Carmelo Anthony on wife, Celtics talk: 'I would be upset if I were her'

BOSTON -- Carmelo Anthony wishes the Celtics would stop bringing up his wife when they talk trash to him.

Speculation was that Celtics reserve Jordan Crawford made a disparaging remark about Anthony's wife, LaLa Vazquez, as the teams left the court after Game 5 Wednesday. LaLa responded Thursday on Twitter, "Try again. You on the bench for a reason.''

"She always gets thrown into the mix of the Boston Celtic series, so I would be upset if I was her,'' Anthony said Friday. "She's her own person at the end of the day, so she has the right to say whatever she wants to say.

"As far as anything goes, basketball is the first priority. No disrespect to anybody else, but I'm trying to win this series. I told ya'll all year long that I would let no negativity in our locker room, into our circle, and that's the way it's going to be.''

Back in black

Much was made about the Knicks wearing "funeral'' attire to Game 5, and the Celtics showed them in their all-black outfits on the jumbotron before the game. It also had a Kenyon Martin quote about the Knicks closing it out in Game 5. "I didn't even see it, to be honest with you,'' he said. "I don't look at opposing teams' big screens before the game.''