Brandon Roy, Paul Pierce Mix It Up All Night

The final result isn't indicative of how hotly contested Portland-Boston had been in the first half. The Blazers came out matching Boston shot for shot, and led by a possession most of the half. With three minutes left in the second quarter, Boston went into beast mode and turned it into a blowout (which would become somewhat close, but never really in danger).

One of the biggest threads from the first half to me was the verbal sparring between Brandon Roy and Paul Pierce. Pierce has always talked a good deal, and a) joining up with Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell, and b) winning a title ... those have only made Pierce's mouth motor stronger. Roy, though, isn't considered much of a talker. Portland as a whole has taken on a bit of a "soft" reputation, earned or not.

But Roy did not let the war of the words become one-sided Friday.
Roy might have been talking more than Pierce. In one sequence captured by the ESPN cameras, Roy dribbled the ball slowly across the midcourt line with Pierce playing off him, pedaling in reverse. Roy was staring straight into Pierce, emphatically offering his opinion. Pierce, of course, was answering right back. After a few seconds, Roy destroyed Pierce on the right block with a Dream Shake that about landed Pierce in the cheering section.

The pair kept it up when the game seemed out of reach, with Roy at the free throw line barking back at Pierce a few feet away. A ref stepped in and warned them both, and Roy left the game for good soon after. With that void created, Garnett took up the yapping mantle.

In the final spell, once Boston has stopped Portland's desperate run in the fourth, Garnett hearkened to his Calderon moment by chasing Jerryd Bayless ... from all fours. Dave of Blazers Edge explains.

Kevin Garnett had his bag of tricks open again tonight. The crowning moment came when he got down like a dog on all fours after Jerryd Bayless on an inbounds play late in the fourth. (I don't know if the local TV cameras caught it but the ESPN cameras did.) The national announcers were flabbergasted, saying they'd never seen anything like that.

The ESPN feed wasn't particularly helpful in this instance, except for the utter disbelief expressed by Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy. "Flabbergasted" is the right word -- Breen and JVG acted as if Nate McMillan sent a circus bear into the game. Dave recommends that Garnett should receive a bounce pass to the skull the next time he pulls something like this, and I'm inclined to agree. Intensity and pride have their limits, man. (For what it's worth, Bayless did attack the basket as soon as he avoided Garnett's bark. Bayless seemed mad ... but then again, he always looks mad.)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

12-06-2008 @ 10:35AM

Step said...

Garnett crawling on all fours is not all that uncommon now if you're Celtics fan. The first time he did it was against the Hornets last season. He talked afterwards about not even knowing he was doing it, so pumped was he in that moment. He's done it about four or five times this season including last night. It exhorts to the crowd and his teammates that they have to ratchet up the defensive intensity. I think it's him taking "getting down into a defensive position" to its extreme. As a Celtics, it intensifies the moment, it's entertaining and bizarre. I guess if you're on the opposite so you might roll your eyes and get annoyed but who cares. He's not playing towards them. He's playing towards his home fans and his teammates and what's so wrong with that?

On a side note, damn, Blazers fans have to be the most annoying whining bunch. I always thought people from Oregon were supposed to more mild-mannered and peace-loving. But damn, from their television announcers to the people who post on their blogs, I think they're as vitriolic and insufferable as any in the league.

12-06-2008 @ 12:53PM

memohamad said...

@Step: Portland fans are annoying? Maybe they are, but Boston fans are 10x times worse, especially the commentators. Don't even get me started with Celtics commentators....

And for KG, call it 'intensity' or whatever, but I think he should get T'ed up for taunting. Maybe its because I'm not a Celtic fan, but I find what he does extremely annoying (putting it lightly).

12-06-2008 @ 11:05AM

Martin said...

I liked Garnett when he was a classy loser with Minnesota. But his hat size seems to have grown about 10 inches since he got his championship ring. Bill Russell needs to have a little chat with him about playing with class.

12-06-2008 @ 11:18AM

rdeaguiar3 said...

Peddling in reverse? Is that selling stuff while moving backwards or buying things? I would pay money for the option to listen to the announcers or listen to the live court audio on the SAP channel.

12-06-2008 @ 12:01PM

blsfalcao said...

We should thank god that Garnett has basketball to help him deal with his demons. The guy is a nutjob.

12-06-2008 @ 1:03PM

ecash94 said...

Next time he does that, someone should kick him in the face. What a douche.

12-09-2008 @ 2:26PM

mole said...

didnt kg do similar stuff like this when he was in minn? It obvious now cause the celtics are always on tv back with the timberwolves they never got prime time love.

I dont mind the taunting by kg, but if any other player did something similar they would mos def get a T

12-06-2008 @ 2:52PM

Nora said...

Getting a little sick of people calling KG a 'douche' The people who do that are sounding like one themselves.

12-06-2008 @ 4:43PM

jblazerfan said...

If I was, lets say joel pryzbilla, the next time I played the Celtics I would put garnett in the hospital for pulling some bush league stunt like that. I mean the celtics already had won the game obviously considering Mcmillan had called off the troops by putting bayless in(Doc rivers still had his starting five in), what is the point of showing up your opponent like that? trust me the blazers will remember this game and the rematch in the rose garden is going to be a heated game. if i was garnett i would wear a face protectore a la rip hamilton for that one. KG=Giant DBAG

12-06-2008 @ 4:58PM

Wow, that is a mature solution. KG getting on all fours harming nobody and Joel (who I doubt could) put KG in the hospital. KG did not hit anyone, people. Get a grip!

