Kelly Dwyer's Game Recap

[Big Ticket]

I'm going to revel in all the KG, and Celtics, praise while I can.  Full article here.  My favorite part, here:

Not only did Kevin Garnett tell us that a stifling defense was going to have to be the thing that set Boston apart, but he acted the (really, really) glorified Ben Wallace at times, going quarters without a play being run for him; and not only did he make the Celtics the best defensive team in the NBA, he made sure they won that run by a country mile.

Garnett's defensive turn this season was just brilliant, and while I'm sure there have been individual seasons that were just as good - Bill Russell and Scottie Pippen would like a word - that was just about as good a defensive turn as I've ever taken in.

I used to have to rank players for SI.com, and while I appreciated the gig and loved who I was working with, I wasn't really a fan of the role to say the very least. Ranking these guys was sort of an anathema to me, it went against more or less everything that I believe in as an NBA scribe, but I needed the gig.

Either way, what hurt the most was when readers seemed to have no idea just how good Garnett was defensively, and that his output on some nights far, far eclipsed the latest 30-point game from Kobe, or the 18-point, 12-assist game from Steve Nash. This stuff mattered, and nobody saw it.

They saw it this year, thank Chuck Berry, and if you think the buildup to KG's first ring (the Bill Russell interview, which I was warned against and still haven't seen; the commercials, the screams, the screams, and the screaming) was a bit much; understand that it was still deserved.

In spite of his exposure, and his Q rating, this is still this generation's most unheralded, most underappreciated player. Even forgetting that, think of what he's done for this league. He was the first prominent player to be taken out of high school in nearly two decades. Faced with a lithe frame that wasn't getting any bigger, he revolutionized the power forward position using touch and guile. His 1997 contract extension led to an ugly labor dispute that more or less saved the league. And his presence on the 2007-08 Boston Celtics led to a return to glory for the most storied franchise in hoop.

Keep screaming, KG. Keep on.