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Kevin Garnett once forced Doc Rivers to cancel a practice by acting like Kevin Garnett

Kevin Garnett warms up with some light stretching. (Getty Images)
Kevin Garnett warms up with some light stretching. (Getty Images)

Kevin Garnett contains multitudes. And an unending insistence on doing things his way, which can both help and hurt Kevin Garnett-led teams both past and present. KG ranks with Kobe Bryant in standing a step behind Tim Duncan as the greatest player of his era, but he also has a long and dotted past when it comes to turning brashness into outright bullying. Not just in the face of (often, not American-born) opponents, but former teammates and coaches.

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ESPN Magazine’s Jackie MacMullan recently published a feature on Garnett, now working as a starter and near-assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves, one that initially details his second season with the Boston Celtics before delving into his new role in Minnesota.

During this turn KG was midway through his first year as defending champion, a part-mentor but also franchise player on a Celtics team that had raced out to a ridiculous 27-2 start to the 2008-09 season. C’s coach Doc Rivers informed Garnett that he would need to sit out a February practice, what with Garnett approaching his 33rd birthday, stuck winter-deep inside his 14th year as a pro.

Garnett informed his coach that sitting out a practice would allow his teammates to “see weakness” in its on-court leader, prior to skulking to the sidelines.

Then this happened:

Garnett, forbidden to take the floor by his own coach, had concocted his revenge: He would track the movements of power forward Leon Powe, the player who had replaced him in the lineup. As Powe pivoted, so did Garnett. As Powe leaped to grab a defensive rebound, Garnett launched himself to corral an imaginary ball. As Powe snapped an outlet pass, Garnett mimicked the motion, then sprinted up his slim sliver of sideline real estate as Powe filled the lane on the break. The players were mirror images: one on the court with a full complement of teammates, the other out of bounds, alone. Two men engaged in a bizarre basketball tango.

"KG," Rivers barked, "if you keep doing this, I'm canceling practice for the whole team. That will hurt us."

Garnett's reverence for coaches was legendary, but still he turned his back on Rivers. He returned to his defensive stance, an isotope of intensity, crouched, palms outstretched, in complete concert with Powe. He was, in fact, becoming so adept at this warped dalliance he'd invented, he actually began to anticipate Powe's movements, denying the entry pass to his invisible opponent before Powe thought of it.

Finally, an exasperated Rivers blew the whistle. "Go home," Rivers instructed his team. Then he glared at Garnett. "I hope you're happy."

So, you can take this as one more example of why Kevin Garnett is Mr. Bad Guy, Tough Dude, Leader of Men and a Shining Example of All That Should Be Badass About All Sportz.

Or, you could look at the 32-year old man that undermined his boss because he thought he knew better, canceling what his boss called a much-needed practice along the way.

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Or, you could remind yourself of the fact that Kevin Garnett sprained his right knee while attempting to jump for an alley-oop in a game against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 19 of that season, effectively (save for an aborted and brief mid-March comeback) knocking Garnett out for the year, and undercutting Boston’s hopes at defending its championship.

Did Kevin Garnett mimicking Leon Powe’s scrimmage routine cost the Celtics a championship? Of course not. Entering the league at age 19 and making endless playoff appearances while acting as one of the NBA’s greatest two-way players of all time for 13 years prior to this anecdote led to Garnett’s tumble.

And, to KG’s credit, he immediately took to Rivers’ decision to modify his minutes upon becoming a Celtic in 2007 – Garnett went from 39 minutes a game at age 30 as a member of the Timberwolves in 2006-07 to 32 minutes a game in his first year in Boston, and 31 minutes a night during the season documented here.

At that point, limiting superstar minutes wasn’t in vogue. Tim Duncan had seen his minutes cut during 2004-05, but that was only due to a nagging ankle injury, and Duncan (who is older than Garnett) watched as coach Gregg Popovich still played his big man more minutes per game than KG during Garnett’s first two years in Boston. Kobe Bryant still averaged over 37 minutes a night over that span, while playing 82 games a year. Rivers was ahead of the curve.

So was Garnett.

This is a guy that slept on a couch in Chicago during his senior year of high school, having left his South Carolina home in order to free himself from the culture that left him unfairly pinned for the supposed crime of being the tallest guy left watching a high school hallway fight.

He became the first player to jump directly from high school to the NBA to make the All-Star team, let alone win league MVP. In an era that saw most of his contemporaries either demand trades or flirt with free agency (Kobe, Shaq, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Stephon Marbury, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen … the list goes on and it includes Tim Duncan), Garnett remained loyal to the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise that drafted him until the Wolves basically told him that they needed to deal Garnett for the health of the team.

He can also be, as the feature details, an incredibly insensitive person (to put it mildly) that doesn’t understand why everyone else in the NBA world can’t act exactly like Kevin Garnett. That doesn’t mean “going all out” during practice and during games, either, because dozens of NBA legends – seriously, pick one – have managed to lead teams to decades’ worth of NBA championships without acting like Kevin Garnett.

Read, as you should do with all things Jackie MacMullan writes, the feature. Kevin Garnett doesn’t come off the hero, nor the black hat.

He is, at age 19 or 39, KG. As always.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!