Garnett Eyeing Willis Reed-esque Comeback; Salmons Was Never Fooled
The Bulls have been gameplanning for Kevin Garnett the last week or so. The problem is that KG was declared to be out for the entire playoffs by the Celtics. There has been a lot of speculation about whether he would attempt a comeback during this series. Up until now it had been mostly speculation, with Doc Rivers and other team officials vehemently denying any chance of KG’s return. Well the story just took an interesting twist:
But a day after reiterating Garnett won’t be coming to the Celtics [team stats]’ rescue in these playoffs, coach Doc Rivers said privately after his post-practice press conference that he and the team would like Garnett to hold off on the surgery.
Then, at 3:14 yesterday afternoon, the story took another twist when Garnett appeared on the team’s practice floor wearing full workout gear. He proceeded to dribble a basketball as he walked slowly around the perimeter of the court, with strength coach Bryan Doo watching intently. Trainer Ed Lacerte came out of his office and sat at the far end of the floor to watch the event.
After four minutes, Garnett, Doo and Lacerte walked through a door that leads to the weight room at the team’s facility.
Hmmm…Maybe it wasn’t so foolish of the Bulls to be planning for KG. He is the kind of guy that would play through any pain if it is even remotely physically possible. For those of you that don’t get the Willis Reed reference, here is the story:
Reed’s most famous performance took place on May 8, 1970, during Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in Madison Square Garden. Due to severe thigh injury – a torn muscle that had previously kept him out of Game 6 – many doubted he would even play in Game 7. Yet he surprised the fans in attendance by walking onto the court during warmups. Starting the game, he scored the Knicks’ first two field goals on his first two shot attempts, his only ones of the game.[1] It was all the inspiration the Knicks needed, as teammate Walt “Clyde” Frazier went on to score 36 points. The Knicks won the game 113–99, giving New York City its first NBA title.
If anyone in the league today can do what Reed did, it would be KG. Albeit this isn’t the NBA Finals, but KG treats every game like the Finals, so who knows?
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Time May 1, 2009 at 2:07 pm
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