17!

The sites I read have already hashed and rehashed Kevin Garnett's exorcism/bloodletting/"interview" after the C's secured the title last night. FreeDarko as usual seems on track here. I'll admit that it was strange, but I think it really did encapsulate who and what KG is. His extended riff on "beating up the bully" was excellent as well. I spent the evening bellowing "Top of the World, Ma!" - mainly because that was about the only thing that KG said that I understood.

And rather humorously, today people at work were talking about that interview but complaining that they couldn't understand what he was saying - in some ways implying that he was stupid/a lower life form. I decided against chiming in with my explanation of how Garnett is extremely well-spoken and that simply at that time being understood wasn't that important to him. He had a lot of weight on him - expectations of others, expectations of himself - that he felt coming off. And trying to explain that cogently in anything other than guttural screams probably wasn't going to work. I am of the view that whatever it was that he was saying was heartfelt and not about the millions of people watching. It was about what he was feeling, about what the title meant to him, about the road he had traveled to get there. And while the joke today is that he is certifiable rather than certified, it made sense for him to say he was certified. He knew how he would be judged - many people already had done so - and he knew he needed this title. If Michelle Tafoya wanted someone to make sense, she should have interviewed Ray Allen. Garnett is little more than intensity painted on a heart sewn on a sleeve. And when such a creature achieves something this great, the only response is: AAAUUGHHHH!!!!!!!! Top of the world!

Later, while speaking to the interview, Garnett made the simplest and yet most correct summation of this Celtics team: "We said all along, we're a defensive team that can score the ball." That may not sound, for lack of a better word, sexy, but that is how teams win titles. All season, the Celtics defended better than any other team and often they were the best at scoring as well. They definitely deserve the title.

I know I picked the Lakers to win. I was wrong and glad to be so. I blame the Spurs for my failed prediction. I thought the Spurs were good, but they got waxed by the Lakers. Since I believed the Spurs to be good this meant the Lakers had to be very good. Thus, by the transitive property of basketball, the Lakers should beat the Celtics. Apparently, the Spurs were not good, but the Celtics definitely are.

17!