As the Boston Celtics geared up for their title defense in 2009, they were hampered by a number of injuries. None were as crucial as Kevin Garnett's knee injury. Once he went down, the Celtics were effectively screwed, and it appears that Jason Kidd has learned that lesson, whereas KG is still KG.
According to Garnett, coach Kidd approached him to discuss resting on the tail end of back-to-back games throughout the year in order to rest his knees. Here was KG's response.
"It didn't go too well," Garnett said. "I understand what he's saying. He just wants to make sure I'm durable. … I just don't want to be told anything."
That makes sense, but it's kind of the coach's job to tell players what to do. At this point, it's a little hard to tell whether KG just doesn't want to be told what to do by a peer, as it seems hard to fathom KG talking to Doc Rivers this way. On the flip side, Rivers had a very smooth way of dealing with problems, and may have approached KG in a different way.
Either way, KG and Kidd aren't seeing eye-to-eye as training camp opens, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
