NBA

Aging KG comes up big when needed most

TORONTO — Kevin Garnett saved his best for last.

After having an up-and-down first five games of the series, the future Hall of Famer came through when it counted, following up his strong showing in Game 6 by not only putting up 12 points and 11 rebounds, but also tipping the ball away from Kyle Lowry on the game’s final play to lead the Nets past the Raptors, 104-103, in Game 7 Sunday and into the second round.

“I’m not even aware of what I did,” Garnett said afterward. “I just remember the last play, to be honest.

“I was super-aggressive. I’ve played in Game 7s before. … I’ve beat myself up over and over again in different finals, in terms where I thought I should have did different things, and I just applied it to tonight.”

After coach Jason Kidd kept Garnett to the same minutes restrictions he has had for practically the entire season, playing him no more than 22 minutes in any of the first five games of the series, he eased off in the final two games, and it paid dividends.

Garnett was involved at both ends Sunday, making open jumpers and helping the Nets win the battle on the boards — something that wasn’t expected given how the Raptors abused the Nets on the glass throughout the first six games.

But his biggest contribution came in tipping the ball away from Lowry as he drove to the hoop in the final seconds, slowing Lowry down just long enough to allow Paul Pierce to get a piece of his potential game-winning shot.

“We knew it was probably going to either [DeMar] DeRozan or Kyle,” Garnett said. “Kyle tried to split the defense and I just ripped him a little bit, cut the ball out of his hands, and then I [saw] Paul go over the top for the block.”


The Raptors may have lost the series, but the team and its fans earned the respect of the Nets, who all called the atmosphere inside Air Canada Centre one of the best and most hostile they’ve ever experienced in their careers. There were raucous above-capacity crowds in each of the four games Toronto hosted, plus several thousand more fans watched on big screens outside the arena during each game.

“I want to give a shout-out to Toronto,” Garnett said. “This has got to be one of the best places and best atmospheres I’ve played in in a long time.”

“I can’t say some of the things they were calling me out there,” Pierce said with a smile. “To come away with the win, for me, it means so much more because you know you gave everything. You were against not only the 15,000 in the building, you were against the other 15,000 outside.”


Garnett found himself singing the praises of Joe Johnson again after Johnson continued his series-long dominance of Toronto’s guards, scoring 26 points — including 13 in the fourth quarter.

“Joe’s kept us alive this whole series,” Garnett said. “When we didn’t have a hope, he gave us light. We’ve got to give him something, we can’t just leave him out there like that.

“But, Joe Jesus, I told you, [he’s] cooler than the other side of the pillow. He’s one of the best to do it, man, I don’t think he gets his props, but he goes out and he does his job and he does it at a high level.” *

The Empire State Building was lit black-and-white Sunday evening to celebrate the Nets’ series-clinching victory. … Kidd became the first rookie head coach to win a road Game 7. Heading into Sunday’s game, coaches in that situation were 0-18.