2.26.2018

League Reprimands Taylor over KG Tanking Comments

3/21/2008

League Reprimands Taylor over KG Tanking Comments

DALLAS - An NBA official said last night the league called Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and chastised him for recent comments about Kevin Garnett. Taylor, however, was not fined.

Speaking to Minneapolis reporters Tuesday, Taylor said Garnett "tanked it" the last five games of the 2006-07 season while his teammates "still wanted to play." Taylor's comments came after he was asked about his franchise having a reputation for tanking games in recent seasons to aid their draft position. Garnett missed the last five games of last season with a sore right quadriceps.

Garnett took the high road Tuesday, saying Taylor was good to him and it was not in his character to go "back and forth saying tasteless things." The first-year Celtic played in Minnesota from 1995-2007 and is the franchise's career leader in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals. He was the league MVP in 2004. Despite Taylor's accusation, Garnett is widely viewed as the most intense player in the NBA.

"[Ex-Wolves teammate] Sam Mitchell told me this a long time ago, he said, 'You take care of yourself and you do what you can do, and at the end of the night you look at yourself in the mirror and you ask yourself truthfully, did I do everything I can do?' and if you can live with that, then so be it," Garnett told TNT. "People are going to say what they got to say, people are going to say what they want to say. But just because you're a billionaire doesn't make you full of taste and class, so it's cool with me."

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