National Basketball Association

Top-5 Kevin Garnett games with the Timberwolves

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Dec 7, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett (21) against the Los Angeles Clippers at Target Center. The Clippers defeated the Timberwolves 110-106. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Timberwolves legend Kevin Garnett retired on Friday, so this is the perfect time to relive five of his most-memorable performances in a Wolves uniform.

Lifelong Timberwolves fans no doubt have a litany of memories surrounding Kevin Garnett’s career in Minnesota — he is a future Hall-of-Famer, after all.

But we’ve whittled it down to a top-five, including both regular season and playoff games. Everyone has their favorite moments, and a couple of mine are incorporated in the following slides.

There are a couple of playoff games, a couple of clutch shots, and some crazy stat lines. Its a perfect sampling of vintage Kevin Garnett, and it was hard to limit this list to just five performances.

Do you have a favorite Garnett game that wasn’t included in our list? Please, let us know in the comments.

Nothing says we can’t have a second edition of KG’s top-five games, right?

#5 – Garnett Scored 47 Points In Loss To Suns

This is the only loss on the list, as the Timberwolves dropped this one back in January of 2005. At the time, the mighty Phoenix Suns were an insane 26-4, and the Wolves, who had been Western Conference finalists just months prior, were sputtering along at 16-12.

The Suns, led by Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Shaun Marion, dominated proceedings for much of the night at Target Center. Garnett, Sam Cassell, and Wally Szczerbiak were the only resistance, with KG leading the way.

Indeed, Garnett dropped 47 points on 19-of-28 shooting and 9-and-11 from the free throw line while pulling down 17 rebounds and handing out four assists. He played a game-high 42 minutes and was active and efficient all over the floor.

He attempted to will the Wolves to a comeback in the fourth quarter. After trailing by 15 points heading into the final frame, the home team outscored the Suns by a tally of 35-27 in the fourth quarter, but the defense simply could not keep up.

Garnett did his part, but the realities of the post-Conference Finals Timberwolves were that there was zero depth, little health, and limited consistency from the rest of the roster.

Nov 12, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett (21) dribbles in the third quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Target Center. The Golden State Warriors beat he Minnesota Timberwolves 129-116. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

#4 – Garnett’s Monster Stat Line In Win Over Warriors

Kevin Garnett never put up gaudy scoring numbers, but he was consistent when it came to stuffing the box score, KG was your guy.

On February 16th, 2003, the Wolves were in Oakland to face the 24-27 Golden State Warriors, led by prime Antwan Jamison and an emerging Gilbert Arenas. This was the eventual 51-win Wolves team that achieved the fourth-seed in the Western Conference and lost to the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in six games in the first round.

On this particular night, however, Garnett put up one of the more impressive stat lines of his career. In fact, it was one of only two 30 point-20 rebound games that Garnett also had more than five blocks and five assists, and the only regular season contest with those numbers.

The Wolves only won the game by seven points after being outscored by eight in the fourth quarter, but Garnett’s 37 points (17-27 FG, 0-2 3P, 3-3 FT), 22 rebounds, six assists, five blocks, and one steal led the way. He also only turned the ball over twice in 41 minutes of play.

Wally Szczerbiak was next-up in the scoring column with 23 points, although it took him 18 shots to do it. Troy Hudson (14 points) was the only other player of the 10 that played for the Wolves to score in double figures.

Dec 9, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) hugs Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett (21) before the game at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

#3 – Garnett’s Huge Game Two Performance Ties Series Against Lakers

Later in 2003, the Timberwolves had barely managed to land home court advantage, eking out the fourth seed over the Los Angeles Lakers, who had just won back-to-back-to-back NBA titles the previous three seasons.

The Wolves had also just been blown out of Game One at Target Center by a score of 117-98 and had essentially lost home court advantage. Losing Game Two would not be an option if they were going to try and win the series.

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Thankfully, Kevin Garnett came to play, finishing the game with a big-time stat line and sending the series back to Los Angeles all tied up at a game apiece.

Garnett dropped 35 points on an ultra-efficient 15-of-21 shooting performance from the field. He also pulled down 20 rebounds and dished out seven assists with only two turnovers in 43 minutes of play.

