"These young ni**a got my d*** hard!’" - Kevin Garnett once had the wildest reaction to his opponent's athletic slamdunk
Kevin Garnett
© Joe Robbins-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Garnett will always be known for his passionate and fierce personality on the court. In almost all possessions, he always had something to say — whether it was directed to himself, his teammates, or opponents. Garnett knew he could intimidate anybody, and when he did, opponents often noticed because of how striking and bizarre his words were. Former NBA champion Lamar Odom shared an experience with The Big Ticket he will never forget.
KG never held back
Odom recalls when the Los Angeles Clippers (the team he played for before moving to the Los Angeles Lakers) faced Garnett's Minnesota Timberwolves. At that time, the Clippers were loaded with athletic players, namely Darius Miles, Elton Brand, Jeff McInnis, Michael Olowokandi, and Corey Maggette. One Clipper went up for a slamdunk, brought the crowd into a frenzy, and caught Garnett's attention.
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"We got a real athletic team and we were paying the [Minnesota] Timberwolves one night and there were a lot of dunks. KG was like 'Ohhhh, these young n-word got my d*** hard!'… he's just extra intense, man. Extra intense. You had to always come with it and had to step it up," Odom said in his appearance on the 85SouthShow.
While these phrases seem so bizarre and unnatural for most NBA players, it was the norm for KG. Odom's story perfectly encapsulates who Garnett is, someone who never held back and said whatever was on his mind — good or bad. It was his competitive advantage, and he wasn't afraid to portray himself that way to the world.
Garnett's reputation
It's not just Odom that had the weirdest encounter with Garnett. Many players have shared their experience of being on the receiving end of KG's antics, one of which is Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem. Last April, Haslem opened up why he thought Garnett was the most disrespectful opponent he ever played against.
"Much respect to the career that Kevin Garnett had and the success that he had," Haslem said. "But the s— that come out his mouth sometime ain't got nothing to do with basketball and is the most disrespectful s— I ever heard in my life. For me in situations in the Boston Celtics series that got hot and heated, I needed Chris (Bosh) to step up one time and I would've handled the rest. But it never got to that point."
While there have been only multiple stories that have come out about Garnett's disrespectful comments on the court, it's safe to say that there were probably more. That's what fueled him as a player and, more importantly, drove him to be one of the best power forwards of all time. After all, it's not Kevin Garnett if there wasn't trash-talking involved.
