Gino's Jungle

Kevin Garnett is clearly not as explosive as he once was. In fact, to begin this season he was more "explosive" than he is now. I don't think this is attributed to the fact that he can't, but intsead to the fact that he doesn't want to. The pain of having to stand on the sideline for last years playoffs, when really all he could do is trash talk to the other team, had to have been gut wrenching.

In high school football, I broke my  neck in a freak accident one day during the preseason. My number 1 goal was to find a way to get back out onto the football field. Of course I knew that was all but impossible, given the fact that it wasn't up to me at all. The neck is a very fragile peice of equipment, and it is not something you can just play through. Anyway, the point of this is at a young age, I got the feeling of what it felt like to have zero control of what is going on out on the field of play. I wanted to participate so bad, but couldn't.

Kevin Garnett experienced the same thing in last years playoffs. He stood there with nothing to do but watch and yell. If he could have hobbled out there and played without the threat of a career ending injury, you can guaranatee he would have been playing. He obviously couldn't, though, and has (in my opinion) had that sour taste in his mouth since last year.

It appears as though his one goal is to keep his body healthy heading into the playoffs. Don't think for one second he isn't giving it 100%, because he is. BUT he is not doing the unnecssary actions. He is not going up strong to dunk the ball when he could instead lay it in to get the same 2 points. He is becoming a very smart player with his body. 2 points is 2 points in the regular season.

In the post season, however, all bets are off. I say watch out come the post season, because he will be going all out and dunking, and grabbing alley oops- 1) because they are effective and 2) because they are huge momentum changers.

If my theory is correct, I would have to say this is a smart move by The Big Ticket. It is easy to look at him and say, "He doesn't have it anymore." Well, he does still have it, he is just saving the good stuff for when it matters. As the media tends to like to do, if he isn't jumping out of the gym, he isn't a productive KG, and if he is jumping out of the gym, hurting himself, and out for the season, he shouldn't have been going so hard. It is a lose / lose situation, except in my eyes and hopefully others reading this as well.  

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