The Celtics Kevin Garnett Calls Sixers Fans 'Fair-Weather'
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – One would guess that Kevin Garnett was not a terribly popular player among Sixers fans, especially during the current series with the Celtics. His comments after Monday night's game 5 probably won't do much to change that.
From Ben Wantanabe at NESN.COM:
After the game, NESN's Jayme Parker asked Garnett to compare the fans in Boston to the ones in Philly. "Not even close," Garnett said. "You've got fans, and then you've got fair-weather fans. Take that how you want."
And he continued ...
"[Celtics fans] it for 48 minutes from the tip on, so I can't see a difference from minute to minute," Garnett said. "I feel like every minute I look up, I see my family, I see people yelling, I see the drunk, fat guy. I can't decipher one from the other. This crowd is ridiculous. I love it."
As far as attendance in 2012, the Celtics were 7th in percent capacity (100%) and the Sixers were 18th (86.1%). The Sixers attendance figure is up from 29th place last season. The Sixers finished third in the Atlantic Division standings, and the Celtics finished first.
However, Garnett didn't play for the Celtics before their most recent string of championship caliber seasons that began when he and Ray Allen arrived for the 2007-08 season. In 2004, when the Celtics finished 4th in the Atlantic, their attendance figure ranked 15th in the NBA at 87%. In 2005, when the Celtics finished first in the Atlantic, they ranked 18th with a percent capacity of 85.9%. The Sixers ranked 7th and 15th in the league in '04 and '05.
In fact, in 2002, the first year that percent capacity figures are available, the Sixers rank second in the NBA at 100.6%, while the Celtics ranked 14th at 86.4%.
Perhaps Kevin Garnett has a point about Sixers fans, but when comparing them to Celtics fans, he should probably do his homework.
