I guess its a matter of perspective. I didnt see KG carrying that team. He had some good stats, but he didnt dominate when he should have. Van Gundy rightly called him out on Sunday for having Delonte West on him in the paint and passing out to the perimeter. KG was meant to be the best second banana of all time, but he's not cut out to be the main guy. Duncan is. Thats just how I see it.

The Hornets are a really good team. The Hawks were not. Its not just individual peformance, but also a mindset Duncan carries with him. Maybe Im talking about what you were referring to with the KG is a clubhouse cancer in a strange way. Duncans first two games of the Hornets series were definitely worse than anything I can remember KG doing, but they were also far and away the worst I have seen from him. Rumors were he had a temp of 102 degrees. I dont know if thats true, but something was wrong with him. Either way he manned up and said it wasnt anything and he just needed to step it up, and he did. But my main point is that Hawks team had talent but was not a good team. The Hornets were a really good team and noone should be ashamed to have gone seven with them. Its embarrassing to the Celts the Hawks took them to 7 and KG is the supposed leader of the Boston team and turnaround, and he could have stepped up more than he did for sure. His stats werent bad, but he didnt take over any games either.

Im surprised this thread has gotten to 14 pages and its not even the semi-finals yet. Maybe theres a bit more interest in the NBA then Mac thought.

Fair or unfair, Garnett will always be measured against Tim Duncan, who has already carried the Spurs to four titles. It's easy to forget now that TD had his own blips and stumbles along the way, or that he played in 71 playoff games before famously demolishing the Nets with a 21/20/10 line in the clincher of the 2003 Finals. Wired very much like Garnett—completely selfless, phenomenally competitive, thoughtful as a teammate—Duncan learned to channel his intensity, saving peak performances for when they mattered most. He figured out that there was a crucial difference between a ho-hum January game in Atlanta and a must-win playoff game in LA. He's clearly developed a reliable mental alert: All right, unless I grab 20 rebounds tonight, we're going to lose. Or: If I don't take over this game right now and score every time down the floor, we're cooked.

I know this is a sidenote, but I find it interesting that it has taken Boston 14 games just to get to the Conference Finals. One has to wonder what kind of toll all these 7-game series are taking on them physically.