WASHINGTON — Kyle O’Quinn issued an apology for screaming at Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek as he came off the court on Friday — an ugly scene caught on MSG Network’s cameras.
Hornacek was angry at O’Quinn for not closing out better on a corner 3-point shot by Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns.
O’Quinn, who missed the Wizards game Sunday with an unrelated sore hip, said even his mother texted him to admonish him for his behavior. Hornacek said he didn’t take the verbal attack personally, though replays showed the Knicks coach looked heated as assistant Kurt Rambis held him back.
“I’ll be the first one to say my reaction was the wrong one,’’ O’Quinn said Sunday. “Someone yelled at me, I yelled back. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
O’Quinn said there’s no deeper dislike between the two. The incident became magnified partially because a dustup between Hornacek and Joakim Noah led to Noah leaving the team for the rest of the season.
O’Quinn said he didn’t need to talk to Hornacek after Friday’s incident.
“Two grown men respect each other in our own right,’’ O’Quinn said. “I would never disrespect a coach to the point we have to hash it out the next year. It sucks it was on TV. The camera was in my mouth. In training camp, practice, there’s a lot more said behind closed doors when you don’t have to speak about it the next day.’’
Hornacek said he has long forgiven O’Quinn.
“It’s heat of the game,’’ Hornacek said. “I thought he should’ve gotten up closer on a 3-point contest and he thought he was up far enough. He went back in the game, didn’t he?”
O’Quinn is known as one of the clowns of the locker room with a volatile personality.
“We like guys who are fiery,’’ Hornacek said. “Kyle’s done a great job all year long with his activity and intensity.’’
Asked if he saw the video, O’Quinn said, “I saw it before you saw it. My phone was buzzing. My mom was the first to call me. She don’t play that kind of stuff. I explained to her it was bang-bang. She understood.”
And O’Quinn said he didn’t mind that Hornacek appeared to want to go after him.
“I like that s–t,” he said. “It was heat of the moment, heat of the game. He’s a competitor, ex-player. I’m sure if he’s in that position, he would’ve done something different back in his day. I was fired up at the game. I felt it was a winnable game. They were going to let us dance a bit and we were going to be in it. It’s just a reaction. You know how I am on the floor — fiery.”
O’Quinn is finishing his sixth NBA season and has never made the playoffs. He can opt out of his contract after the season and said never reaching the postseason could be a factor.
“You want to be in the party,’’ O’Quinn said. “We thought we had a great chance here.’’
