The Phoenix

KG's darker side

A few weeks back, I asked why there are so many ugly instances of Kevin Garnett mixing it up with white players. Among the comments was the following astute observation:

As I read through your list of incidents, what struck me was that Garnett takes his aggression out - not on white players - but on players who he's pretty sure won't fight back. Calderon is nearly a foot shorter, Duncan is mellow to the point of being asleep, and the rest are C or D-List players who know that they'll never come out on top in a scuffle with a superstar. Giving these guys the business allows KG to cultivate the image of a loose cannon without ever having to risk a serious fight.

At the time, I thought this sounded smart. But now, in the wake of Garnett getting down on his hands and knees to taunt Portland's Jerryd Bayless--who's 1) black, 2) a rookie, and 3) roughly a foot shorter than Garnett--I'm utterly convinced that it's spot on.

If you didn't see the Garnett-Bayless contretemps, here they are. Ugly stuff, especially if (like me) you're a longtime Garnett admirer:

So here's my question: notwithstanding the deep gratitude that Celtics fans have to Garnett for returning the team to its rightful glory, isn't it time for some intrepid member of the Boston sports media to take a serious look at Garnett's darker side?

Published Dec 08 2008, 02:30 PM by Adam Reilly

Anonymous said:

You want a sports "reporter" look into ugly behavior like that?

Hah! You know better.

Sports "reporters" want special access to the athletes, and hence don't do controversial, investigative reporting like that. If they did, the team would revoke the "reporter"'s privileges, and the guy would be out of a job.

Fat chance on that story... unless you guys closer to the news division do the story yourself.

December 8, 2008 3:57 PM
GuyfromNH said:

So... how did you manage to write a sentence including the phrase "intrepid member of the Boston sports media" without bursting out laughing at the same time?

And that's why there's no Garnett story....

December 9, 2008 12:04 PM
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December 9, 2008 1:22 PM
drza44 said:

What about when he did the EXACT same bear-crawl when defending All Star power forward David West last year (redsarmy.wordpress.com/.../that-crazy-kg-crawl-thing)? Wouldn't that kind of take the starch out of your little man/C-list player argument?

KG also got into a similar non-issue taunt-fest with Amare Stoudemire last year, who no one would accuse of being small, C-list, or mellow.

Just seems like your theory doesn't stand up when all of the facts are introduced.

December 9, 2008 3:17 PM
Adam Reilly said:

D., the West and Stoudemire examples do suggest that KG doesn't *always* pick on the small, the weak, and the mellow. How about "almost always," or "an inordinate amount of the time"? (I'll claim the Big Baby dressing-down as evidence that backs me up, btw.)

Also, even when you throw bigger, tougher players into the mix, there's the bigger question: at what point does Garnett's legendary intensity go from laudable to just plain freaky? That's still something I'd like to see a columnist/reporter delve into.

December 9, 2008 3:37 PM
Luke said:

The first time I saw KG pull the down-on-all-fours routine was defending Iguodala at midcourt last March. Iguodala's no Stoudamire, but no joke, either.

And I'm not sure about the idea that a superstar would always triumph over a sub. Suspension- and fine-wise, perhaps, but physically, on the court, in a fight, I'm not sure how the star-power would translate.

It seems to me that KG just talks, as he always has, and gets in the face of whoever gives him cause, be it Bogut, Stoudamire, Duncan, or Zaza Pachulia.

December 9, 2008 3:55 PM