Garnett Fueled By 'Naysayers'
BOSTON (CBS) – Kevin Garnett is not going out without a fight.
But we all knew that.
At 36, Garnett is driven by all those that said he couldn't keep this going, and continue to doubt him even as he makes his presence known whenever he takes the court.
"The competition, the naysayers, the owners who talk too much. The people who don't think a 36-year-old can do what I do," the 17-year veteran told ESPN's Doris Burke moments after the Celtics 94-90 Game 5 win in Miami. "I take a lot of pride in my craft, I work really hard at my craft every day, and I'm a true professional."
Garnett led Boston with 26 points and 11 rebounds Tuesday night, hitting 11 of the 20 shots he threw up. He threw down a pair of monster dunks that quieted the Miami crowd, including a posterizing slam on James Jones to tie the game at 60-60 in the third quarter. He scored eight of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, starting things off with one of his patented 21-footers and finishing with a pair of clutch free throws.
While Garnett has been doing it all on offense and defense this postseason, his leadership was on full display Wednesday night. With the C's up by four with 8.8 seconds left –after Garnett hit his two free throws --he kept pulling Mickael Pietrus back into the Celtics huddle, begging him to focus on their defensive plan.
He has been nothing but zoned in since the start of the playoffs, and his teammates are enjoying every second of it.
"He's just amazing," said Celtics head coach Doc Rivers. "(He) doesn't have to score -- obviously, we need his scoring, that's important -- but he just, he's our life. I mean, he really is. He just does so many things that don't have numbers to it. A lot of it is with his voice. He's, in a strange way, a calming effect on some of our guys, if you can ever call Kevin that, he is. He's just been terrific for us."
When asked about Garnett, Celtics captain Paul Pierce said KG is playing as well as he did his first year in Boston when the Celtics won the 2008 NBA Championship.
"It's right up there since probably the first year when he was 20-10 every night in the playoffs just dominating," said Pierce. "We're taking advantage of him, we're giving him the ball in his spots, he's rebounding, playing good defense. He's doing everything we ask of him… He's giving us everything he has."
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The numbers are similar, with Garnett averaging 19.9 points and 10.8 rebounds in 37.3 minutes per game this season. Back in 2008, he put up 20.4 points and 10.6 rebounds over the Celtics 28-game run to the title.
"We're a hard-fought team," Garnett said of the 2012 Celtics. "We've been together for a while. We've been through all kind of countless battles. Tonight we just fought. We knew the circumstances coming down here."
Now the Celtics head back home with a chance to finish off the Heat, and head to their third NBA Finals in the last five years.
Asked in the locker room if he had a message for "The Jungle" for Thursday night's Game 6 in Boston, Garnett kept it simple.
"We're coming home," he said in a sing-song voice with that glassy (and very intimidating) KG stare.
There will be plenty more fuel to that fire come Thursday night.
