Kyle O'Quinn: Shouting match with Jeff Hornacek was 'wrong reaction'

Knicks centerKyle O'Quinnsaid he was wrong to yell at coach Jeff Hornacek during a heated exchange in New York's loss to the Timberwolves on Friday night.

"I'd be the first one to say that my wrong reaction was the wrong one. I shouldn't have come back. Just because somebody is yelling at me, I shouldn't yell back. Two wrongs don't make a right," O'Quinn said in Washington D.C., according to published reports.

Cameras showed O'Quinn yelling obscenities at Hornacek after the coach admonished O'Quinn for failing to defendKarl-Anthony Townson the perimeter Friday.

Separate replays showed that Hornacek reacted angrily to O'Quinn's retort, but the coach downplayed the incident on Sunday, per reports.

"It was over as soon as the time out was," Hornacek said. "That happens sometimes with teams and guys want to win. That's that."

O'Quinn, the Knicks' backup center, said he didn't apologize to Hornacek afterward because there was no need to.

"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.''

O'Quinn added that he didn't mind that Hornacek appeared to want to go back at him during the exchange.

"I like that s---," 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."

Hornacek and Knicks center Joakim Noah had to be separated during an argument at practice in late January, which led to Noah and the team agreeing to part ways for the rest of the season. The Hornacek-O'Quinn blowup appears to be an isolated incident without the long-term implications of the Noah issue. As Hornacek pointed out, O'Quinn was inserted back into the game on Friday after the exchange. O'Quinn missed Sunday's 101-97 win over the Wizards due to a hip injury.