Ah, NBA players talking about being better than everyone else on the court. What else is new? And the latest to join the list of players claiming “I would have dominated him” was Kevin Garnett, while talking about San Antonio Spurs legend Tim Duncan.
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Well, to be fair to Garnett, he didn’t go out of his way to call Duncan out. Those on the What You Thought podcast were discussing a hypothetical 1v1 between the two, when one of the hosts revealed that his counterpart predicted a 10 out of 10 victory for “The Big Ticket”.
As it turns out, Garnett agrees. While the hosts discussed how Duncan “tortured” KG on the basketball court, 1v1s are different. Duncan spent his playing days with a Spurs dynasty with other legends like Tony Parker, whereas Garnett was on a Minnesota Timberwolves side that was struggling for relevance. Scratch the teams and go up against each other? And Garnett feels that the tides will completely be in his favor.
On Instagram, Garnett shared a clip from the podcast with the caption, “Would have cooked his a**, no cap,” with an emoji of a cap. So in his mind, there’s no way Duncan would win even once, like the podcaster suggested.
Sadly, Garnett won’t get to prove himself right. What counts for real is NBA records, and in their matchups over the years, Duncan has the record, and by some margin. He’s won 33 times against KG and lost 19.
In terms of stats, the two have been slightly closer, which just goes to show that on a different team, Garnett may have bettered the head-to-head. Duncan had 19.0 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists. Garnett had 19.5 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists.
Keep an eye out for Duncan’s trash talk
It’s safe to say that Garnett has always kept an eye on Duncan. And he has spoken about his brilliance, and also his traits several times since hanging up his boots. For instance, while talking about trash-talking in an older podcast, he revealed what made Duncan stand out on that aspect too.
“People would not see him verbally saying stuff, because he wouldn’t talk in sentences. Timmy will hit you in phrases ‘Got you, oooh, almost,’. That’s the worst right here — ‘Nice Try’.”
Understandably, it was infuriating for Duncan’s rivals. Heated exchanges feel more natural when both sides are hurling insults or making wild claims. But when someone throws out a calm, cutting comment like “Nice try,” it forces you to think hard before coming up with a response.
If it were a 1v1 battle of the words, it seems as though it’s Garnett who would’ve been “cooked”.
