The most recent ESPN.Com Player X installment, which features an anonymous player (Player X) calling Kevin Garnett a "punk" and "coward", has been tweeted and retweeted several hundred times since yesterday afternoon. Let me be the next in a long line of people to point out to you how difficult it is to take this seriously when it's being done in anonymity. But, I have more issues with this article than the simple hypocrisy of it.
Defending KG has become like old hat to me. I can't resist doing it, because I really do feel lucky to have been able to root for a player of his caliber, and I believe that he played by far the largest role in transforming the Celtics from basement dwellers to World Champions in one season. I'm also a huge homer.
My main issue is the assertion by Player X that KG is a coward because:
"he'll never mix it up with a player who's bigger than he is. Personally, I think he's scared to fight -- like a playground bully who barks but doesn't bite."
This has been a criticism of KG for the past couple of seasons. Most recently, before player X, we had Reggie Evans calling Garnett a "Chihuahua", saying he'd take Charlie Villanueva in a fight over Garnett. That may be true, and I'd probably take Reggie Evans in a fight over anyone in the NBA. But, I'd take Garnett over any of them in a heartbeat to play on my basketball team and so would any GM in the NBA.
I think fighting is stupid. Not boxing, MMA, or any other martial art because those are sports. But fighting for the sake of conflict resolution or establishing masculine dominance is juvenile. We're talking about basketball, a beautiful game. And not basketball being played between a bunch of dudes at the YMCA trying to recapture their glory days. We're talking about professional basketball. A sport in which fighting, in my opinion, has no place. I love physical play, and I understand when it gets chippy. But, there shouldn't be fighting in the NBA. I think most players agree with me.
So, the whole notion that a player talking trash means he wants to fight is false, as is the notion that a player would only talk trash to somebody that he can beat up. Instead, they'll usually do it to motivate themselves more or they'll do it to somebody who they feel lacks composure and who can be thrown off their game. The Celtics do just as good a job of this as anybody in the league.
Does Garnett usually choose younger guys who are more likely to be intimidated? Of course. He knows this isn't going to work with Kobe, LeBron, or most other veterans. In fact, it'll probably make things worse. But, it certainly works with Andray Blatche. It certainly works with Stephen Jackson (a vet with a quick temper). It has certainly worked with countless other opponents over the past few seasons who have lost their cool and seen victories over the Celtics slip through their fingers.
"He has to respect me just like I respect him." Those were Andray Blatche's words last spring after his team blew a 13 point fourth quarter lead to the Celtics. Rather than keep his cool in the face of Garnett's trash talk, Blatche chose to fling KG out of bounds. Garnett smiled, got up, and made his free throws. Should Garnett have fought him? Was that his goal? Clearly not.
Respect. That's always what it's about when guys lose their cool. Stephen Jackson had similar issues last spring against the Celtics. This time, it was Paul Pierce. Jackson had the following to say:
"It turned disrespectful when certain things were said," Jackson told WEEI.com. "You can be emotional in the game and you talk to your teammates and do all that, but when you get personal and direct certain things to people as far as their manhood, that's when the problems come up. And I guarantee you that if I wasn't in this gym, that wouldn’t have been said to me."
Yeah, of course they wouldn't have been said if you weren't in the gym. Because these guys don't insult the people around them in their daily lives. This is part of their job. This is part of the NBA. It's a cutthroat league. It's about gaining any advantage possible. It's part of sports, particularly professional sports whose entire purpose is to provide entertainment to its fans.
Whenever I hear quotes like that after the game, I know that part of the Celtics victory came because they were mentally tougher than the team they bested. My favorite instance was the line Chris Paul used in November of 2009 after a loss to the Celtics in which Rajon Rondo had been talking all night. Paul said that Rondo "is gonna respect me as a man." Respect you as a man, Chris? Wow, he must have said something pretty awful to make you feel that he doesn't respect you as a man. Nope. "I've got a ring and you're never gonna win one". That's what he said. At least that's what all the reports say he said. If I were Rondo, I'd say that to everyone who doesn't have a ring. I was surprised reading the quote the next day because I expected Paul would be above this.
All these examples point to the same thing: the Celtics, KG especially, talk a lot of trash in games. Their aim is to gain a competitive advantage over teams who can't keep their composure. Composure is something that most players learn over the course of their careers. As a veteran team, this is yet another advantage the Celtics have over the rest of the league. Why not use it?
I couldn't be happier to have had the opportunity to root for Kevin Garnett since the fall of 2007. I don't think I've ever cheered for another athlete who plays such a complete game at such a high intensity all the time. And, I'm not talking about banging his head against the hoop and slapping the floor and screaming "motherfucker" incessantly. I'm talking about how much he's able to be a disruptive force on every single defensive possession. I'm talking about how on April 8th, in a game against the Wizards in which it seemed like every other player on the court was just going through the motions, KG was hustling into the stands after loose balls. People who complain that NBA regular season ball isn't intense enough should watch Garnett for a season and then rethink that assertion.
On top of that, I think he's still a MUCH, MUCH better offensive player than he's gotten credit for since coming to Boston. But, I appreciate that he's unselfish (almost to a flaw at times) and allows his teammates to shoulder the offensive load. He's the ultimate team guy. He's lifted the games of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, two future hall of famers, and he's had a significant impact on the careers of the Celtics young players. Kendrick Perkins is wearing number 5 in Oklahoma City. When's the last time a guy paid that type of tribute to an active player? Ask any Minnesota Timberwolves fan how they felt about KG when he was there, and I guarantee you the responses will be positive across the board. Ask any GM in the league if they'd want him on their team. I guarantee you they'd say yes.
So, hopefully you'll understand if I don't think less of him for not fighting people on the basketball court.
*As a final note, I'd just like to point out that if you don't think fighting in sports is stupid, you should revisit the incident of Charlie Villanueva chasing Ryan Hollins all around the court on April 11th, and then chasing him into the tunnel and trying to fight him in the locker room area. It was an embarrassment, and I can't believe he wasn't suspended for more than 5 games. It was uncomfortable to watch, and I thought it was disgraceful. I wanted to embed the video so you could see, but most of them have been taken down.
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