Kenyon Martin was among the most-animated players during the scrum that developed in the seconds after the Nuggets' controversial game-three win over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, for reasons that weren't readily apparent to TV viewers. But his reaction made perfect sense after word got out that Mavs owner Mark Cuban had lobbed a rude comment at K-Mart's mom as he left his seat (on the way to shoving a cameraman -- an act that was caught on ABC's broadcast). Of course, anyone would have been pissed off under those circumstances. Still, K-Mart is uncommonly close to his mom, as I discovered during a March 2008 game I wrote about in a blog entitled "Carmelo and K-Mart Spout Off at Sign-Waving Critic." Throughout the contest, K-Mart engaged in upbeat, back-and-forth commentary with a woman seated a few rows behind the bench, provoking the curiosity of an enormously drunk J.R. Smith booster sitting nearby. At one point, this guy asked, "Who you talkin' to, K-Mart?" Martin grinned and announced, "My mama."
There's a very good chance the Mavs will win game four tonight, fueled by anger over the no-call that preceded Melo's victory-snatching shot -- a prelude to their loss of the series in five. If they don't, bet K-Mart has a lot to do with it. Because he's not the kind of person who'll sit silently as someone messes with his mother.
