KG: My History In Minnesota Has Passed

From Mark Murphy:

“It’s easy to come in here and focus, because they don’t have any of my old teammates here now,” he said. “My history from here has passed. I did take a moment tonight to look around, but there are so many changes here that I can’t relate to, so I have no reason to.”

“There was separation for me the moment I was traded (to the Celtics),” Garnett said. “The guys I had a special relationship with had moved on, and I never looked back. When a new page in my book turns, I try to embrace that.”

Kevin Garnett has always been one of the hardest workers in the league and is one of the more passionate players in the league. Personally, I think that playing in Minnesota for so long without getting the ultimate prize or at least given a chance by the front office to win a title made him even more hungry to win. And as much as he would have loved to win a title in Minnesota, winning one in Boston was his way of telling Minnesota’s front office “look what could have been”.

Looking at the Timberwolves’ roster, there is nobody left from the KG era in Minnesota. No Troy Hudson, Wally Szczerbiak, Latrell Sprewell or any other long-time Timberwolf that couldn’t help Kevin get over the hump in Minnesota is left on the roster. Garnett is honored to have played in Minnesota for so long, but is ready to put it in the past and forget about it. All that matters to him is winning a title for Boston and he has this team on a mission.

Looking at Garnett’s career, you have to think “what could have been” if he was playing in a major market with an organization willing to make the moves necessary to win.

C’s Top Timberwolves In Sloppy Performance

When a jump ball is the key play, you know you've just watched an ugly game.

After destroying their Atlantic Division rival Philadelphia 76ers at home, the Celtics took to the road and headed to the chilly north to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. In what was billed as Al Jefferson against his former Boston Celtic squad and Kevin Garnett’s return to the franchise he carried for 12 seasons, it looked as like it was going to be the Oleksiy Pecherov show in route to a Minnesota win. Fortunately, that didn’t happen as the Boston Celtics held on to secure a 92-90 win.

The one shining star for the Celtics I saw last night (only caught the 2nd have) was Rajon Rondo. Yes, he benefited from some questionable defensive decisions by Minnesota as well as some great passing from Kevin Garnett, but he asserted himself in the third quarter, where he scored the majority of his team-high 18 points. He was also all over the place on defense, jumping passing lanes and finishing for uncontested fast break layups.

The Celtics’ defense, which is still the best in the league, had an off-night as they allowed the Timberwolves to shoot 52% from the floor as a team with Pecherov scoring a career-high 24 points on nine of 14 shooting. Al Jefferson had a good offensive game with 18 points, but was limited to only four rebounds and seemed to just be out-sized by both Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed Wallace. Their length really seemed to help them both defend him and keep him off of the glass.

The one reason, in my mind, why this game was so close was the shooting of the Boston Celtics. Shooting 44.6% from the floor (37-83) and a miserable 5-19 from three, they just didn’t have the fire power to run away with this game. They dominated the points in the paint category, but when it came to open jumpers, nobody on the team was knocking them down with any consistency. Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rasheed Wallace, Kevin Garnett, Eddie House… You name a player on the Celtics’ roster, he most likely wasn’t going to hit two consecutive jumpers in a row last night.

Being arguably the best team in the league will mean the Celtics will get their opponent’s best game night in and night out. If we head out on the road and shoot like we did last night, we’re going to need to find ways to win, which we did last night. That’s the sign of a championship team. That’s what we are seeing with this Boston Celtics squad.