Knicks' Kanter encouraged teammates to pick fight: 'I'll pay for the fine'

Enes Kanter wants to see some fight in his team.

The New York Knicks center is sidelined with a back injury, but is trying to fire up his teammates from the bench. The scrappy and audacious big man revealed that when the Knicks looked listless during Monday's game, he egged on a couple players to pick a fight with the Portland Trail Blazers.

"I told - I'm not going to tell who - I told somebody, 'Hey man, go out there and fight with somebody. Get the energy up.' No, I'm serious," Kanter told reporters postgame, as quoted by the New York Post's Greg Joyce.

"Go out there and just hit somebody or fight with somebody, get a technical foul, I'll pay for the fine, I don't care. Just go out there and do your thing. We needed that energy, we needed that fight. ... I told two guys to just go fight."

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Though Kanter didn't name names, his teammates may have outed themselves during the game as the Knicks mounted a small comeback in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 26 points.

New York's Michael Beasley got physical with Jusuf Nurkic, and Frank Ntilikina then came to his teammate's defense, shoving the "Bosnian Beast."

Both Knicks players earned a technical foul on the play, but it seems Kanter will be footing the bill. While the altercation spiced up the tilt, it was all for naught as the Blazers left MSG with a 103-91 victory.

Kanter hopes to return from his three-game absence Wednesday when the 10-10 Knicks host the Miami Heat, but indicated he probably won't be 100 percent by then.