The Wolves were up by 14 points at halftime and never looked back, ultimately outscoring the mighty Lakers in all four quarters. Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant each scored 27 points for the Lakers, but nobody else on the squad scored more than eight points.

The Timberwolves went on to win Game Three in Los Angeles before dropping three straight and losing the series by a 4-2 margin.

#2 – Garnett’s Back-To-Back Threes Send Kings To Overtime, Wolves Win

Early in the 2003-04 campaign, far before the Timberwolves had clear designs on reaching the Western Conference Finals (more on that later), Flip Saunders’ crew had a quiet start to the season.

During the first week of December, the Wolves were just 10-8 on the year. They were visiting the 12-4 Sacramento Kings, who held one of the best home court advantages in the entire NBA and were coached by future Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman.

The Wolves trailed by one point at halftime but outscored the Kings by a tally of 25-15 in the third quarter to grab a nine point lead heading into the final frame.

The Kings used a 9-0 run early in the fourth quarter to tie the game and led by six points with just 29.2 second remaining. And then, Kevin Garnett happened.

If you didn’t watch the above video, here’s what went down: Garnett, a 27.5 percent career three-point shooter who only attempted more than 100 threes in a season one time in his career and was ultimately just 11-for-43 (25.6 percent) during the 2003-04 season, knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the key off an inbounds pass with 26.8 seconds remaining.

The Wolves immediately fouled Brad Miller, an 80.4 percent career free throw shooter who ultimately scored 35 points on the evening and had already converted his first nine free throw attempts of the game while keying the Kings’ fourth quarter comeback.

Shockingly, Miller missed both free throw attempts, and after a Garnett rebound and a pick-and-pop on the other end, KG knocked down a contested three to tie the game, causing color analyst Bill Walton to shout, “I love this game, I love this game!”.

It went to overtime, and while it was ultimately just a three-point victory, Garnett’s end-of-regulation heroics are what stood out most on this night.

He finished the game with 33 points (13-29 FG, 3-3 3P, 4-7 FT), 25 rebounds, six assists, three blocks, one steal, and just one turnover in 50 minutes of playing time.

The Kings and Timberwolves would meet in May in the second round of the playoffs, and KG showed up that time as well…

#1 – Garnett Keys Only Game Seven Win In Timberwolves Franchise History

The Timberwolves franchise had experienced seven consecutive seasons of losing in the first round of the playoffs. But this year was different.

The Wolves won 58 games and locked up the top seed in the Western Conference. They had already won the first playoff series in franchise history, defeating rookie Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets in five games. Now, they had to face perennial contenders and #4 seed Sacramento.

The Timberwolves led the series by a 3-2 margin but were dominated in Game 6 at Arco Arena in Sacramento by a final score of 104-87 heading into Game 7 back in Minneapolis.

Kevin Garnett was amped for the first Game 7 in Timberwolves franchise history. Can you tell?

As it turns out, he showed up — and in a big way. In what was ultimately an extremely low-scoring game (the Wolves won by a final score of 83-80), Garnett out-shined everyone.

(The game in it’s entirety is out there on YouTube, so check it out if you have an hour and a half or so, but above is a fairly concise, sub-10 minute highlight package.)

Doug Christie was the only player on the Kings that managed to score north of 20 points; starters Peja Stojackovic and Mike Bibby were held scoreless and Vlade Divac only scored seven points.

Garnett? Just 32 points (12-23 FG, 1-1 3P, 7-11 FT), 21 rebounds, five blocks, four steals, two assists, and just two turnovers in 46 minutes. Only four other players scored for the Timberwolves: Sam Cassell (23 points), Latrell Sprewell (14), Wally Szczerbiak (10), and Trenton Hassell (4).

This, believe it or not, was the last playoff series that the Minnesota Timberwolves won. That was more than 12 years ago. In the 12 seasons since then, the Wolves have had one winning season and zero playoff appearances.

Kevin Garnett is the only Hall-of-Famer to play the majority of their career with the Timberwolves, and it will be awhile before fans will be assured that there is another. It’s important to take this time to reflect on such an incredible player, and exactly what he’s done for the Twin Cities and Wolves fans everywhere.

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