Wednesday (Everybody in ‘Sota) edition: Wha’ Happened?
Posted on June 18th, 2008 – 9:14 AMBy Michael Rand
As we imagined all along, we were at Target Center last night to watch Kevin Garnett clinch his first-ever NBA championship and to hear him say it was “for everybody in ‘Sota.” The strange part, perhaps, is that we were merely at NBA City, the restaurant attached to the home of the Wolves, while Garnett was thousands of miles away in Boston. That distance seemed to matter none to him nor the decidedly pro-Boston/pro-Garnett fans who came out to dine, drink and watch The Franchise win it all in that green No. 5 uniform that still looks so strange. We were watching with the RBBH and SG, former proprietor of the I Heart KG blog who is now over at TWolvesBlog. She might have been a little emotional watching KG at the end of the game — particularly so for someone who wasn’t sure who she was rooting for at the start. We’ll get to some of the game and series specifics in a minute, but we want to ask one quick question: does KG name-checking our fair state after winning a title with another team ease the pain of the trade and provide a measure of closure, or does it only make things worse for local fans? Our answer would seem to be a little bit of Columns A and B. It’s clear he left a good piece of his heart in Minnesota, and calling out the state was clearly his way of saying thanks. On the flip side, that sound bite will serve as a constant reminder of what could have been here but never was. In any event, about that series:
Biggest disappointment, Part I: Kobe Bryant. You can say he had little help in many games. We say he choked, bombed, wasn’t a leader at all and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s not in the same class as Michael Jordan. This was a legacy series for him. And his took a hit.
Biggest disappointment, Part II: Phil Jackson. The mastermind and great motivator looked disengaged and couldn’t consistently come up with strategies to either free Kobe or make Boston pay for double- and triple-teams. He was outfoxed by Doc Rivers.
Biggest disappointment, Part III: The series in general. With the exception of dominant stretches in Games 4 and 6 by the Celtics, this was some fairly putrid basketball by both teams. Nobody on the Lakers showed up consistently. It’s hard to imagine L.A. playing any worse. If Boston had not seized the moment last night, rather hung on for some unsightly 89-85 win, we would have declared this a Title by Default.
Biggest Difference: The heart and play of Paul Pierce, who had a fantastic series (Game 1 theatrics aside), rubbed off on his teammates. The heart of Kobe Bryant did not.
Strangest scene: Chants of “Beat L.A.,” and “MVP” (for KG), and some other less printable ones directed at Kobe, originating periodically from NBA City last night. KG still draws a lot of water in this town. And Kobe doesn’t draw [redacted], at least in some circles.
What’s next? NBA draft Redactular, one week from tomorrow, when the Wolves trade down and take Kevin Love. 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Invites forthcoming. If we forget you, give a shout and we’ll make sure you know all the details.
Fasola-link! The Shawshank Reunion.
32 Responses to "Wednesday (Everybody in ‘Sota) edition: Wha’ Happened?"
Our answer would seem to be a little bit of Columns A and B. It’s clear he left a good piece of his heart in Minnesota, and calling out the state was clearly his way of saying thanks. On the flip side, that sound bite will serve as a constant reminder of what could have been here but never was.
Bingo.
Rand
Your “one week from tomorrow” link is the same as the Shawshank Reunion. Is the Redactular going to be Shawshank themed. If so I will not be the one showing up as Andy after crawling through that sewage pipe.
On KG’s ‘Sota shout out:
I didn’t interpret him shouting out to the fans of MN I think he was giving props to his friends here. Right after he said ‘Sota he also gave a shout out to Chicago and South Carolina.
Maybe I am naive but I really don’t think KG won this title for me because I cheered for him when he was here. He was just thanking family and friends in my opinion.
I’m going with “better,” x1000. I can’t imagine any other departed Minnesota athletes doing that.
I thought the shout-out was geniune (although the rest of KG’s postgame outburst was unintelligle; props to Tofoya for hanging in there while Garnett has his obnoxious “look at me” moment), but what about the thuggery and bad sportsmanship on the side of Boston? The Celtics, including KG, acted like unapologetic [redacted] clowns while embarrassing the Lakers. Hard fouls, alley-oops and a rain of threes while destroying a team by 35? Real classy guys. I understand that it’s on the Lakers as pros to keep playing until the horn (something only Vujacic and his funny headband did) but Doc Rivers and his players came off looking like complete tools in victory. ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE! TOP OF THE WORLD!
Jama –
He said “everybody in ‘Sota” — not “my friends and family in ‘Sota” — you and I are included in that. Maybe even Taylor and McHale — the guy’s classy like that.
KG is well aware that many of us remained his fans even after he was traded.
He named ‘Sota first. He knows we wanted an NBA championship as bad as he did. I was touched that he did that.
Truly the classiest NBA superstar of his generation.
