Not a lot of people have passion for the game like Kevin Garnett. Although he’s himself one of the greats of the game, KG is always first in line to give major props to others. Recently on the KG Certified show, he was asked about some of the rawest players he ever faced. The NBA veteran went into great detail, highlighting the best aspects of their games as he picked “Michael Jordan, [Hakeem] Olajuwon, and Charles Barkley“ for the spot.
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KG described Barkley as “unstoppable” on the court. He added that although he faced Barkley during his Houston Rockets days, which was towards the end of his career, Sir Charles was still phenomenal. While talking about Olajuwon, he said that the Dream was a perfect player who had impeccable ball control and a perfect shooting form. He said,
“I was fascinated by his science. The way he attacked front shoulder, back foot, front foot. The way he did that, it was just precision.”
However, KG’s description of MJ was nothing short of a cinematic experience.
The 15-time all-star believed that MJ had a glow, something like a halo that gods and angels have. So, when he saw him on the court for the first time, he saw that halo too. KG said that time moves slower for everyone watching the Bulls legend when he has the ball locked in his palm and is charging forward.
The former Celtics forward added that in his illustrious career, he never saw someone dominate the stage and lock everyone’s attention the way MJ did. There were a few honorable mentions on KG’s list as well, Magic Johnson and Dominique Wilkins.
He said, “Magic and Dominique, I caught at the end, the total end [of their careers] but they still was cold.” KG also recalled playing against the Lakers legend in 1996 and was mesmerized when Mr. Johnson shot a skyhook over him.
When Kevin Garnett met Michael Jordan
During a conversation on the ‘ALL THE SMOKE‘ podcast, KG was asked by Matt Barnes about his favorite MJ story. As a fan, KG had way too many to choose from but, in the end, he went with playing against Jordan in his rookie year.
Garnett was excited to play against someone he looked up to but he got a little carried away. He started trash-talking the opposition, including the great Michael Jordan.
What unfolded for the remainder of the game became an important lesson for KG and a lifetime memory that he loves to share. KG said, “In the next 67 minutes of play, y’all, we get two 10 second calls…we down 25 now it was just at two. Mike had 18, he had like 40 now. JR and myself, we ain’t scored in about four minutes.”
Everything went downhill once MJ realized he’d been trash-talked by the youngster. Despite facing the GOAT’s wrath, KG loves going into details about the story because he witnessed greatness up close.
