"You make your bed," he said. "You've got to lay in it."
That's code for "I'm gonna get what's coming to me."
Didn't take him long to find out he was right.
Stu Jackson, executive vice president of basketball operations for the NBA, handed down a one-game suspension without pay for Garnett, who delivered a hard elbow to Richardson's head with 40 seconds left in Saturday night's Game 1.
The Celtics will now have to defend their home court in Game 2 on Tuesday without their emotional leader and the centerpiece of their team's defense. And that means other guys will have to step up.
One of those guys, no doubt, is Glen Davis. KG is the Big Ticket; Davis is the Ticket Stub. And at practice on Sunday afternoon, Davis was poised and confident as he faced the prospect of filling in for the veteran Garnett.
"Time to bring out the Ticket Stub," Davis said multiple times Sunday.
With Garnett out, you can expect to see Davis get a big chunk of the minutes at power forward, just as he did last season with the Big Ticket injured. Offensively, he's going to be key for the Celtics, knocking down shots and crashing the offensive glass like a champ.
Defensively, the C's will need a little something out of Rasheed Wallace. They'll need his size and his length to help contain Michael Beasley and Jermaine O'Neal. If he can't get some help from Sheed, Kendrick Perkins is in for a long night of doing it all himself.
Kevin Garnett was a big-time leader for the Celtics in Game 1, helping the Celtics emotionally, defensively and by even knocking down a couple of key shots. Without him, the Celtics are in trouble, but it's nothing they can't overcome.
