A very good article from own of our very own writers. What do you guys think?

There was not one other guy on Tuesday night sighing a heavier sigh of relief than Kevin Garnett. For K.G. he has finally “cemented” his name in the all time greatest players. For so many years(13 to be exact), including 12 in Minnesota, and this being his first in Boston, all Kevin heard about was how good of a player he was, but how he had never won “the big gone”. Well, now, he has. So excuse him if he seemed a little overly excited during the post game press conference. As he said “what do you have to say now”? Garnett, who turned 32 in May, grew up in rural South Carolina dreaming of being a NBA Champion. His much maligned move to Chicago, during his senior year of high school seemed to bring him the attention he needed. Playing his high school ball in the inner city of Chicago, led Farragut to the state playoffs in Illinois his senior season, along Ronnie Fields, who may have been the better of the two athletically. Kevin was drafted fifth by the Minnesota Timberwolves in a great draft class of 1995.

For 12 of Kevin’s 13 season in Minnesota, he did not miss over 10 games a year. His injury in 1998-1999 caused him to only play in 47 of the team’s 82 games. Amazingly, especially for this day in age of whiner professional basketball players, Kevin went three straight years playing every single regular season game, and went the three years before that just missing ONE game the entire season. What a feat.

Now you ask, why is this guy a hall of famer? Let’s take a look at some of his numbers. For Kevin’s career, he is nearly shooting 50% from the field, which is pretty impressive for a 6’11 power forward. From the free throw line, Kevin has never had a single season free throw percentage of under 70.0%, and his career mark is at 78.1%. 9 of his 13 seasons, Kevin has averaged double doubles, with rebounds and points. His high rebound average topped out at 13.9 during the 2003-2004 season. Kevin also went nine straight years of averaging 20.0 points or more per game. His single season high topped out at 24.2, also in the 2003-2004 season. His career rebounding average is at an astonishing 11.2 per game, while his points per game sits at 20.4.

Some may argue that the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics would not have been a difficult team to lead to a NBA title, with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen as teammates. Yes, Pierce and Allen were awfully good, but we all know of a better threesome that has NOT win a title. Kevin’s stats may have been a little down this season, but not much. Let’s take a look at them. He did miss 11 games during this season, averaging only 32 minutes per game, 5.5 minutes down from his career average. This year, Kevin topped out at his shooting percentage for a season. KG shot a stellar 53.9% from the field this season. Kevin was simply on fire. His 80.1% from the charity stripe was 2.0% better than his career average. Kevin’s rebounding numbers were a bit down, only averaging 9.2, but still awfully impressive with his numbers being down, and the teammates he had around him! KG also averaged 18.8 points per game, which is impressive, but even that ranks as his third worse for a single season, in his career.

So why is this an argument?

Some may simply just say because Kevin has many “haters”. Others may just think his numbers simply weren’t good enough. Others argue that a true hall of famer should be able to carry his team to an NBA championship. Well Boston’s 66 regular season wins, plus their 16 postseason wins, including four over the Lakers, with a guy many people call one of the best players in all the game, in Kobe Bryant. No matter how you look at it, Kevin Garnett did what many people thought he never could do. Sure, the Celtics had an absolutely dominate team, compared to the rest of the league, but even the best teams don’t always win it all, and to win 16 games in May and June is a feat in and of itself. If Kevin didn’t do enough, in the sixth and final game- scoring a game high 26 points, and grabbing 14 rebounds, and dishing out 4 assists. From the field, Kevin was 10-18, and 6-7 from the free throw line. All of this after K.G. was bashed for his play in game five in which he only scored 13 points, but once again grabbed 14 boards. Just goes to show that no matter how well you do, some people, and some media members are blinded by their dislike, or hatred, that they will try to tear a man down as much as possible. That is what was happening with the kid, and he answered the call in the best way possible!

Draw your own conclusions on what all this material means. Simply stated, many people said Kevin Garnett needed to win a NBA title for him to get himself ingrained with the Michael Jordan’s, Dr. J’s, Larry Bird’s of the game, and he did that, and all in impressive style. Kevin Garnett is a true hero for many young American boys, and now he can call himself a NBA Champion!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 10:50 am and is filed under DaKidClub News, Kevin Garnett News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.