I think that this rivalry gets overlooked for a number of reasons: the battle of power forwards is not as glamorous as the dominating swingmen (Bird/Magic and Melo/LeBron matchups are much more fun to talk about); Minny and San Antonio are regrettably no longer in the same division; they've only met in the playoffs in the first round, and no real classic games exist between them to speak of.
Quantitatively, it's hard to argue against Duncan: higher career averages in scoring, rebounds, and blocks; three titles and Finals MVP (vs. 0 on both accounts for KG); two league MVP's (vs. 1). But if you consider that Duncan has benefited from a revolving supporting cast including David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, Sean Elliot (all three of whom have been All-Stars), as well as a litany of fantastic role players, I'd think that Garnett could have easily done as much with a similar environment.
Before his arrival, the Wolves were perennial basement dwellers. By the time he hit his stride, they were a lock for the playoffs every year (unfortunately, a lock for first round exits, too.) Needless to say, the Timberwolves have never fielded a team that you could easily call contendahs (03-04 is a tossup).
But until the Wolves start making it past the second round on a regular basis, I'm going with city loyalty.
― Current Mood: Embarrassing Christian Laettner (Matt Chesnut), Saturday, 17 December 2005 00:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― polyphonic (polyphonic), Sunday, 18 December 2005 08:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 18:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― J. Lamphere (WatchMeJumpStart), Friday, 13 January 2006 00:44 (eighteen years ago) link
I would still pick duncan over garnett though, from a team perspective. Garnett's attitude and intensity, especially towards teammates can detrimental to any team, and the T-wolves have let go of all-stars because of it. (Gugliotta, Szerbiak). And without key supporting players, the timberwolves struggle, even with garnett having monster nights.
― Chevy N, Sunday, 19 March 2006 12:40 (eighteen years ago) link
Wouldn't that sentence be the same if the Spurs and Duncan's name were substituted.
Garnett was like 20 when Gugliotta left (and I've never heard that was about anything other than money) and Szerbiak was a no defense playing jerk. It's not Garnett's fault that he hasn't the had the good fortune to play for the Spurs (who have surrounded Duncan with fantastic talent.) I'd be frustrated if I was him too (although their entire decline can be blamed almost entirely on one extremely stupid decision on McHale's part.
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 19:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 00:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 01:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chevy N, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 05:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 23:54 (eighteen years ago) link
"these days"!
― oops (Oops), Thursday, 23 March 2006 00:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chevy N, Thursday, 23 March 2006 13:52 (eighteen years ago) link
ok guys so kevin garnett is from my home(greatermetropolitanarea)town and my high school friend came up to visit this week so i thought i should let you know that the nba store has a lego kevin garnett (still wearing timberwolves jersey). it is a little bit awesome.
here she is with him.
http://a186.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/110/l_3f93a36b70c9f474cf2054ddad2728e9.jpg
― tehresa, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 04:32 (sixteen years ago) link
only now noticed the brian eno 'apollo' playing in the background
― eman, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 20:27 (sixteen years ago) link
friend of mine does a lot of street photography in Minneapolis and KG was at the George Floyd memorial todayhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CGar_HzH3c4/?igshid=1w6lkocdxyzpi
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 16 October 2020 22:07 (four years ago) link
During my interview with Julia Fox -- She told me she got caught cheating and in order to make it up to her boyfriend, she tattooed his name on her body. Kevin Garnett's reaction is priceless. pic.twitter.com/151cURAslY— Mr. Valentine (@BlogXilla) January 11, 2022
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 11 January 2022 19:04 (two years ago) link
lmao
― Spottie, Tuesday, 11 January 2022 19:37 (two years ago) link