Kevin Garnett connected with Boston immediately.
“I heard Larry Bird say one time in his early years in Boston that the reason why he loved playing in front of the fans in Boston is because you couldn't fake them,” Garnett said Thursday afternoon. “You couldn't fool the fans. They knew when you was playing hard. They knew when you were giving your all.”
He played six intense seasons in Boston, winning one title and coming oh so close to others. Garnett didn’t just change the configuration of banners in the rafters, he changed the franchise’s entire identity.
“For me, I just feel like it's cultural,” former teammate Brandon Bass said. “He impacted the team, the organization, in so many different ways. For me, I learned so much about being a great teammate by communicating to my teammates on defense, being unselfish, finding a way to be motivated.”
In some ways, the legend of KG is bigger than what he did on the court. The “Legend of KG” sounds like it could be a video game, and if it was, it might simply be Garnett lurking through levels breathing fire and screaming enemies to death. If Garnett is known for anything, it’s a maniacal work ethic and manufactured intensity he unleashed on the court. In a recent GQ interview, he compared his mental preparation to running full speed in a dark room.
“I watched him trick himself to come out and play at a high level every night,” Bass said. “I watched him every day preparing for the games with the same routine, being consistent with everything. He’s a great person, great player to be around to learn from.”
One famous story about Garnett centered around a practice where Doc Rivers ordered him to sit out and preserve himself. Garnett refused to sit quietly.
“Doc gave him a day off and said ‘you don’t have to do anything this practice. Just sit over there on the sidelines and let the other guys work,’” former teammate Leon Powe explained in my book, The Boston Celtics All-Time All-Stars. “We start working, then we look back and we see, like, a shadow just moving up and down the court real fast. And we look back and he was mimicking what we were doing on the court… so Doc brought everybody in and said ‘everybody go home since KG doesn’t want to listen and take a day off.”
Looking back on it today, Garnett admits his intensity might have gotten the best of him.
"I think if there was the load management back then, I'd probably still be playing,” Garnett joked. “I shoulda listened to Doc's ass. My hard-headed ass -- that's what I get for being a Taurus. I should have listened to his ass."
Times have changed a bit for Garnett in his post-playing days. The need to whip himself into a frenzy has dissipated, though he admits “some of it leaks out here and there.” Time has mellowed him out. Sort of.
“I’ve been put the hulk in the closet, man. The monster’s under the bed, three or four slugs to the head,” Garnett said, still managing to use the most intense possible wording to explain how he’s calmed down. “I’ve been put the monster under the bed. Yeah, I haven’t reached into that bag of intensity for a while.
“I’m a lot older. I like to be a lot more chill these days. I’m a little more patient. All the things I didn’t have when I was younger. … I can’t say it’s been like the old days. I’ve definitely grown, I've definitely calmed down a lot more.”
A year ago, Garnett was enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Last week, he was named to the Celtics 75th Anniversary team after earlier being named as one of the NBA 75 best. Next month, the Celtics will raise his number 5 to the rafters.
“I know the Celtics history. Coming into being a Celtic I was always conscious of the ones that have come before me, laid the path before me. The Bill Russells and Satch (Sanders) and JoJo White,” Garnett said. “I’m aware of the history of the Celtics and the company and all the retired numbers. I haven’t had a chance to get lost in it, but I’m just honored. It’s an overwhelming feeling and I’m just super honored to be a part of the Celtic family and this great tradition.”
Garnett is among the most unique players in NBA history. He was among the first wave of preps-to-pros, drafted fifth overall in 1995 out of Chicago’s Farragut Career Academy. He was a lithe seven-footer who could face up on the perimeter and be a threat to shoot or drive, making him an early evolutionary branch for today’s stretch-bigs.
And at the heart of it all was a perpetual motion machine that drove him to keep working at all costs.
“I wasn’t gonna cheat myself or cheat my career or take any shortcuts in anything,” he said. “I’m just glad that the young generation actually recognizes, I’m glad they know the history, I’m glad I can be inspiring, I’m glad I inspired others to be whatever it is their style is, or whatever. Whatever came into inspiration, I’m glad I was able to be that. I don’t want to be mistaken for something else. … Anytime you get flowers or anything from people I’m super appreciative, super appreciative. I’m glad to be able to give back to the game, as the game has given to me, I’m super appreciative.”
On March 13, we will spring forward into daylight savings time, but we will spend our Sunday evening looking back in time on Garnett’s career. No matter what happens when the Celtics face the Mavericks that day, there will be no greater cheer from the Boston crowd than when Garnett steps onto the court to raise his number into the rafters.
“When I came to Boston, I wanted to be a player that was remembered for playing in Boston. And I went out every night that I suited up, and I played like that,” Garnett said. “Talking to Bill Russell made me even more immersed in history, and made me ... man I was just so inspired even more from talking to the older players. Jo Jo White, rest in peace. When the players would come in I would love listening to them and listening to their journey, because it was all inspirational. So I was glad I had that. Real talk. I was glad I had that to push me, and I can sit here and say I'm here. I'm honored. And I just want to thank the Celtics organization for recognizing me in this manner, and it should be a fun night, man. I'm looking forward to it.”