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Report: Davis' wife says she's glad husband came to her aid(New York Daily News (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) NEW YORK _ Kendra Davis stood by her man on Thursday, even as the NBA came down hard on him. The wife of Knicks forward Antonio Davis said he was 100 percent right to rush into the stands to defend her against what she called foulmouthed, drunken fans during a game with the Chicago Bulls. "It was probably good that he came up," Kendra Davis, 35, told the New York Daily News at the family's suburban home outside Chicago. "People around us didn't like to hear that kind of language." Davis was suspended for five games for violating strict league rules against entering the stands. "We knew there would be some consequences to his actions, whether he deserved them or not," Kendra Davis said. Accounts differ over what precipitated the fracas Wednesday night at Chicago's United Center; one of the Bulls fans involved so vehemently disputed Davis' account that he announced plans to sue the Davises for $1 million. The former beauty queen _ who is no stranger to controversy _ says the fans cursed her out and even grabbed her wrist in front of their 10-year-old twins, Kaela and Antonio Jr. (A.J.). "There was a lot of finger-pointing," she said. "Maybe he thought I was going to slap him because he knew that's the kind of language you get slapped for." "At one point, they grabbed my mom," said Kaela Davis, 10, at their home. Antonio Davis, 37, a soft-spoken power forward who is president of the NBA players' union, was kicked out of the game. The suspension was announced before Thursday night's home game against the Detroit Pistons. But Bulls fan Michael Axelrod, 22, emphatically disputed Kendra Davis' account and said she scratched his face after he loudly protested a referee's call. Chicago cops said they didn't take any action against either Davis or Axelrod, the son of prominent Democratic strategist David Axelrod. "I don't think there was anything criminal here at all," said police spokesman Pat Camden. It was the first time an NBA player has entered the stands during a game since the infamous brawl between members of the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons fans on Nov. 19, 2004. Kendra Davis said she went to the game with her children and at least 10 members of her daughter's basketball team, which Antonio Davis coaches. The kids were standing late in the game when a fan yelled at them to sit down. Another fan yelled a vulgar reference to the female anatomy at Kendra Davis, sparking the standoff, she said. "You see a lot and you hear a lot from the fans," said Kendra Davis, a slender woman who wore jeans and a lime-green shirt on Thursday. "But I don't think it needs to get personal and name-calling when my kids are right there. "There are just a few knuckleheads out there, like anywhere," she added. Kendra Davis said it was ironic that her husband was punished for the incident because he was only trying to be a peacemaker. "If you're at work in an office and see your husband or wife in an altercation, you get out of your desk and go help," she said. "That's what happened." Even though she is beautiful, smart and outspoken, Kendra Davis has certainly courted controversy. Unlike most players' wives, she has played an unusually prominent role in Davis' hoops career and once raised hackles in Toronto when she suggested that the couple's twin children should grow up "in America." During a playoff game while Davis played for the Toronto Raptors, she got into an angry shouting match with Latrell Sprewell. She pushed for her husband to sign with her hometown Bulls and returned to Chicago with the twins because she wasn't happy with the children going to Canadian schools. Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons said Kendra Davis left rambling, obscenity-peppered voice mails when she disliked his stories. "It's not totally surprising she was involved in this kind of incident," Simmons said. ___ Richard Schapiro contributed to this report. ___ (c) 2006, New York Daily News. Visit the Daily News online at http://www.nydailynews.com/ Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. _____ PHOTOS (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Antonio Davis For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected]. |