Long Straight Highway (redux)

As soon as the Celtics got into the locker room following their victory, Garnett gathered everyone in a circle and let them know it would take more teamwork to close the deal.

“It feels like we’re in somebody else’s neighborhood and we’re gonna have to fight to get out of it,” Garnett told them passionately. “We gotta fight, we gotta fight, we gotta fight to get out of this neighborhood.”

His teammates knew exactly what he was talking about. In a gang fight, you’re a unified front. Everybody’s muscle is needed. No one gets left behind.

“He meant it’s going to take all of us to do this,” Tony Allen said. “That for us to reach our ultimate goal, it’s going to take all of us. This whole year, he’s been talking about team, team, team. He always says something that makes you sit back and think, ‘Ah yeah, he meant everybody.’”

This is nothing new, either. It’s not something KG picked up as his impact diminished. Before the Celtics went to Italy for training camp in 2008, Garnett was organizing full-roster outings to New England Patriots games. And when in Rome, the entire club hung out together on the Spanish Steps.

Over the past few seasons, when he and Pierce have been expected to conduct their every postgame interview at the podium, KG has always been quick to point out when a teammate deserved to be up there instead of him.

“We just try to keep it team,” Perkins said. “Obviously, we’ve got the future Hall of Famers and we’ve got Rondo, an All-Star who had a great year. But we keep it one goal, one team. Doc does a great job making sure everybody stays doing their roles, not caring who gets the credit. All of them preach that, especially KG. He don’t like it when they say it’s ‘The Big Three’ or ‘The Big Four.’ He likes it when it’s team. That’s all he preaches is team.”