LeBron James and the Knicks have had something brewing for the last few days. Ever since James said that Dennis Smith Jr. should be in New York instead of Dallas. He later clarified it was a shot at Phil Jackson, but Enes Kanter didn't care and threw criticism at James for his comments. New York was going to stand up for its point guard.

When the two teams met Monday night, James finished off a dunk and ran into Frank Ntilikina while running back. After the two collided neither backed down and Ntlikina gave James a shove that prompted Enes Kanter to come over and protect his guy.

After this incident, Madison Square Garden erupted into chants of cheers for Ntilikina and the atmosphere changed to something far more intense than a regular-season game. The Knicks were pissed. LeBron was pissed. This game means a lot more than it previously did and the atmosphere for it is awesome.

New York ripped off an 11-0 run against the Cavaliers, Dwyane Wade picked up a technical foul, and Ntilikina even stripped LeBron of the ball at one point. All of this, because James decided to throw a compliment toward Smith. Whoops.

This should be good the rest of the way (Cavs-Knicks GameTracker).