RE:bad sportsmanship. I agree totally. And after the game ended, the Celtics didn’t even huddle around to do the “2-4-6-8, who do we appreciate? Lakers, Lakers, go Lakers!” chant. Bunch of classless jerks.
Shouldn’t Pierce be on the Wheaties box instead of KG? Wasn’t Pierce the MVP? Maybe KG was really just shouting out to General Mills.
Maybe he wasn’t thanking Minnesota fans, but I’m choosing to believe that he was, if only because it makes cheering for him (and by proxy, the Celtics - ick) feel worthwhile.
I interpreted it as a shout out to friends in MN. Also, what the heck else was KG talking about?!?!
scagmajor
We probably need to call that old woman from the movie “Airplane!”. She spoke jive.
Man, just wait. Kevin Love is going to make us forget KG ever played here.
The Celtics, including KG, acted like unapologetic [redacted] clowns while embarrassing the Lakers. Hard fouls, alley-oops and a rain of threes while destroying a team by 35? Real classy guys.
I know that there are two very separate schools of people when it comes to this, so I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind.
That said, it’s not good sportsmanship to let up on another team in a professional sport played by highly paid athletes! If they can’t stop your team from scoring, that’s their problem. If they can’t keep you from getting alley-oops, 3-pointers, goals, home runs, or touchdowns that’s no one’s fault but their own. No team owes anything to the opponents.
The player who I thought was “classless” last night was Lamar Odom who was complaining about how hard the Celtics were playing with a big lead. Maybe if the Lakers had done that they would have won Game 4. Step up and stop them if you don’t want to get blown out. Otherwise take it like a professional and move on, or, better yet, learn from it.
The people who complain about blow-outs and teams that pile on apparently have never been fans of a team that’s blown a gigantic lead. Start watching Gopher Football and tell me that a team shouldn’t score as much as it possibly can and damn the naysayers who will cry “bad sportsmanship”. It’s only bad sportsmanship if you don’t shake their hands afterward and acknowledge a good game (whether it was close or not).
I expected these points to be made, Dave, and to a certain extent I agree with you (for instance, I didn’t see anything wrong with the Patriots systematically destroying the Redskins last year). I still maintain that the Celtics could have blown out the lifeless Lakers in a more sportsmanlike fashion and with a heck of a lot more grace. While I am truly happy for KG and I have no sympathy for Kobe and the Lakers, I think the ugliness of the last eight minutes could have been avoided with better leadership from Doc Rivers, Phil Jackson and the veteran players from both teams. Remember, the lead was 35 with five minutes remaining, not 20.
Thank you for everything KG. Nobody deserved it more.
Oh, and the Celtics played hard for 48 minutes. Can you blame them with what KG, Pierce, and Allen have been through? They didn’t take one minute off. The Lakers got taken to the woodshed, and their babies for crying about a team playing HARD for 48 minutes.
The bench celebration however was RIDICULOUS. They should have gotten 15 technicals.
With all of the emotions Garnett was feeling last night he could have easily forgotten about MN, but he didn’t. One of the first things he said was his shout out to us. As miserable as it is to cheer for Boston as soon as KG mentioned “Sota” it felt like MN had just won the championship. It was a great feeling. We love you ticket and congrats you are a certified champion.
lattewarrior, welcome to the world of tigerbeat, flower petals and bunny slippers.
Good god, man, at least strap a set on if you don’t have a pair. Asking any team to let up is redacted. Losing teams are to never give up, so why should the winning team? What happens when the miraculous happens? Either the previously losing team should return the favor or should let up, too. That’s called patty cake. Or wrestling. Whatever.
You should be ashamed. Please turn in your bra and panties when you’re ready to return to the real world. Thank you.
SUBY, the bench celebration was awesome. I loves me a good Globetrotters-Generals beatdown. Watching the Celtics, esp. KG, the Truth and Ray-ray, and the fans bask in pure joy while the game was going on was a blast to see.
KG4LIFE, I liked how it was somewhat full circle with Tafoya interviewing KG. I remember when she came on the scene with the Wolves way back when. Nice to see her in Boston on the biggest national stage of her life thus far.
Hey guys, I lived in Minneapolis for years, even own my own KG jersey (still haven’t adjusted to his not being #21). I was a wreck when Kevin Harlan left as the official announcer and I hurt my voice screaming so loud and waving all those howl towls….
Now I’m in Boston and you need to understand something - sometimes, you have to let them go and be happy for them, because this is what they play for. The Bruins traded Ray Bourque so he could go to the Avs and hoist the Cup. McHale understood that KG was never going to win a title in Minnesota, not unless other talent was kept as well. An athlete’s life is devoted to reaching the pinnacle of thier sport - revel in this one for KG, he deserves it.
And for all you out there who still can’t see, there are things he doesn’t do anymore that I used to love seeing him do in Minnesota, because they belonged to the fans in Minnesota. Little things, yes, but if you have watched him over the years, you see it. Believe it or not, we Bostonians, we do appreciate the opportunity given to us when KG came to the green. We understand drought, we understand loving a team so much it hurts. And KG, he, the other Celtics, they lived up to their promise. And yes, part of this championship belongs to all of you as well.
