A trove of Kevin Garnett stories

https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/03/13/0313-bh-s-kgstories/



A trove of Kevin Garnett stories




(04/04/12, Boston, MA) Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett (5) pounds his chest prior to the start of the game as the Celtics take on the Spurs at the Garden. Wednesday, April 04, 2012. (Staff photo by Stuart Cahill)



By MARK MURPHY | Boston Herald

March 13, 2022 at 4:45 a.m.



As NBA soundtracks go, Kevin Garnett’s in-game moments carried an NC-17 rating. Children seated courtside were guaranteed a lesson in adult vocabulary. So when we asked his former teammates and associates for their favorite KG stories, the adjective level often turned blue. But every re-telling painted a distinctive portrait of one of the most intense, passionate competitors the NBA has ever known. Here’s the most we could fit in.


KENDRICK PERKINS

“It happened in Italy. We’re getting ready to play the Toronto Raptors – Chris Bosh, (Andrea) Bargnani in a preseason game. Ray (Allen) had a ritual of dribbling the basketball, pounding the ball before he went out.

“I remember KG just went crazy, like, ‘Hey Ray listen, dog, we need to focus. All of that dribbling the basketball, man, we can’t be in here doing all that. We need to be locked the hell in,’ and it was kind of funny because after that time, we knew we would walk in the locker room and there would be dead silence. It was almost like a funeral in the locker room, because no one wanted to ruffle the feathers or get into it with KG behind doors. You just didn’t have time for that. But it set the tone and put your mindset at a different level of being locked in. Him and Ray went at it for a minute. Ray went back at him.”


SAM CASSELL

The first, which Cassell will acknowledge but not describe, concerns the time he and Kevin Garnett were treated by Prince, on piano, to a private show in a Minneapolis nightclub.

“It’s true, but those are my moments, man, and I’d like to keep that for myself. There’s some fine moments, man. I don’t want to be telling stories, but yeah.”

And then…

“I sum KG up this simple. KG was the kind of guy, he didn’t miss games. We had a game in, I think, South Dakota, and it was freezing, and the heat broke in the arena. Flip (coach Saunders) was like, nah, nah, y’all not going to play. And I was cool with it, I was a 12-year vet, and I was like, OK, Flip, a day off from a preseason game in freezing weather, that’s cool for me.


“And KG, he wasn’t trying to hear that. He was gonna play. It was freezing in this place, I mean freezing. We were playing the Indiana Pacers – I’ll never forget it. It was too cold to warm up, it was too cold to even have a pre-game shoot. And he goes out there and we had to hide his uniform so he couldn’t play. Had to hide his uniform, because he was that intense. We just took it down from the hanger and gave it back to the manager. He was looking for it, but he couldn’t find it. I just put it in my bag. We played the game. I didn’t play, but he played. That sums it up for him. He may never play in South Dakota again, but he gave the fans who came a chance to see him. Kevin Garnett played. That was a treat.”


DOC RIVERS

“He was unselfish to a fault. When we played Cleveland in the Eastern Finals, and in my Game 1 pregame, I said here’s the number. This is going to be our favorite number. The number is 20. Everybody hear the number 20? Somebody said yes, and I said I want to hear it from everybody. Does everybody hear the number 20? And everybody said yes. Ok, 20 – that’s the number of shots Kevin Garnett has to have in this game. 20.

“I kept saying it, and so Kevin said, alright, (bleeper-bleepers), I hear you guys, I hear you (bleeping) guys, and he went out and (bleeping) dominated that night. But you had to remind him, because he was so unselfish. I’d have to call a timeout and say move the ball, because the ball was sticking. So the ball would swing to Kevin, who was wide open, and he would swing it, and I’m shouting at him, Shoot the (bleeping) ball! But you said move the (bleeping) ball! And you could hear (James) Posey yelling, We’re moving it to you! TO YOU!! That’s what made him great too, though, because he was so unselfish.”


LEON POWE

“As a young player coming in, there’s a certain way to approach KG if you want to talk to him. One day I saw him on the bus and I wanted to know about our opponent. I wanted to see what he thought about Dirk (Nowitzki), because that’s who we were going against, Dallas. I seen him in the back, and I wanted to see what he thought about Dirk. So nobody was on the bus, so I’m OK, I’m good. He’s just chilling, getting into his mode or whatever. I waited a little bit, and then went all the way back there and said, ‘Hey KG. what’s up man. I have a question for you.’ He said go ahead, what’s the question. ‘Um, how do you think I should guard Dirk if I have a chance to guard him? How you think I should handle that? Should I try to rough him up a little bit, should I be strong with him. Should I give him a little space – I’ve got long arms.’

“I was just talking and talking, and he looked at me with a death stare, I swear. Leon, are you a (bleeping) NBA pro, an NBA player? Yes, Mr. KG sir, I am. Well what the (bleep) are you asking me for? I was just trying to – I seen you on the bus. I don’t give a (bleep) about that. What you asking me for? Do you have a scouting report, did you read your scouting report? Yes I did, I read it about 10 times already. So what you asking me for? Don’t ask me a dumb-assed question like that. Are you a pro? Well, I am. I am a pro. Well you know what, Mr. KG sir, I’m alright. I’m going to go back to the front and read my scouting report. You’re right, you’re right, I’m wrong. I’m going to sit down and prepare for the game.

“So we played the game, and the next day he’s on the bus in the same position, and I come on the bus early, too. I see him and I think, DO NOT ask him for no advice on the game. I’m not even going to ask him. I ain’t getting in trouble today. I’m going to sit in the front and mind my own business.

