The Boston Celtics nearly stood in the way of LeBron James winning his first NBA title back in 2012, and Kevin Garnett has not gotten over it more than seven years later.
Garnett and Adam Sandler were guests on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” this week to promote their upcoming movie “Uncut Gems,” and Simmons managed to steer the conversation away from Hollywood to bring out the competitive side of K.G. Simmons recalled how the Celtics got in LeBron James’ head during Game 5 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, and LeBron responded by dropping 45 points in Game 6 to even the series at 3-3. The Heat went on to win Game 7, and the rest is history.
Simmons asked Garnett if the Celtics felt like they could break LeBron in Game 5, to which KG replied that they already “broke LeBron” in 2010, when the Celtics defeated his Cleveland Cavaliers in the postseason and LeBron went on to sign with the Heat. An irritated Garnett then said the Heat beat Boston in 2012 because the NBA had an “agenda” that the Celtics weren’t part of.
“We broke LeBron. So get your a** out of here with that.”
Watch to find out what exactly @KevinGarnett5KG is referencing. #BSPodcast pic.twitter.com/VwEfLwLyfj
— The Ringer (@ringer) December 18, 2019
A lot of times athletes are competitors on the court and friends off of it, but Garnett says that is not the case with the members of the 2012 Celtics and Heat squads. He said there would still be tension if they were all in the same room together.
“A lot of people think that it’s just sports … if you had (Dwyane) Wade, (Chris) Bosh and LeBron over in this corner and me, (Tony Allen), maybe Paul (Pierce) and (Rajon) Rondo right here, it would cool and respect but it won’t be, like, fraternizing. It ain’t gonna be like, ‘Yo, how the family?’ It ain’t gonna be none of that,” Garnett said. “They don’t f— with us and we don’t f— with them.”
Some members of that Celtics team even have issues with one of their own former teammates, so it’s no surprise those feelings have lingered seven years later. That fierceness is what made Garnett one of the best players the NBA has ever seen, and clearly he can’t just turn it off now that he is done playing. Nor do we want him to.
