Sports Radio Interviews

Kevin Garnett: “I feel good. I feel like I’m close to where I want to be with basketball”

A season ago, the Celtics were off to a great start.  They looked like the team to beat in the Eastern Conference for much of the season.  Then the worst thing that could’ve happened to the Celtics actually happened.  Kevin Garnett went down with an injury against Utah and did not return for the rest of the season.  It was the first time the Garnett sustained a major injury in his NBA career and the Celtics were not able to sustain the loss and were ousted in the second round of the NBA Playoffs by the Orlando Magic. 

I think Kevin Garnett is one of the best big men to ever play in the NBA.  If you look at his career numbers and all his individual accolades, he ranks right up there with some of the best big men to play in the league.  Even though he is getting older and dealt with an injury a season ago, I still think he is one of the best in the game today and I think he is the best player that Boston has.  There is no question that they have talent all across the board, but Kevin Garnett going down a season ago was crippling to Boston.  He is their vocal leader, he is their linchpin on the defensive side of the ball and he can score in a variety of ways offensively.  I have always been a big admirer of his game, I have always loved the passion and intensity that he brings and as long as he is healthy for the Celtics, I think they are the team to beat in the Eastern Conference when the playoffs roll around. 

Kevin Garnett joined WEEI in Boston to talk about his health, the challenges of returning from his first ever injury, the impact of Rasheed Wallace, the state of the team this season, and his awful bowling skills.

Last week Rasheed Wallace said he might not have an outside range. What’s yours, 75-feet?

“Well, if you want to take that shot last night, probably about 80 to 75-feet, yeah, that’s about accurate, yeah.”

You called it in the air didn’t you?

“I called it when I let it go, and then Don Nelson sort of said something to me. That’s why my reaction was the way it was, because I knew when I let it go, it felt good, but you never know in those situations. I let it go, it felt good, ooh, went in.”

I’m wondering if fear is the right word to use when you had a major injury for the first time in your career. When you didn’t know what was going on, were you fearful at all about what was going on in there?

“I fear God and I fear my mother, that’s about the only thing in life, other than that it was just straight up pain.  At one point I thought it was something that I could play through, I knew when I got home and when I was in my own personal space, that’s when I knew it was something serious.  Walking up steps, sitting down, laying out on the floor, stretched out on the floor, my leg was constantly bothering me.  You’re talking about a lot of activity, so when I really started to take it serious and the more I got educated on what was going on, that’s when I started to make decisions health wise, what was best for me.  I was running like I was running with a peg leg, and Doc in practice was like, this is terrible to watch.  My effort, I pretty much thought was there, I tried to come back, play a couple games, I knew that I was hurt, I knew that I was really hurt, but I was trying to grind through it, trying to give Paul (Pierce) and the rest of these guys some support.  I just knew at the same time I was probably making it worse by playing.  I had a very, very, very rare injury, obviously bone spurs, but the size of the spur was pretty irregular and pretty dramatic.  It wasn’t until I got to see it then I took it a lot more serious, but until that point I was built off hard work and dedication to your craft.  I haven’t changed that since I got here, I’ve always felt like mind over matter, you know the mind tells the body, but at some point the mind has to listen to the body.

So I just sort of zoned out, did all they did for treatment with all these different kind of people. Everybody got their therapy answer for you, and obviously it didn’t work for me.  So I had to do the only logical thing which was to actually get cut and go in, but it was a blessing in disguise because I learned a lot, not only about my injury, but about my body and how it works and vitamins.  Certain things you gotta put in it to balance certain things out and I just got more educated on this whole thing, being hurt and getting surgery, that was my first time going through that.  Coming back, just fighting through it, grinding through it, just another obstacle but something I can definitely apply to my everyday life and use it to say you know I got through this hurdle, got though these hurdles to get here, this is another hurdle in my life.”

As one of the veteran leaders on this team, have you been satisfied with the overall team effort in these last three games?

“Team effort is great, dawg.  What I want everybody to understand is that our defense has not changed since day one that I’ve been here.  If you’re going to ever beat us, you’re going to have to really get down to the tape and really do your homework to put shooters here, to put post up guys here, I mean it’s real strategic.  I’m speaking from me now, I feel like if I was coaching against us I would get real strategic with tape and film.  We are a help defensive team, when you isolate us and put us in single man coverages and you make shots, then it makes it difficult for us that night.  I think what most people are not doing is giving the other team credit for making plays and making shots in that sense.  Teams that have beaten us have beaten us. I’m not going to sit up here and take anything away from them, but our defense is very high throttle, and very much built off of help.  I think where we can get better, where we have to get better is our rebounding.  I think our rebounding has dipped a little bit but we’re running around trying to help each other, and we’re not putting bodies on people.  It makes it difficult so second chance points from rebounding are some of the things that I would point out to be some of the negatives, but overall effort man, we ain’t never lacked effort and you know that.  You see when we play, man, we play 100 miles an hour so I would definitely say that effort isn’t the problem, it’s just our rebounding, we can get better at that.”

Do you feel the same now as you did before the injury?

“I can tell a difference just in how I’m running when I watch myself.  A lot of it is just grit and grind, to tell you the truth.  I’m not the only person out there who’s hurt.  My leg feels good. It’s a lot like anything in life. You get one thing fixed, here comes another, and I’m no different from that.  I feel good.  I feel like I’m close to where I want to be with basketball.”

What’s Rasheed Wallace bring to your basketball team?

“Other than the obvious things, I think Sheed’s biggest asset is his, a lot of people wouldn’t even think this, but his sense of appreciation for other teammates and the way he’s able to relax you as a teammate.  I think one of the things I’ve been able to take away from him is that I sometimes have been told that I’m too serious and that’s just sort of the way I’ve always been.  I’ve always taken my craft very seriously and the way I prepare is a certain way and I’m old school with it and he’s light.  He likes to keep it light.  He likes to keep it mixed up with laughter and solid conversations and stuff like that.  The basketball part is the obvious stuff.  The fact that he makes us a bigger team from making us more versatile.  Defensively, he talks a lot.  His range, like you said, is when he comes through the door, so he can also post up.  He can block shots.  He can give you a lot of different things, but what I value in him is more of our off-court time and how we both vibe.  We haven’t spent a lot of time together before this time.  I knew him, I say, ‘What’s up?’  I see him out somewhere, we congregate right there and whatever.  So, when we play, it’s always high intensity going at each other, but the one thing here we’ve been spending a lot of time together just vibing and chillin’ and it’s helped me to actually enjoy this because sometimes I do get locked in and that’s just me wanting it so bad.  I can definitely say I laugh a little more than regular since he’s been here.”

Listen to Kevin Granett with Dale and Holley on WEEI in Boston

Tags: Boston Celtics, Eastern Conference, Kevin Garnett, NBA, WEEI