<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">DENVER -- Forget what it looked like, Kenyon Martin insists he wasn't walking out on his teammates, and the Denver Nuggets are standing behind him. Martin retreated to the locker room with three minutes left and the Nuggets down by 15 points in a loss at Utah on Wednesday night. He returned to the bench for the final seconds. Martin has insisted ever since that he was just frustrated with the team's four-game skid and also with his ailing back and knee, and so he went to get ice treatment. He said he wasn't quitting on his teammates or dissing the organization, and both general manger Kiki Vandeweghe and coach George Karl said they took no offense. Martin, however, took offense to questions Thursday about whether he expected to face any repercussions, and on Friday, he reiterated his stance that the whole episode was being blown out of proportion. "Everybody around here knows what it is; everybody in the organization knows what happened. My teammates know what it is. Coach knows what it is," Martin said. "So & believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. That's what I live my life on." Told that fans -- and reporters -- were simply curious about his early departure and simply seeking an explanation, Martin retorted: "No, they just assumed I walked out on my team." "My back was bothering me a little bit. My knee was hurting," explained Martin. He acknowledged it didn't look good. "People see what I did: walk off the court. I snatched my back brace off and threw it. I'm frustrated. We're losing. I'm frustrated," Martin said. "Whatever it is, people are going to assume. & It is what it is."</div> Source
