Kevin Garnett is gearing up for the Boston Celtics to raise his number into the rafters at TD Garden alongside all the NBA legends who came before him.
The ceremony takes place on March 13 to honor the NBA Hall of Famer who, despite playing just six seasons in Boston, returned the franchise to former glory with a title in 2008. And perhaps equally as important, he helped re-establish a culture set long ago by the Celtics legends who came before him.
On a media tour prior to his ceremony, Garnett told reporters about what it meant for him to play for Boston and how fans helped get the best out of him.
Inject this into our veins, please:
“I heard Larry Bird say one time in his early years in Boston that the reason why he loved playing in front of the fans in Boston is because you couldn’t fake them. You couldn’t fool the fans. They knew when you was playing hard. They knew when you were giving your all. They have a sense of basketball history and they have high basketball IQs. They cared and I never forgot that. So much that when I was coming to Boston, I was talking to Antoine Walker and he obviously had some experiences. Not just with playing in Boston but playing and having success and then not having success. And that advice he gave me was some of the best advice, along with the Larry Bird statement. After having those conversations, I told myself that I probably won’t be the best player on the court every night, but I’m going to play like it and I’m going to give 1,000% effort like I’ve always done. I wanted to be able to show people that I can play through injury. I wanted to show them, plus teammates and coaching staff, I wanted them to see that I can play through damn near anything, that I was mentally strong, I had some endurance, that I worked really hard, I really worked on my craft. I had stamina, I could play for long periods of time and I played both ends. I was very prideful in that approach.
“I think that resonated with the city. Fans, when they saw me, I would like to think that they saw a person that was playing hard and giving his all. And as a player, that’s all you can ask of yourself. As fans watch you play, you can only give what you can give at the rate that you can give it. So I thought that I played the game at a high rate and a high velocity and I wanted to always play on that temperature. I never wanted to come in and be cool, I didn’t want to be calm. I wanted to be under control, but I wanted to be electric. I wanted to win every game and I wanted everybody who I was playing against to know that. I guess the fans resonated with that and to this day, fans come up to me, they dap me, they express their appreciation for hard work and passion. At the end of the day, man, that’s all you can ask for, man. So I’m grateful for that. But that’s what I think is the connection between me and the fans, or I would say they connected with me from day one of stepping on the court.“
Celtics fans miss this energy. Now, at least they’ll be reminded of it every time they look into the rafters at TD Garden.
