Just for the Record

For some inexplicable reason Kevin Garnett is only adding to his reputation as a choker. Never mind the fact that until this year he has never played on a team with any talent (Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell hardly qualify as dominant). Today some moron in the Detroit Free Press had this to say:

With less than two minutes left, Kevin Garnett had the ball in the post against Billups. He passed. I repeat: He passed. No, really: He passed.

In case you don't have the teams' rosters on you as you read this, let me explain that Garnett is at least nine inches taller than Billups. When Garnett needs to tie his shoe, he can lean his foot on Billups' shoulder.

Garnett can't pass in that situation. It's not acceptable. And it was another indication that while Garnett is a sure Hall of Famer, he is not really a sure Hall of Famer. That is: His credentials are impeccable, but down the stretch of big games, his confidence is not.

Let's dissect Kevin Garnett's 4th quarter performance. He scored 10 of his team's 22 points. He went 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the final 4 minutes. Yes he passed up an open shot to pass to an open teammate who was having a career night. If Kendrick catches that cleanly and scores and draws the foul, they are both heroes.

It would be easy enough to dismiss a reporter from Detroit for his stupid comment were it not for other equally insane comments like this from the biggest Celtic homer Bill Simmons

Sometimes, when Garnett's adrenaline kicks in during crunch time it's like watching a diabetic in the midst of a sugar rush. His body can't handle it. When he succeeds, he loses his mind, pounding his chest, belting out profanities and hollering at the crowd like a crazy person. When he fails (and it's happened a few times this season), his mistakes are unbelievably amateurish—intentional fouls when the team doesn't need them, taking too many steps on his signature fall-away, that kind of stuff. The pressure gets to him. You can see it. In Game 4 of the first-round series with Atlanta, after a near-altercation with Zaza Pachulia, the camera found KG on the bench and he was practically hyperventilating.

It is clear to me that these guys aren't watching the same playoffs I have been watching. The only constant is that Garnett has been playing out of his mind the whole playoffs. Wake up folks!