Sometimes, when Garnett’s adrenaline kicks in during crunch time it’s like watching a diabetic in the midst of a sugar rush. His body can’t handle it. When he succeeds, he loses his mind, pounding his chest, belting out profanities and hollering at the crowd like a crazy person. When he fails (and it’s happened a few times this season), his mistakes are unbelievably amateurish—intentional fouls when the team doesn’t need them, taking too many steps on his signature fall-away, that kind of stuff. The pressure gets to him. You can see it. In Game 4 of the first-round series with Atlanta, after a near-altercation with Zaza Pachulia, the camera found KG on the bench and he was practically hyperventilating.
You know who KG reminds me of? That’s right,
Mike “The Miz” on the Real World/Road Rules Challenges. He seems to relish losing his goddamn mind in competition. Like it’s his favorite thing to do. Like he’d rather be seen as someone with a burning desire to win than simply be someone who just wins. To the Miz’s credit, at least he can claim two Real World/Road Rules championships.
