Newz Forum: BASKETBALL: Carter's mother: Vince and Raps coach tussled

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Vince Carter's mother says her son had a physical confrontation with Raptors coach Sam Mitchell earlier this season when he played in Toronto, and Carter did not deny it.

"So? What's the big deal," Carter said when asked about the incident following the New Jersey Nets' 101-91 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.

"You make an altercation (sound) like a fight," Carter said when a questioner used that term. The reporter who asked the question explained that an altercation could be a fight, to which Carter replied: "Exactly." He had no further comment.

Mitchell, speaking to reporters in Toronto after the 76ers-Raptors game, said he and Carter merely wrestled. But Carter's mother, Michelle, said her son slammed Mitchell onto a massage table in the Raptors' locker room after the coach challenged Carter.

Mitchell also reportedly challenged point guard Rafer Alston to a fight during halftime of Toronto's game Tuesday night at Cleveland.

Michelle Carter said she found out about the altercation from the coach, not from her son, after Mitchell mentioned it in passing at the Raptors' Christmas party.

"So I asked Vince what happened. He told me he couldn't take Sam's challenges anymore, so he picked him up and threw him on the massage table. That definitely happened. No question about it. And if anyone says it didn't happen, they're lying," she told Sportsnet of Canada.

Michelle Carter also spoke with reporters in New Jersey after the Spurs-Nets game.

"I did not say it was a fight," she said. "I want to clarify that. I wasn't there, I'm just going by what Sam Mitchell said and what Vince Carter told me."

Mitchell said he was joking with Carter and guard Alvin Williams.

"I crack jokes in the locker room like I did the past 18 years about players getting old, breaking down, and having to get a massage," Mitchell said. "I smacked both of them on the rear-end, joking. When I laid down on the table, cause my back was hurting, because I am really getting old, Vince laid on my back and Alvin was laughing saying WWE. That's all it was, that was it."

Alvin Williams also said there was no fight and he laughed about the report.

The Sportsnet report also quoted Michelle Carter as saying she talked to Toronto guard Morris Peterson on Thursday.

"I haven't talked to her since Vince was traded," Peterson said.

Carter was traded from Toronto to New Jersey in late December for two-first-round draft picks, center Alonzo Mourning and forwards Eric Williams and Aaron Williams.

Mourning was waived Friday after the Raptors negotiated a buyout of his contract, Eric Williams has asked to be traded and Aaron Williams has barely played since being dealt.

Carter was ejected for the first time his career Friday night after he picked up two technical fouls in confrontations with Spurs forward Bruce Bowen. He had tied his season high of 43 points before being tossed early in the fourth quarter.

source

ESPN