In his first live game since last March, Garnett had 13 points and 10 rebounds in a 95-89 win over Cleveland, showing no ill effects of the right knee injury that effectively killed the Celtics' chances last season.
His presence alone made this Celtics unit dramatically different than the one that visited Cleveland late last season, sans Garnett, and coughed up a 107-76 loss. That was back when Garnett stayed away from the team due to the fact that he was almost too amped up to sit on the sidelines in a suit and maintain relative decorum.
Before Tuesday's opener, he was forced to deal with those same emotions.
"I had to calm myself down, but all in all I gave everything I had and felt good tonight," said Garnett, who played 33 minutes. "I'm still getting cobwebs and all types of dust off my game but, you know, I'm happy to be out here and happy to be healthy."
There was a notable missed dunk and a long stretch where he watched on the pine while the bench fueled an early Celtics run, but the 33-year-old's return was not a matter of just going through the motions and working up a sweat.
With the Celtics down 13-2 early and looking listless, Garnett had back-to-back blocks to start a fast break that led to a much-needed Paul Pierce dunk. He then scored seven points in the third quarter and was the centerpiece of a critical series late in the fourth.
With Shaquille O'Neal prepared for a dunk that would have drawn Cleveland within four with just over three minutes left, Garnett made sure O'Neal would have to earn it, sending the career 52.8 percent free-throw shooter to the line.
O'Neal missed both foul shots, and seconds later was torched by a Garnett spin and fallaway jumper that made it 87-79 Celtics with 2:43 to go.
"Kevin was great, he was great," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "He was going a little too fast in some of the stuff we were running. It was funny, some of the guys were trying to settle him down a little bit, but that was expected."
So long as Garnett meets the expectations of his coach, the Celts will be fine.
