Kevin Garnett’s performance during the 2000 Olympics helped bring home another Gold to add to the list of accolades. It was quite impressive seeing KG take on almost the entire USA team in a one-on-one situation. What makes this even more impressive is that his sheer dominance forced Larry Brown to shut the gym down. During one of the earlier episodes of KG Certified, the Boston Celtics legend recalled his time with Team USA.
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While taking part in a drill Jason Kidd often indulged in, Garnett’s ability to score with ease led to tempers rising, which eventually led to Larry Brown’s decision.
“We were almost fighting. J-Kidd had a drill called one-on-one full court. When I would score, I would come down the hill. So, you’re waiting on me and I got the whole court. So, I was going to elbows, getting to my spots.”
“Bunch of sh*t-talking to whatever man. And me and Reef(Shareef Abdur-Rahim) almost got to fighting. Larry Brown had to take the ball—had to shut the gym down and get us out of there.”
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The drill gave KG plenty of time, and space to go for the best possible shot. After making one, he had to go downhill with the defender already waiting on him. That gave Garnett the advantage of catching the defender off guard.
KG took the whole #USABMNT on 1-on-1 back in 2000 pic.twitter.com/gnn4NiQrNO
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) July 6, 2024
If you look at the video above, ‘The Franchise’ goes up against Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. And in the whole ordeal, KG simply does not miss. Sinking shots over Carter and Abdur-Rahim twice during the entire drill.
As Garnett started to get into his groove, his ‘In your face’ trash-talking personality started to take over, almost leading to a scuffle with Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Had Larry Brown not intervened, a fight could’ve very well broken out during Team USA practice. Seeing ‘The Kid’ take on some of the biggest names in the league back then completely shatters one’s perspective on what KG’s game was. Fans have often seen Garnett making his move either in the paint and post or from the mid-range.
But in the video, The Big Ticket has no problems bringing the ball up the court while being defended by smaller guards who can easily steal the ball away from him. Garnett does not seem to be going at full speed. Yet, he was hitting jumpers over defenders, with a hand in his face.
Years later, Garnett spoke on the video of his drill during the Team USA practices. Even then, KG mentioned how once he got into a rhythm, it was over for the defending players because that’s all he needed.
