Knicks' Marcus Morris Apologizes for Saying Jae Crowder Had 'Female Tendencies'

Tensions were high near the end of the Memphis Grizzlies' 127-106 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday, and Marcus Morris Sr. escalated things even further with a sexist response after the game.

Knicks point guard Elfrid Payton shoved Grizzlies swingman Jae Crowder to the ground in the final minute when the latter shot a three-pointer from the corner, which led to a scuffle and both players' ejections.

Morris told reporters Crowder has "a lot of female tendencies on the court, flopping and throwing his head back. ... He's soft. ... It's just very woman-like."

The Knicks forward then tweeted an apology that said: "I apologize for using the term 'female tendencies' I have the upmost respect for women and everything they mean to us. It was a Heat of the moment response and I never intended for any Women to feel as though in anyway I'm disrespecting them. Again I apologize with my comments."

That Morris shot an ugly 5-of-17 from the field wasn't lost on Crowder, who quote-tweeted Morris' sexist comments and said, "THIS IS WHAT 5-17 LOOKS LIKE.!!"

He also responded to a comment from ESPN's Tim Legler suggesting Crowder should not have been stealing the ball and shooting a three-pointer so late in the game when the win was already secured with another capital-letter response:

"AYE TIM WITH ALL DUE RESPECT I ONLY PLAY ONE WAY AND THATS HARD TIL THE BUZZER SOUNDS. IM SORRY IF IT DISGUSTS YOU. I KNOW KNICKS ARE YOUR TEAM BUT U SHOULD TELL THEM TO PLAY HARDER AND LESS TALKING.!"

Crowder scored 18 points with seven rebounds in an efficient performance that saw him shoot 4-of-6 from three-point range.

Outside of the sexist inaccuracies in Morris' statement that associated weak traits such as "flopping" and being "soft" on the court with women, it also undercuts the reputation Crowder has built as a hard-nosed defender, especially when he was on the Boston Celtics.

Morris' Knicks fell to 13-36 with the loss, while Crowder's Grizzlies improved to 24-24.