Kevin Garnett was notorious for his intensity, there weren’t a lot of players in the league that was as hardcore as KG. His play made his necessity to be the best quite evident, too. There was nobody that played harder on both ends of the court. And as many of his peers have also attested to, he was a verbal menace as well.
There are many stories about Garnett’s trash talk. Udonis Haslem said it was the most disrespectful stuff he had heard in his whole life. And while he didn’t always show that side of him off the court, he has one infamous quote from 2004 that many have now forgotten about.
Speaking ahead of a crucial Game 7 for Minnesota, Garnett likened the coming matchup to a war, extending the analogy quite a bit. KG described the various guns and weapons he was supposedly readying in a detailed rant (via ESPN).
“This is it,” he responded. “It’s for all the marbles. I’m sitting in the house loading up the pump, I’m loading up the Uzis, I’ve got a couple of M-16s, couple of nines, couple of joints with some silencers on them, couple of grenades, got a missile launcher. I’m ready for war.”
Many basketball players often liken playing in the NBA to going to war, an analogy that helps them give their all on the court. However, the harsh realities of both war and gun violence are much different, making these comments from Garnett a little insensitive. Garnett acknowledged as much, too and apologized afterward.
“Sincerely, I apologize for my comments earlier. I didn’t mean to offend anybody. It was one-sided thinking on my part, but I’m man enough to admit it. I’m a young man and I understand when I’m appropriate, and this is totally inappropriate. I was totally thinking about basketball, not reality.”
One way or another, Garnett amping himself up worked, with the Timberwolves beating the Sacramento Kings in 7 games. They advanced to the Western Conference Finals, their best-ever result, but fell short against the Kobe-Shaq Lakers. Garnett toned down his intensity in public a little, but this is a good example of how single-minded he was during his prime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PQMTwB1DR4
