The truth is that Kevin Garnett was never as good as Paul Pierce

[Fafnir]

Yes, I know that Powe only had a good game in the 2008 finals. The point was the style of play in that game, in the paint. It's not whether or not Powe was a great player.

KG needed (since it won't ever happen) to play down low and let Pierce wander about, as a swingman.

But no, 'he's 20+ ppg, 10+ rpg & Wally sucked in Minn' , yes, I've heard the diatribe before.

Go watch the Finals again, Garnett was in the paint all the time. He got 3.5 offensive boards per game and was posting up as a big part of our offense.

Meanwhile defensively he defended the paint as well as anyone in the game.

[18isGREATERthan72]

Paul Pierce is very much like the Ginobili of this conference.

While everyone loves to say that the Spurs *are balanced*, etc, etc, all one really needs to do is look at Manu's health. As soon as his ankle or hamstring is sore/pulled, the Spurs run is over. The difference between them winning it all and being ousted by the Lakers or the Mavs is one player, who can put it on his back and deliver.

For us, we have Paul Pierce. And for the most part, I would love to have seen him on a team, like the Spurs, so that he could prove my point. Instead, he was carrying the Cs, for many seasons with a faux point forward, Walker, instead of someone, who can rebound, play paint defense, and take good shots.

Someone once said that if we'd switched KG with Carlos Boozer, during that 2008 year, that the Jazz immediately wins the title. For this, I disagree, as the Jazz were not a defensive-minded team, unlike Thib's C's. I think that Boozer plays in the middle and does as fine a job as anyone else, guarding the paint and scoring down low, but this time side-by-side with enforcer Perkins, prior to his recent follies in Chicago. I like Boozer/Perks up front, it definitely gives PP and Ray Ray, a lot to work with. And yes, we'll be hearing all kinds of stories of Carlos not being clutch, however, in this alternate scenario, since he is playing down low, it really wouldn't be all that necessary.

In this arrangement, Pierce can still lead the C's to a title as long as Carlos brings his 'A' game to the series and doesn't mail it in due to personal issues. But he doesn't need to overachieve, which we clearly haven't seen from KG either.

Problem with this argument is KG was the one who got injured in the 08-09 season, and we couldn't finish...  After the way we took it to the Magic in that playoffs without KG, I think that proves we would have VERY LIKELY won the title that year.  Does anyone forget just how DOMINANT the Celtics were to start the season that year?  The Celtics were beating EVERYONE, and had a start to the season that was historic... I believe they went 27-3 unless I am mistaken, to start the season.  Then KG goes down, and the run kind of slowed abruptly then.

[TitleMaster]

Hello folks,

I've taken a couple of days off and reviewed this.

Yes, in general, I'd always wished that KG had more of an inside game, like a Malone (either Karl or Moses), Ewing, Robinson, or Hakeem.

But what I'd also noticed is that for the most part, I'd simply lost my marbles because we didn't win in 2010. Ultimately, that's the issue and I've never been able to get over it.

[Celtics4ever]

I don't think he was the finisher PP ever was.  KG had a rep for not being clutch, you can't say that about PP.

[chambers]

Kevin Garnett is a better player than Pierce.
Paul will be remembered as an NBA great,
and Garnett will be remembered somewhere between an NBA great and an NBA legend.

KG and Timmy Duncan are two of the greatest power forwards of all time. Throw KG on a team as good as the Spurs and he's rated higher than Duncan overall.
When he took that Minnesota team to the WCF it was epic.