Celtics legend Kevin Garnett reveals the best trash talker he ever played with

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/celtics-legend-kevin-garnett-reveals-215414219.html



Celtics legend Kevin Garnett reveals the best trash talker he ever played with



NBC Sports Boston

December 24, 2019, 6:54 PM GMT-3




Boston Celtics legend Kevin Garnett was one of the best trash talkers in NBA history, so he's uniquely qualified to talk about the subject.

Garnett and former Celtics teammate Tony Allen recently were interviewed by The Players' Tribune, and they were asked to reveal the best trash talking teammate or opponent from their careers. It didn't take long for them to name a future Hall of Famer they played alongside on the Celtics' NBA Finals-winning team in 2007-08.

Question: Best trash talker you ever played against or with?

Allen: Paul Pierce.
Garnett: I was going to say the same thing.
Allen: He talked so much.
Garnett: And (he) backs it up.

Pierce backed up his trash talk by hitting so many clutch shots, many of which came in the NBA playoffs.

One of the best examples happened during the 2003 playoffs when Pierce sank a clutch 3-point shot over Indiana Pacers guard Al Harrington in Game 4 of a first-round series. Pierce and Harrington exchanged quite a bit of trash talk during the build up to the shot. This playoff series happened a few years before Garnett arrived in Boston, but it's still a great example of how Pierce backed up his trash talk.



Pierce was the Celtics' best trash talker since Larry Bird. The swagger and confidence that Pierce played with are among the many reasons why "The Truth" is so beloved by Celtics fans, especially those too young to remember Bird's era.


bob
MY NOTE:  Pierce might have talked trash but he wasn't even in Larry Legend's league when it came to that.  Nobody talked trash like Bird, and nobody backed it up like him neither.  That's why Pierce was the best trash talker since Larry Bird and not since before him.



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Agreed nobody talked MORE trash then Bird, he did it in that Hoosier twang, but Pierce had a lot of big moments too. Different eras, both a lot of fun, too bad it took so many years for Pierce to get a winning supporting cast.

I bet Tommy had quite the mouth in the 50's and 60s too.

worcester wrote:I bet Tommy had quite the mouth in the 50's and 60s too.

I don't know if this qualifies as trash talking but I think it was our Sam who used to say that his good friend, Sam Jones, would say things to Wilt and Wilt would chase him all over the court. Couldn't catch him, of course, but he'd chase him until a ref got in between them. I think it was Sam Jones...

And KG calling Lala Anthony, Carmelo's wife, "Honey Nut Cheerios" to Melo's face has to be up there too.


bob



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It definitely was Sam Jones. I watched one game...I think on Channel 38 UHF...in the 60's during which Sam taunted Wilt so badly ("Too late!") that Wilt took after Sam. Sam grabbed a chair and fended Wikt off that way, having to retreat up 4 or five stairs in to the rows of fans to defend himself!

P.S. My friend Mike is best friend's with LaLa Anthony's dad, and Mike went to a birthday party for her dad recently, a big bash at a luxury restaurant in NYC. Melo insisted on picking up the check for everyone.

Mike said that Melo regularly finds bright young poor students from inner city schools and gives them a full free ride through college. He never seeks recognition for his charitable works and is consistently and enormously generous. Everyone loves him. Even his wife. I am so glad his career has risen from the ashes in Portland.

A former HS teammate of mine is now a HS coach in Atlanta. He tells me how Melo frequently would give clinics, mentor young boys and girls and generously donate time, money, and equipment to area schools and boys&girls clubs. All low key and with no pub or fanfare. I'm sure if he's doing it in the Atlanta area he is definitely doing it in Baltimore, where he was raised and no doubt other cities as well. A real class act, and to second Worcester, I am happy he's gotten another chance and is showing he deserved it.