If you thought old age might calm down Kevin Garnett, you were wrong. He’s getting worse, and his famed intensity often has him acting stupid. Take last night for instance. Ray Allen and the Celtics were exchanging barbs all summer after Jesus left New England to take less money and live on South Beach. What originally started as a reported beef between Allen and Rajon Rondo escalated into Allen versus the entire team, with KG in the center of it. The man spent three years of his prime languishing in a basketball cemetery in Minnesota, all because his loyalty was too great. He couldn’t walk away. Allen walked away this summer, and no one in Celtic Nation felt more betrayed than Garnett.
When Allen entered last night’s opening Miami/Boston tilt for the first time, he went over to Boston’s bench to say hello to much of the group, including Doc Rivers. A classic PR move on his part? Of course. But still, Garnett knew he was coming, didn’t bother to acknowledge him, and Jesus was left to dap up his shoulder.
Garnett explained it like this to The Boston Globe: “You know what man, I was just trying to stay as neutral as I could but obviously I’m an intense person. Other than it was blank, I just saw the Heat uniforms and obviously he’s on the other side and I just tried to play the game, man.”
Yeah, okay. Even Allen’s half-hearted attempt to explain Garnett’s move during the postgame fell on deaf ears.
You can argue that was purely a competitive thing. Understandable, even if things like this (players dapping each other up, saying hello… especially in the first game of the season after a long summer) go on every day in the NBA and no one ever seems to have a problem with following through on it (Is Rivers now a less competitive coach because he hugged Allen not once, but twice last night? Not at all.). At this point in his career, Garnett thrives off his intensity. We can nitpick at his disrespect of his former teammate, but in the end, we can’t really hate on it.
But as for his fake elbow on Mario Chalmers earlier in the game? Yeah, that was a little over the top, dude.
Do you like KG’s intensity or is it over the top?
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