KG was a good Timberwolf but now it's time to move on. Big Al is on our side and KG is on theirs. This is a zero sum game. Twolves play well and Celtics lose or Celtics play well and Twolves lose. That being said... I want to see at least 9 blocks on the Celtics, including one on KG.
I am a Celtics fan first (15 years), and a Twolves fan second (I came with Big Al, Gomes, Telfair, Green, and Ratliff). This game means more to my Twolves than it does to my Celtics, being that they (Twolves) are down in the lowest part of the league. My Celtics will have a shot at the championship regardless. However, if some of the young Twolves are gonna be Stars in the near future, THEY MUST WIN THIS ONE BIG. Not just win big, but in dramatic fashion like stuffing one of the big three's game winner. The losses have been piling up on their backs since they were Celtics and they caught all the blame for it. Now they are on a new team and the losses continue to pile up. Their problem is not lack of talent or youth. The Twolves most crippling problem is a lack of confidence. This is obvious with players like Telfair and Green because they wear their emotions on their sleeves. Their lack of confidence has them playing like scrubs. Confidence is what separates stars from scrubs. Stars keep pushing after they miss shots, lose games, get traded, or get rejected. Scrubs, on the other hand, lose confidence in their own ability. They back off, get intimidated, hesitate, and play less aggresively. The result is...
1)scrub gets eaten alive (i.e., dunked on, blocked, pushed around) by the opportunistic/aggresive star(s) and his (their) team
2)scrub's teams begin to lose confidence in him and play as a 4-man-team instead of 5-man-team
3)scrub's makes turnover's because play tends not to involve him
I've seen this happen to players in every game I have watched over the past 4 years. I watch at least 2 games a day (via NBA league pass) so that means I have seen about 400+ games. The whole process is short, occuring over just a few seconds and running up to two or three minutes at a time. It generally occurs about two to three times per game and results in a run and sometimes a lead change. This is what separates the game play between good teams and bad teams. Bad teams rely on plays to win. Good teams (Spurs, Celtics, Detroit, Lakers, Trailblazers) run plays but also exploit their opponent's scrubs on the court every night. It's what keeps them winning and what makes us fans cheer louder and louder. We like to see our team beat the other team, especially in dramatic fashion (i.e., game winning shot blocked at buzzer). It may be negative but negativity is part of the game. That being said, I hope we see things get very negative for the Celtics tonight... I want to see KG get stuffed.