The Atlanta Hawks controlled most of their contest Monday night against the Celtics and looked poised to slam the door shut when Jeff Teague savagely threw down the above dunk over Ray Allen in the third quarter to put the Hawks up by eight. Teague got T’ed up for taunting after the jam, and something about that sparked the Celtics, who then went on a 36-13 run and left Atlanta with a 79-76 victory. In somewhat karmic fashion, Teague airballed a potentially game-tying three-pointer at the end of the game.

Afterwards, the Celtics said that Teague’s taunting was a source of motivation for them as they mounted their comeback. “Yeah, there was a sense of anger,” Allen told the Boston Globe. “A sense of, ‘We’re going back at you guys,’ because that was uncalled for.” When Kevin Garnett was asked about Teague’s dunk, he gave the most Kevin Garnett answer:

“I don’t even know who you are talking about. That guy’s a nobody.”

It was your typical KG bravado. People such as Charles Oakley don’t like him for it, and I get it. In Garnett’s defense, you can make the argument that he was just making an objective remark on how Teague’s jersey number is zero. But no, Garnett sincerely was trying to be jerk.

H/T The Basketball Jones
Photo credit: Paul Abell, US Presswire