As Kevin Garnett moves closer to taking his rightful place among the all-time greats as part of the incoming Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2020 (the class’ induction was moved to this year because of the pandemic), he played the game with few regrets.
But there was one that stood out from the rest.
"You come into the NBA wanting to win, and losing is part of it,” Garnett told reporters. “But that doesn't mean you have to accept it. Getting with a storied franchise like Boston, gave me light, gave me breath, gave me purpose. And the players that you're playing with actually make the experience monumental, made it magical. The city is -- the city was waiting for something big or for something different to happen versus where it was, and when we went we just never looked back.
Garnett added, “The fanbase in Boston was over the top. People following you home, people standing outside your gate when you get home, people wanting to pump your gas. The fan level in Boston was just another level, but I learned to embrace it. My only regret in any of this is that I should have come to Boston a little earlier, other than that it was magical."
Garnett waxing poetically about his time is a bittersweet pill for most Celtics fans right now. Reminiscing about the KG days serves as a reminder of how it used to be around here, and how this team is so far removed from representing the Celtics akin to how those KG teams were. It isn’t so much about the results as much as it is the hard work and accountability that everyone on that team had for one another.
Bad games happen.
Bad effort?
Unacceptable.
NO POSTSEASON HARDWARE OR ACCOLADES FOR TATUM, CELTICS?
Jayson Tatum has been among the best players in the NBA. Before Jaylen Brown’s injury, his name was among those making the rounds when talking about the league’s most improved player. And Marcus Smart’s play usually put him in the mix for a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive teams.
But this season hasn’t been particularly kind to the Boston Celtics who have been among the more disappointing teams in the NBA this season.
They need to win their final two games to finish with an above-.500 record, the kind of fall from grace that won’t get you too many props, let alone propped up among the best players.
So in the coming weeks when all-NBA teams and individual accolades are announced, it should come as a surprise to no one if the Celtics are totally shut out.
The best candidate for a postseason honor is Jayson Tatum.
Despite the team’s poor record, Tatum has been statistically spectacular. He has averaged career-highs in the bread-and-butter stats: scoring (26.4 points per game); rebounds (7.4 per game) and assists (4.3 per game) while committing a career-low 1.9 personal fouls per game.
Tatum is in the mix for one of the three All-NBA teams, but the frontcourt depth in the NBA along with Boston’s not-so-great record could keep the 23-year-old on the outside looking and just as important, result in him missing out on a potential $30 million bump when his new contract kicks in next season.
Smart will be in the mix for a spot on one of the all-NBA defensive teams. But like Tatum, Smart’s candidacy will be hurt by the team’s overall struggles. And of all the areas that Boston has been unexpectedly bad at this season, few would have envisioned the team’s defense would fall off as far as it has this season.
Consistently ranked among the NBA’s top-10 defenses for most of Brad Stevens’ tenure as the Celtics’ head coach, this season finds Boston’s defensive ranking of 112.0 ranked 18th in the league which would be the worst ranking under Stevens who is now nearing the end of his eighth season in Boston.
And Smart, while still an impactful defender, has a defensive rating of 111.3 which is a career-worst for the seven-year veteran. That coupled with the team's statistical struggles defensively, may result in Smart being kept off both all-Defensive teams.
WHAT BROWN (BEING OUT) CAN DO FOR FOURNIER
The season-ending wrist injury to Jaylen Brown will keep him sidelined for at least three months. While Brown is expected to make a full recovery, his status makes the re-signing of Evan Fournier even more vital for Boston.
After struggling with poor play or not playing at all because of health and safety protocol issues, Fournier has stepped his game up at both ends of the floor. In Boston’s last six games, Fournier has averaged 20.2 points while shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 55.8 percent from 3-point range. In addition to helping fill some of the voids as Brown works his way back into playing shape next season, keeping Fournier in the family also gives Boston some cover in help fill in for Kemba Walker who will likely be in the team’s load management program again next season.
CELTICS GETTING REST … BUT NOT TATUM?
With the No. 7 spot and home court for the play-in game secured, it’s no surprise an already injury-riddled Celtics team will sit a number of banged-up players for today’s game against Minneapolis which is about as meaningless a game as the Celtics will play all season.
The player to watch more than any other is Jayson Tatum. If he does play, he’ll most likely be on a minutes restriction. But even that begs the question … why? The Celtics should have rendered him a DNP-CD before today’s game. Other than getting some cardio in while padding his stats perhaps, there’s very little for Tatum or the Celtics to gain out of him playing. And the risk-reward for him will certainly keep Celtics fans on the edge of their seats anytime he goes down and takes longer than a nanosecond to get to his feet.