Rivers unleashed ‘dragon’ inside Garnett in Boston
Kevin Garnett tells the story in his unique way, reenacting the back-and-forth between himself and a bold high schooler named Austin Rivers.
Garnett, at the time, was near the pinnacle of his Hall of Fame career with the Boston Celtics. Rivers was the coach’s son and was stuffed with confidence after shutting out Celtics center Kendrick Perkins in a one-on-one.
“I had my shoe laces untied and I’m coming out the weight room and he rolled the ball at me,” Garnett told the “Chris Vernon Show.” “And I looked at it, and it hit my toes, and I’m like, ‘What?’
“And (Rivers) said, ‘Check.’” Garnett was taken aback by the audaciousness, but also wary of embarrassing the coach’s son.
“‘I’m a dragon, bro,’” Garnett told Rivers. “‘I’m a dragon, but I know your dad’s the coach so I got to be real careful about how I let this dragon out.’
“This is a kid, a high school kid with a lot of confidence, but I’m a dragon.”
Game was to 5. Rivers got the ball first and dunked the first point on an unprepared Garnett. In the background, Paul Pierce and Tony Allen egged on their teammate. Garnett responded by tying his shoes and dropping five straight points.
“I had to go dragon,” Garnett said.
Rivers didn’t take the loss well. “He was hot,” Garnett said. “He threw the ball. They threw him out the gym. He was hot.”
Still, Rivers earned a Hall of Famer’s respect.
“That’s when I knew, Austin Rivers is going to be in our league in about two years,” Garnett said. “He hated losing. He wanted to fight.”
This story, retold by Garnett about two years ago, resurfaced Wednesday following a clutch performance by Rivers, who buried the Jazz with 14 straight Knicks points in the final minutes of a 112-100 victory.
Tom Thibodeau, who was an assistant under Doc Rivers when the Celtics rode Garnett to a title in 2008, remembered Austin as the self-assured high school junior.
“Austin thought he could really beat him,” Thibodeau said with a smile. “That’s the mindset he has.”
Rivers said he idolized Boston’s Big-3 of Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, but also wouldn’t concede a talent gap.
“I didn’t go up there a lot. So I didn’t get to see those guys a lot. But every time I did I’d try to compete with them and in my crazy mind, I thought I was better than them at the time,” Rivers said. “Even though I was nowhere near — those were Hall of Famers. But in my crazy mind I thought I was.”
Today, Rivers is 28 and an NBA veteran of nine years. The brashness and confidence of his youth has transferred to the start of his Knicks career, which includes three consecutive victories all finished by Rivers’ clutch performances.
In New York, Rivers has become the dragon.
“I love the stage. I know every player says this when they come here that they want to play on this stage, but really do. I thrive on it,” he said. “You have to be OK with missing the shots. You have to be OK with making the wrong play or the wrong play. When you have the ball in your hand at the end of the game you can’t worry about the makes or misses or turnovers. You trust yourself and live with the outcome. You have to be able to take praise and take criticism.”