AT THE FINALS: Garnett finally gets his ring

Tag : hardware ring

It doesn't matter ... words couldn't do the moment justice.
For his first 12 seasons, toiling away in Minnesota, he had all theglory, all the statistics, all the hardware ... save the smallestpiece an NBA player can earn, a championship ring. When he came toBoston, he made winning a title the primary and only goal.
Throughout his first season in green, he played with the samepassion he had in Minnesota, but with even more drive in his eye.He displayed such intensity that early in the playoffs, the greatBill Russell offered to share one of his championships withGarnett, should KG fail to win one in Boston.
But that Kevin Garnett was MIA earlier in the series.
Through the first five games of the Finals, Garnett was putting uphis worst numbers of the postseason. He was averaging 16.6 pointson 40-percent shooting, and even though he was putting up his bestrebounding numbers of the playoffs — 12.8 boards a game, tobe exact — he was down in assists and up in turnovers. Thecomplete game that KG brought to this team wasn't so complete.
But a lackluster performance in Game 5 would've put a microscopeonto Garnett's game, if the deficiencies weren't already soglaringly obvious. Thirteen points in 33 minutes, eight of whichcame in the first quarter when the Celtics were in the process ofbeing snowed in. He also turned the ball over four times.
"It was trash," Garnett said of his Game 5 performance. "I playedlike garbage (Sunday night). I can do better and I will."
And he did.
Garnett started off with 10 points in the first quarter, includingscoring four straight Celtic baskets — the capper coming onan alley-oop from P.J. Brown that gave Boston a four-point lead,their biggest of the quarter.
And in the closing moments of the first half came the defining playof the series.
With 47.3 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Garnett banked afour-foot fadeaway jumper on an assist from Pierce, giving theCeltics a 20-point lead. He was fouled by the Lakers' Lamar Odom onthe shot, tumbling to the floor and landing on his posterior withthe same intensity as if he had gone up for a dunk. Garnett sunkthe subsequent free throw, and after Kendrick Perkins blockedOdom's shot on the Lakers' next possession, KG rewarded Perk byfeeding him the ball for a reverse lay-up to cap the quarter with a23-point Boston lead.
But what he brought to the game more than his scoring, more thanhis rebounding, was the passion and the attitude of doing whateverit took to get the job done, to close out the series, to bring homeBanner No. 17.
That's why, even with the Celtics up better than 20 pointsthroughout the entire third quarter, Garnett was still diving onthe floor after loose balls. Why he was still pressuring the Lakersinto turnovers, and coming away with steals. Why, when he went tobench with 1:47 to play in the third, his fire couldn't becontained.
He went back into the game in the fourth quarter, when it was farfrom necessary. In truth, it was probably all Doc Rivers could doto keep him from popping a blood vessel on the bench. By the timeall was said and done, Garnett more than made up for his woesthrough the first five games, as he piled up 26 points, 14rebounds, four assists, three steals, one block and, mostimportantly, his first NBA championship.
"I'm not going to sleep all week," Garnett told ABC. "Ray Allen hada great game. Paul Pierce, everybody. I can't even take this.
"I'm certified. I'm certified."
Garnett finally sat for good at 4:01 and joined Pierce and DocRivers in a group hug on the sidelines before heading to the bench.But Garnett didn't sit. He continued to hug every teammate, everycoach, fist-bump all the ball boys. Anyone within reaching distanceof KG got some love.
As the final moments played out, as the curtain closed on one ofthe greatest seasons in Celtics history, the crowd chanted"Seventeen!" as the smell of cigar smoke — whether real orspectral — wafted through the Garden.
And when the title was won, and Garnett finished up his on-courtinterview, he found Russell. The two shared an embrace, and so muchmore.
"I got mine. I got mine. I got mine," he said to the winningestplayer in NBA history. "I hope we made you proud."
Garnett has just one title to Russell's 11.
But it couldn't feel any better.
Tim Weisberg covers the Boston Celtics for The Standard-Times.Contact him at timweisberg@hotmail.com