Garnett Burns Pistons in Game 3 Rout

By Scott Tribble
Celtics.com Correspondent
May 24, 2008

If you listen to his coach and teammates, Kevin Garnett is a rock that burns with fiery intensity and offers a seemingly limitless source of energy.

Though this marvel of science might well be applied to the nation's energy crisis, the power forward focused his efforts on the Pistons Saturday night, scorching the men of Detroit with a double-double and leading his team to an emphatic 94-80 victory in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Garnett shot 7 of 16 from the floor, while dishing out six assists and notching two steals. More critically, the Big Ticket dominated his matchup with Antonio McDyess, pulling down 13 boards and setting the stage for his team's decisive 44-28 advantage on the glass.

"He's just phenomenal," said Celtics' Coach Doc Rivers after the game. "Obviously you see his play, but just his intensity and his focus, sometimes--I thought down the stretch I thought his intensity was almost getting in the way of him because he wanted it so bad."

The night did not begin auspiciously for Garnett, who picked up two early fouls and played only five minutes in the first quarter. The power forward exploded in the second, however, scoring ten points and ultimately leading his team to a 50-32 halftime advantage.

"I thought we came out aggressive early, ball moved from strong side to weak side. I thought we took shots when we had them," Garnett said. "I thought defensively we were connected, we all talked. We were aggressive on both ends. That's how you've got to play against this team."

As coach and teammates told it, however, the team's aggression commenced long before the opening tip-off. According to Kendrick Perkins, Garnett's intensity in the pre-game locker room was tangible -- and infectious.

"You know, how [Garnett] comes to the games, man, he's so locked in that you look at him, and instantly you get locked in. I mean, that's how much he be focused before the game," Perkins said. "I just feel like, man, you just never know how valuable KG is until you play with him."

Rivers offered a similar assessment.

"In the locker room before games and the shootarounds before games, [Garnett is] our rock, he really is. He keeps everybody focused. It's deadly serious, and that's nice to have a guy like that."

With Saturday night's contest in the books, Garnett has scored a whopping 72 points and collected 35 rebounds in three games. As both Paul Pierce and Ray Allen have experienced ups and downs over the course of the playoffs, Garnett's consistency has emerged as a key factor in the Celtics' success to date.

"If [Garnett's consistency] doesn't happen, we don't win, we're not where we are right now," veteran P.J. Brown said after the game. "They call him the Big Ticket, and there's a reason for that. We're just trying to feed off his energy and intensity. The way he plays, it just resonates through the whole team."