Sticks and Stones...

A healthy KG has returned to form this season
and so has his trash talking. 

Since making the monumental leap from Farragut Academy High School straight to the NBA in 1995, Kevin Garnett has personally hand crafted a reputation for being a notorious trash talker. Whether it be barking at opponents, committing hard fouls or relentlessly hounding officials, it's all a part of KG's persona. While LeBron is too busy basking in the crowd's spotlight, throwing up powder into the air and soaking in the applause, the Big Ticket is preparing for war; tying his short strings and banging his head against the padded support beneath the hoop.

Lately, KG has been taking some serious shots in the media for his on the court behavior. First, it was Charlie Villanueva of the Pistons ratting out Garnett on Twitter, claiming he called him a "cancer patient" during a recent matchup at the Palace of Auburn Hills (Villanueva suffers from a rare disease that leaves him unable to grow hair). While KG attempted to set the story straight by disclosing that he instead called Villanueva a "cancer" to his team, the public backlash hasn't significantly subsided. Now, just yesterday, Bulls center Joakim Noah told a Chicago radio station that Garnett is "a very mean guy," and, hold your breath Celtics fans, "ugly, too."

The moral of the story is that KG is back. He seems fully recovered from knee surgery and looks more and more like the 2008 Garnett with each game; ferocious in the paint, jumping high for rebounds and blasting off to slam home alley-oops from Rondo. While he was injured the past two seasons, he was playing on one leg and not at the top of his game. As a result, his trash talking subsided some due to the fact that he was unable to back up his words, physically. Now that he's healthy, his trash talking has been elevated, just as his game has. Some of the younger players in the League aren't accustomed to this. They're too young to remember the Minnesota KG, or even the 2008 version. In turn, they are left helpless on the court, and forced to sling playground name-calling Garnett's way off it.

Every true Celtic fan knows the Big Ticket is at his best when he strikes fear into the heart of opponents with hard fouls or gets under their skin with verbal jabs, getting in their heads and throwing them off their game. As my father told me on more than one occasion, this is what made Larry Bird so good. He was the king of trash talking. Famously, he walked into the locker room before the 1986 All-Star Three Point Contest and stated "I want all of you to know I am winning this thing. I'm just looking around to see who's gonna finish up second." Bird proceeded to torch the competition and hoist the trophy.

One aspect of last season that was so entertaining was watching Garnett and Rasheed Wallace feed off each other in the paint and jaw at opponents' ears. For one season, they were basketball's version of the Bash Brothers from Mighty Ducks. Nothing personified this better than Sheed being called for a bad foul and then the player at the line missing the free throws. On every occasion, Sheed could be heard in the background screaming "Ball Don't Lie!!" plain as day for everyone to hear.

Villanueva and Noah can cry all they want but it doesn't change the fact that KG is back. Last night in Miami he made Chris Bosh look like a JV player under the hoop, out hustling and muscling a perennial All-Star nearly ten years his younger. Trash talking means nothing if you can't back it up, and the best trash talkers are the ones that, in the end, let their play speak for themselves, not their words. Throw KG into this small, select category. I can't help but think Bird would agree, too.