4.10.2020

Garnett Turns Back the Clock

November 1, 2008

When Kevin Garnett joined the Celtics last year, he was the old man without a C. He had played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association, and not once had he been with a championship team. Hadn't even made it to the NBA Finals, let alone win them. And that was the story line when he arrived in Boston: Like Paul Pierce, like Ray Allen, he was a veteran player looking for a championship.



Now he has one. And in a twist of fate, Garnett's first big game of this new season - he scored 18 points in the Celtics' 96-80 victory over the Chicago Bulls last night at the Garden - has brought an unexpected reward: The word ``young'' is being attached to his name again.

Just like in 1995, when he was a 19-year-old rookie on the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The official announcement came early in the third quarter of last night's game: Kevin Garnett had become the youngest player in NBA history to appear in 1,000 career games.
Let's repeat that, and we'll place special emphasis on the key word here.
Garnett became the YOUNGEST player in NBA history to appear in 1,000 games.

Think there might have been a bounce in KG's step as he exited the Garden last night?
``In a way it feels crazy,'' he said. ``Paul (Pierce) and I and some of our other teammates sometimes sit in the back of the bus, and we talk about all the Nike camps and the people we all grew up playing against, playing with, and how it's unfortunate they're not in the league.

``So to sit here, and have a plateau of 1,000 games, says a lot about not only my conditioning but, knocking on wood, the countless times I've taken care of my body and tried to be the best player I can be. ``I'm honored, and it's even better to do it in the green.''

Garnett, you'll recall, had a less than brilliant season opener on Tuesday night. Perhaps caught up in the drama of the banner raising and the rings and Pierce's State-of-the-Paul address, Garnett sputtered. He shot just 5-for-15, coming away with only 11 points.

``Tonight I was a lot more poised,'' he said. ``I haven't taken my Dunkin' Donuts coffee the last two days, so that probably is a good reason why I'm a lot more calm.''
Garnett paused for a second and then added, ``No knock on Dunkin' Donuts coffee, too. I don't want to have a problem with that.''

Nah. Why should the Dunkin' Donuts have a problem with that? So what if it paid boatloads of money for the banner that hangs behind Garnett during postgame press conferences?
Then again, the Double-D folks are getting a good ride out of these postgame pressers. The Celtics are defending NBA champions. Garnett is one of their stars. When he talks, people listen.

And anyway, the more one thinks about this record, the more dazzling this story becomes. Not only did Garnett set the record, he obliterated it. As of last night, Garnett, playing his 1,000th career game, was 32 years and 165 days old. The previous record holder, for those of you who don't keep track of these things, was Shawn Kemp, who played in his 1,000th career game at 33 years and 24 days old.

In other words, Garnett could have taken this entire season off, choosing instead to walk from Boston all the way to Colombia to get his coffee, and then taken off the first month of NEXT season, and he would have broken Kemp's record when he finally got around to putting on a uniform again.

The lesson here is that, as old-timers go, Garnett is really just a kid.
``Shows you what the Larry O'Brien Trophy will do for you,'' he said.
And just think: Garnett needs only another eight seasons to play in 1,612 career games, which would best Robert Parish's NBA record.

Coffee, anyone?


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