An interesting read. I think the angle of thinking *he's* trying too hard is apt. He's getting old and he doesn't want to admit it or doesn't want to show it.
Quote:
There was the woofing from the Boston bench during the playoffs last season, an embarrassing display. There's the incessant trash talking and harrassment sent the way of — yeah, I'll say it — European players almost as a rule. There was the time he made Glen Davis cry on national TV because he wasn't happy with Davis' defensive rotations in a game the C's were up 20.
There's just the perpetual displays of emotion and rage and over-wrought warrior-isms, and it's tiring. That's always been part of the K.G. package, he was always the last to leave the shower, always the first to step into in-game mode before the game actually started, but never to this degree. This isn't just the difference between Minnesota and Boston, and it's certainly not just because of the difference in how many games K.G.'s teams are winning these days. Boston was .500 over the last three-and-a-half months of the season, and those Timberwolves teams piled up their fair share of wins a few times.
So why now? Why this sudden regression into, dare I say, childish petulance? Well, you've seen it before.
He's a lion in winter.
He's older, the legs aren't there, the hops have hopped out of him and he's scared. He's insecure, he's never had to play basketball like this, he doesn't like it and he's lashing out. He's the basketball version of a distinguished gentleman suddenly turning into a right old coot in a senior citizen's home, treating the help like dirt for reasons that don't go beyond the fact that the distinguished gentleman needs help, now.
K.G. needs help, now.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Why-we-don-t-like-Kevin-Garnett-any-more;_ylt=Aso.TD6jchEFTSkaW6kL0f9zK7J_?urn=nba,235155