“I put my headphones on, and I hear him in the background yelling something. What did I do now? Gol dern! What did I do now? I took off my headphones and I said, um, what did you say? He said Leon, you see me on this (bleeping) bus and you don’t come back here and ask me for no advice? You don’t want to come here and get some of this knowledge? What the hell is wrong with you? You’re supposed to come back here and talk to me.

“I didn’t know what was going on, I was so confused. Is he playing with me? And he said, get your ass back here. I went back there, and the man talked to me for the whole return trip about every player and what to expect, and what he wanted me to do. And then he said, you good? Yeah, I’m good, and he said cool, man, we’re straight. And he went back to what he was doing. I talked to him later and he said oh yeah, I just be in my mode, it’s all good. So now I’m wondering, do you want me to approach you? Do you not want me to approach you? Then we had an understanding.”


THREE KG VIGNETTES FROM STEVE PAGLIUCA

When I was running for the Senate in 2009, KG came over to me at the (practice) facility and said hey, I’d like to talk to you about some issues. He actually had a whole set of ideas about certain regulations – he was very interested in protecting civil rights, social justice. I had a really great discussion with him on that. At the time I hadn’t looked at him in that way. He was a very focused basketball player.

Another time one of the trainers said hey, KG really likes you a lot. I asked him why, and he said, Because you don’t talk to him that much.

The third one, when I saw him for his (Uncut Gems) film premier when it opened in Boston, and I said KG, that’s amazing that you became an actor. How difficult is it to become an actor for a basketball player? And he looked at me and said Pags, how difficult do you think it would be to play yourself? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to play yourself.


BRIAN SCALABRINE

For whatever reason we got into arm wrestling as a team, and everybody was arm wrestling everybody. For two weeks we just figured Big Baby (Glen Davis) was not going to be beat by anybody. He was dominant. Even the guys who were strong, he was crushing them. He was destroying everybody. But KG, when it comes to that type of stuff, he’s not rah rah, or get in the fray. He kind of watches from the outside. With a bunch of grown men acting immature, he’s very mature from that standpoint. The greatest teammate, but lets the wildness happen and wants to know about it, but you would never know that he’s really into it.

Big Baby was kind of a freak of nature when it came to strength, but we all just moved on and called him the champ. So we’re on the plane coming back from Toronto, and in the middle of the air he says – Let’s do this Funk. He called Baby Funk. Let’s do this Funk. Immediately when you say that – let’s do this – there’s no way you want to arm wrestle this man. The one thing about KG is he doesn’t want to lose – doesn’t want to show any weakness. I’m immediately thinking this thing is over. Baby has embarrassed everybody from the team. And KG is a strong guy, but he’s more wiry than mass.

So let’s do this Funk, and we’re all standing around – oh (bleep), I can’t believe this is going to happen. KG is gonna lose – that’s what I’m thinking. Well, Paul Pierce stands up and brings out the money and says I’ve got any amount of money on my boy KG – put it out there. Immediately I’ve got $500 on Baby. Everyone’s putting money down, and Pierce probably got $10,000 taking action against KG – $20,000 in a big pot of money. He’s the leader of our team, the guy you want to be in a foxhole with, but there’s no way we think he can win this. They line it up, put their hands together – and what KG said later is that Baby was using the table as leverage. So KG made a rule where you have to keep your hands on the table, so Big Baby was using the opposite hand – which I didn’t know. So on your mark, get set, go, and immediately Big Baby tries to slam KG and he doesn’t move. He says, staring right in his eye, I’m not moving, Funk. he proceeded to say that around 10 times. I’m not moving Funk – and each time it went from level one, to two, to three.

Finally it’s, I AIN’T MOVING, FUNK, screaming in Big Baby’s face. Big Baby keeps trying to give the effort, and literally KG would not move an inch. He wasn’t pushing, but he wasn’t retracting either. The ultimate rope-a-dope, Muhammad Ali-George Foreman, Rumble in the Jungle. Muhammad Ali had a great game plan, and the same thing with KG. All of a sudden he starts moving, just a little bit, a half inch, and he looks at Big Baby and says this (bleep) is over. He was playing psychological warfare with Big Baby. Maybe the arm wrestling contest lasted 1:30, 1:45, and finally when Big Baby had no more juice left, bam, he slams him on the table.

At that point everyone is going nuts, the whole plane erupted, Paul Pierce is on the floor scooping up his money, lifting it in the air, everybody is shouting Oh, (bleep), I can’t believe this. Kevin Garnett is fully drenched, like he’s about to play a game, stands up and turns around and shouts at everybody, I’m the Silverback in this (bleeper), I’m the alpha male in this building. Y’all never forget it. With more adjectives in there. I lost $500, but it was the greatest $500 I ever spent.


Bob
MY NOTE:  I am SO happy they are retiring KG's #5 today.  I loved that guy, he changed everything.  How many years did we wander in the wilderness before he arrived, not just not winning a championship but not really even getting close enough to compete for one?

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Many years and a couple of very untimely deaths, bobh. Great article! KG was an still is the man. Not your typical Celtic in some ways but all 1000% Celtic in all the other ways.

db

KG was not your ordinary superstar basketball player. He was so intense, so loyal to his teammates and so proud that he got that title here in Boston.  He is now a member of an elite group of players who loved the Celtics.  I was delighted that they retired his number. He gave us all so much joy.  This was a great day and a wonderful ceremony.

Now that KG and Pierce have joined the rest of the team in burying the hatchet with Ray Allen, it’s time to retire 20 next.
The franchise that ushered in the Big 3 era should not be the one to let petty past hurt feelings keep them from recognizing and honoring their past.