Garnett gave a spirited postgame talk to his teammates after the Celtics lost their second straight game to open the season.
Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett holds his hand to his face during the final minute of a basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks in Boston, Friday, Nov. 2, 2012. The Bucks beat the Celtics 99-88. One could see the anger bubbling within Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett as his opponent's shot floated toward the rim during the fourth quarter Friday night.
Milwaukee Bucks big man Ekpe Udoh had taken a soft hook shot and it was descending toward the basket as Garnett rose to meet it. Rather than pull his hand back and allow the shot to come to its natural fate, Garnett swatted it away. The goaltending call was easy. Garnett scowled, shouted and then looked to his bench with an apology. He knew his decision to try blocking the shot was a bad one, but it looked to the world like he just needed to let out a little aggression caused by what would become a 99-88 loss.
After the game, Garnett continued to let out some of his aggression, giving a spirited postgame speech to his teammates. The topics: hyenas and history.
"Hyenas. Running in packs means that we help each other," he said, according to ESPN Boston. "Since I’ve been here, we’ve built the code on what these great organizations have been built on -- and that’s history. And that’s gained not by individual, but by team. And I just spoke upon that with everybody in here, without the coaches and everybody. Just letting all the new guys know what it is to be a [Celtic], reiterating that and letting them understand the severity of putting this jersey on and everything that comes with it. I won’t go into that -- it’s none of y’all business -- but I had to reiterate it tonight. I thought tonight was the perfect night to do that."
At least it was the perfect night for something. The Celtics have now lost their first two games by a combined 24 points and couldn't get any momentum going against Milwaukee.