A little kid ran onto the court during Monday night’s game between the New York Knicks and New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center, and hugged Carmelo Anthony. The young boy ran from under the basket to embrace Anthony during a stoppage in play, right before the Knicks were getting ready to inbound the ball.
Usually when someone runs onto the court or field, we worry about the safety of the athletes and officials, or just mock some drunk moron for punching their own ticket to jail (and then laugh when they’re tackled by security guards).
But in this instance, the natural reaction is more like, “Awww, that’s adorable!”
Even the Pelicans’ security didn’t seem to care, at all. Referee Kevin Cutler was the one who ushered the kid off the court. No word on whether or not the boy and his parent or guardian were asked to leave the arena afterwards.
Melo was asked about the kid after the game:
“It was a little kid,” Anthony said when explaining his friendly response. “I was shocked. I didn’t really know who was it until I actually looked over and saw that it was a kid.”
The Knicks forward then undercut the cuteness of the moment with pointing out that something like that should raise concerns. “Definitely a security issue though, for sure.”
[AP]