewell was ultimately suspended for 68 games without pay. On another note, during his suspension, Sprewell served 3 months of house arrest for his role in a 90+ MPH accident that injured two people.
It's safe to say Sprewell's feelings for Carlesimo and Golden State as a whole remained the same heading into the first meeting, where he stated courtesy of Rich Eisen on SportsCenter, "I just want to go in there and crush them".
Sprewell had two other practice incidents as a member of the Warriors, in 1993 he fought Byron Houston, who was known for a "Mike Tyson-like demeanor and physique", and in 1995 he fought teammate Jerome Kersey, returned to practice with a two-by-four, and allegedly threatened to return with a gun. He didn't have any practice fights to my knowledge in New York nor Minnesota, especially following his sorrowed reputation following the Carlesimo incident. If he did, they were kept internal.
While this was Sprewell's first game against the Golden State Warriors, this was also the first time John Starks played against the Knicks after his lengthy stint as a spark plug and fan favorite. Starks was a stray casualty in this whole mess by being involved in the trade that freed Sprewell (or should I say freed Carlesimo from Latrell) from Golden State. He is also covered in this video in spurts, but the main focus in this video, as was most people's, was Sprewell's actions and performance and Carlesimo's reactions to everything going on.
8:02 anyone catch what Clyde said there? Classic Walt.