KG may be a class act in sports, but Minnesota nurtured him when he could have become just another Kobe. Take your bow, this one is for you too.
Michelle Tafoya got a great workout this week walking back and forth from the court to the lockerroom every time one of the Celtics got boo-boo’s.
Ray Allen had a scratched nose? Really? Ronnie Lott cut off his damn finger and Allen is in the lockerroom for 20 minutes in a Finals clinching game for a scratched nose?
On the note about letting up, that is ridiculous. I hate that philosophy. How can you be a competitor and try to not succeed? I think sportsmanship was invented by losers. It’s overrated. You shouldn’t go easy just because the other team sucks. That’s their problem. Every time I ever played anything I tried to beat the other team 100-0. There is no such thing as running up a score. If you don’t like it, don’t suck.
While relaxing at home in my bra and strap on testicles, I kick up my bunny slipper-clad feet and read J-14. Tiger Beat is soooo 1989.
Sorry to offend all of the alpha males in Randland by calling for a shred of sportsmanship in professional sports. I’ll let you get back to tearing the sleeves off your T-shirts and planning your next MMA pay-per-view sausagefest.
Hey guys: High Fidelity. Great movie. We can all agree on that, right?
Excellent movie. I’d go see Sonic Death Monkey/Kathleen Turner Overdrive/Barry Jive and the Uptown Five open up for I Stole My Grandma’s Wheelchair tonight if I could. Now I must go listen to The Beta Band’s Three EPs to calm down [breathing… breathing… breathing] … OK, I’m cool.
No offense meant, Latte. It was more of a general statment on sportsmanship than a reply to your post.
I’m just a bad sport and I don’t care.
The Celtics ARE classy. They play team ball instead of Kobe’s ME ball. Only a jerk would insult this team. And Kudo’s to KG for his ring. The Twolves share in this win as it was here that he grew to the player he is now.
Thanks Sota for KG. I never knew how great a player he was. So they celebrated early. The Lakers packed it in long before the celebration started. Maybe the Lakers should have been hit with a technical for failing to finish the game. The three had to check their ego’s at the door. Again Thanks from Boston
Its funny how many comments about KG have been bitter. I am not from Minnesota but did live there. Mchale and co. always put garbage around Kg. Why is it that you guys had one really good year for kg. The timberwolves didnt invest for the long haul and that why Garnett said im never going to win here. He put years in the franchise and got mothing but money in return. I appreciate what he did and Im a rockets fan. Go figure.
What’s with all the hatin’ on KG? He played his heart out in MN and the best player the Wolves could give him to play with was Latrell Sprewell. I’m sure KG would have wanted to win a championship here but he couldn’t do it by himself. Can you blame him for wanting to leave? He was with the same team since, what, 1995? I felt so happy for him. I think it would be selfish to not be happy for him.
As for the Celtics continuing to play hard even though they were up 30+ in the 4th quarter–if you were Doc Rivers, what would you have told your players on the court? To start taking bad shots? To play sloppy on purpose? To make bad passes? Are you kidding me? That would have been more disrespectful.
And let me remind you that the Celtics’ best players were all on the bench by then and bench players like Tony Allen and Glenn Davis were on the floor. These guys hardly played in the Finals and this was their chance to play; they were probably pumped up and were simply having fun and enjoying the moment.
I don’t think they were disrespecting the opponent. They were just happy because their franchise has been so down for most of the last two decades.
Lighten up a little!
I don’t recall any hard fouls at the end of the game. Odom fell down on his own driving to the basket late. They called a foul, but if you see that replay again it looked like a pretty good blocked shot. If Gasol, Odom and Kobe played as hard as they whined to the refs, then they’d really have something.
I agree, it was a great beat-down of the Lakers. Great to watch. The celebration on the Celtics side was fun. Pure joy.
I remember when Ray Bourque won the Stanley Cup with Colorado Avalanche. All the sports bars in Boston went crazy. He was a guy who gave his everything, every shift in Boston for 20 years. He asked to be traded when it was evident that the team was going nowhere. Brought the Cup back to Boston to share with his fans. KG is a class guy. Seems from what i’ve read and heard he enjoyed his time in “’sota”
As an Ex-MPLS-er in New England, I had a really hard time watching this series. I’m a wolves fan, even though the longer I stay out here people think I’ll switch allegiances. If I was rooting for anyone on the C’s it was Paul “long suffering” Pierce. That said, that emotion at the end from KG - the man was a wreck - made it hard not to feel good for him.
It also made one other thought come back: “I hate you Glen Taylor.”
As for sportsmanship - this isn’t Pee Wee or traveling league. Both teams have a responsibility to play hard. One did, the other lost a championship.