12-06-2008 @ 5:08PM

Lamak said...

As long as KG is playing like he is, he can do or say anything he wants. He's the best all around player in the NBA.

1-22-2009 @ 1:24AM

All I am saying is what KG did was classless and uncalled for. As Lamarcus aldridge put it he "punked" the blazer. Its totally classless and only proves that KG is an uneducated straight out of high school punk that deserves to get an elbow to the face for that stunt. You dont see any other "all around great players" (roy, kobe, howard, lebron) getting on all fours and trying to intimidate a third string point gaurd. Personally I would be emabarrassed to be a Celtics fan after that. KG is a nut job who makes his own teammates cry.

12-06-2008 @ 6:18PM

So it would be classy to do what you suggested in your previous post? That is what is classy? Whatever. You have no idea of what happened in the huddle. Maybe the Blazers would be better if they had someone on their team call out when their team slacks off.

12-06-2008 @ 6:43PM

MC Welk said...

KG should pick on somebody his own size, like Big Baby, oh wait ...

12-06-2008 @ 9:24PM

KJR said...

KG gets into the panther defense all the time, and we love it.

It's his way of locking in on defense and it seems to work.

This is one of the best defensive teams of the past 20 years.

It doesn't matter if the team is leading and the clock is winding down.

If KG is in the game, he's going to play. He just finished chewing out the bench. He's not going to get on the court and just play the ole defense.

Someone said that other great players don't do that. That's true. That's why they're not the defensive players of the year. That's why they didn't win a 'Ship' last year.

It's not easy to beat 29 other NBA teams. You've got to have that fire or you're not going to get it done.

Jordan had it. Bird had it. Magic had it.

KG is actually quite a funny, thoughtful guy off the court. He cares about his teammates. He cares about winning. He has a lot of friends around the league. I'll bet he is one of the top 2-3 most respected players in the league by the other players.

We love his crazy antics, and the NBA should too. It makes for great TV.

As for Brandon Roy, he was 3-11. Pierce did the same thing to him he did to Kobe and LeBrick. Game over.

12-06-2008 @ 9:30PM

Your right I dont know what happened in the huddle, but what I did see was a basketball player with his head firmly shoved up his own ass call out his own teammate, make him cry, then get on all fours and bark at an opposing player. Pretty inspirational stuff. "Anything is possible Garnett?" Apparently being a gigantic deuche on national television is possible. Cant wait till dec 30th when Boston visits portland and we show these clowns how to win the classy way. Go Blazers.

12-06-2008 @ 9:49PM

Look, I can understand the frustration of the Blazer fans.

You thought you had a team that could contend.

Now you know better.

The Blazers are a good team, probably top ten.

But they are a long, long, long way behind Boston, LA and Cleveland.

And they are probably also behind NO, Utah, Orlando, Detroit, San Antonio and Denver.

So, don't blame the Celtics or KG. Get over it.

The Blazers are an entertaining team. In a year or two they may go deep in the playoffs.

KJR

Your pretty ill informed on the happenings of the nba which leads me to beleive you might just be some lame bandwagoner who really doensnt know what your talking about.

Although I agree that boston, la and cleveland are great championship caliber teams, I cant fully agree that we are not on the same level as boston or la seeing as we havnt played them at home yet where portland is (7-0). We havnt even played cleveland yet so thats erroneous. We unfortunately had a bad game and all you east coast bias fans seem to be writing portland off, which is puzzling.

Also the other teams you claim are better:NO, utah, SA, denver, orlando and detriot? yeah, portland has already beat: SA, NO, orlando, and detroit. havnt played denver and lost to utah going away.

I beleive Boston lost to Indiana? thats not impressive. Boston can have fun padding their standings in the god awful east conference against the milwaukee bucs and wahington wizards of the nba. W'll go ahead and lead the northwest division in the vastly superior western conference. Also portlands played the toughest schedule in the league thus far (you can look that up if you want) so the fourth game on a five game road trip at boston is a losable game for sure. I dont think many teams win that game against boston. Especially when KG is on all fours.

Like i said Dec 30th will be a big game. If boston wins in portland ill shut it, but i almost 100% sure they wont.

12-06-2008 @ 11:34PM

I am a blazer fan.
Boston is way ahead of us, the Lakers too. We have a chance against the rest.
KG is a great player but he does have some psycho tendencies and should be fined for things like what he did to Calderon and Bayless.
It's not a problem if he's a d-bag, MJ was one too and that worked for him. The problem is the double standards.

12-07-2008 @ 10:06AM

cjtheway said...

The Celtics are a great team, but they are completely clueless when it comes to class. Remember the Larry Bird days when they lost to the Lakers? Bird didn't have enough decency to even shake their hands afterwards. What a sore loser. I think its a flaw in their organization. And just because you have great talent doesn't mean you do what you want, in showing such disrespect. So Garnett does that for his team and the fans. What if a fan of an opposing team waits until KG is on all fours like that and accepts the risk of going to jail and plants a good solid foot from behind between KG's legs?
For his team? And the fans? OJ Simpson was one of the greatest football players ever, so he can slit 2 peoples throats. No, I don't think so.

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