Spike Lee says Pierce is "talking crazy"; discusses his lack of friendship with KG

Spike Lee: a man of many stupid hats
Paul Pierce may have changed teams, but his rivalry with Spike Lee has not changed one bit.

Pierce is now sharing a city with Lee, and the world's foremost Knicks fan took some serious offense to Pierce saying that it was "time for the Nets to start running this city".

Speaking at an event honoring Carmelo Anthony for his charitable work (Melo is not charitable with the ball..but apparently is very charitable off the court. So good on him), Lee fired back at Pierce. Via ESPN New York.

"Other teams are making a lot of noise with their big, major announcements with every move, like the Nets," Lee told ESPNNewYork.com during an event honoring Carmelo Anthony for his contributions to the New York City community. "The Knicks have been very quiet assembling their team, which I love. I love the fact that people are picking the Knicks fifth or lower in the East. It's great; let people think that. Paul Pierce is talking crazy."

Pierce and Lee have seemingly been jawing back and forth forever, with Pierce getting the last laugh for much of the past decade and a half (Since Pierce's rookie season, the Celtics have made the playoffs 10 times, won 14 playoff series, appeared in 4 Eastern Conference Finals, 2 NBA Finals and won 1 championship; the Knicks have made the post-season 7 times, won 6 series, appeared in 2 Eastern Conference Finals, 1 NBA Finals and have not won it all), but their spats have been nothing in comparison to Lee's beef with the other Celtic turned Net — Kevin Garnett.

Lee and KG had a famous falling out in 2011, when Garnett reportedly cursed out Lee, and then Spike told the media, "Garnett needs to calm the f**k down.

To this day, Garnett and Lee do not speak, showing that KG takes his off the court rivalries just as seriously as his on court ones.

"Him? We don't speak," he said. "We're cordial when we see each other, but I'm not calling him up. I don't have his number to call him up, and he ain't calling me up either."

I know I'm not alone in saying that one of the things I'll miss most about KG is his demeanor on the court. The fact that he is not friends with the opponent during the game is an endearing quality that not many modern players in any sport possess, and his beef with Lee shows off that demeanor pretty well. Spike wants to act like a player, yelling for 48 minutes a night while standing 3 inches from the court? So be it. But KG is going to treat him like a player.

Nets-Knicks should be a pretty good time this season. Unlike Spike, who called the Knicks off-season a success, I think New York had a terrible summer. They traded for a soft, injury prone seven footer in Bargnani, signed a soon to be 34-year-old Metta World Peace, and lost J.R. Smith for at least 4 months after he underwent knee surgery. The Nets on the other hand had one of the best summers of anybody, not only acquiring Pierce, KG and Terry from the C's, but signing Andrei Kirilenko and retaining Andray Blatche.

Brooklyn may never "run" the city as Pierce says they will, but they are in great shape when it comes to being better than "big brother" this season. The situation actually compares to the Clippers-Lakers rivalry, where one team has the history but the other has the better team.

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