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February 20, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NBA great Kevin Garnett is honored for being selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during halftime in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Imago
February 20, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NBA great Kevin Garnett is honored for being selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during halftime in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
What happens when a fearless enforcer like Zaza Pachulia meets a trash-talking legend like Kevin Garnett? The two stars gained major media attention when the Atlanta Hawks met Boston Celtics in 2008 playoff series. The fact that when Joe Johnson sat down to revisit his favorite moment as an Atlanta Hawk, it wasn’t a buzzer-beater or a dazzling highlight reel that topped the list, but the fiery showdown between Pachulia and Garnett shows how intense it got.
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In a video shared by the Hawks’ official Instagram, Johnson revealed that 2008 playoff series against the Boston Celtics as his favorite moment with the team. Highlight moment of the series? “Probably when Zaza Pachulia got into it with KG,” Johnson said. “They got in each other’s face. They head-butting each other… It was crazy in here. It was pandemonium.”
Getting under opponents’ skin has always been part of the game, but let’s be honest—not everyone can pull it off. Players like Zaza Pachulia make it an art. And back in Game 4, he turned a clash with Kevin Garnett into a statement that couldn’t be ignored. At the time, the Celtics had a 2-1 lead over the Hawks. They were the league’s golden boys, boasting the newly formed Big 3 of Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.
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No one expected the 8th-seeded Hawks—who hadn’t even hit 40 wins that season—to put up much of a fight. Yes, the Hawks lost the series to the Celtics anyway but, Zaza had no plans of going down that easy. In a moment that can only be described as peak Pachulia, he and Garnett went nose-to-nose. “I remember after the whistle, he elbowed me… And it was not necessary… I lost it. And that’s when I head-butted him,” Pachulia shared in a recent 48 Minutes Podcast appearance.
The 2x NBA champ, however, also expressed his admiration for Kevin Garnett.
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“KG was always known as a bully player in a good way, of course. I have so much respect for the guy because he was very authentic… He was not faking. He was very authentic,” he said. Well, that’s true, Garnett was the same for every opponent he faced. After all, there are not many who’d dare to try trash talking Michael Jordan.
A former Houston Rockets star faked a language barrier to avoid Kevin Garnett’s wrath
Garnett, of course, wasn’t just a dominant force on the court; he was a master of trash talk. Capable of breaking even the toughest competitors. For a rookie? That’s a nightmare waiting to happen. So, when Steven Adams first encountered KG, he knew he had to think fast to avoid being shredded.
Adams, now a seasoned vet, shared the hilarious story during a podcast. As a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he admitted his confidence wasn’t exactly sky-high. To make matters worse, Garnett and Kendrick Perkins were already trash-talking the Thunder relentlessly. Then KG turned his sights on Adams. What did the New Zealand big man do? He hit Garnett with a straight face and said, “Oh, bro, no English. No English, bro.”
It worked like a charm. KG froze, and Adams walked away unscathed. Looking back, Adams couldn’t help but laugh at his quick thinking. “They just didn’t say anything. They would have ruined me, bro. I would have cried,” he admitted. The incident only furthers the impact of Zaza Pachulia confronting Kevin Garnett in 2008 series.
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Shivatmika Manvi