WALTHAM, Mass. -- Ever since addressing health questions on the first days of training camp, Celtics forward Kevin Garnett hasn't been keen on talking about his surgically-repaired knee.
Yet the knee seems to become a focal point any time he struggles -- much like he did in Sunday's overtime victory over the Knicks. Sure, Garnett made the winning jumper at the buzzer to lift Boston to a 107-105 victory, but he was 4 of 15 overall for 10 points and played only 32 minutes with early foul trouble.
Garnett typically doesn't emerge from the visitor's locker room for a lengthy period of time after road games due to postgame treatment and that, in part, led some New York media to wonder if his knee was as healthy as Garnett's been leading on.
"I'm not going to answer any more knee questions," said Garnett. "It's getting old, OK? Y'all know what I'm dealing with here. I said it yesterday that no one in this league at this point -- what 14 games played? -- is 100 percent. Hell, I got worked on even when I didn't have surgery, so it's just the same rituals and stuff like that, not coming up with myths and all that stuff that's coming up. I always get treatment before games, hell, you see Paul [Pierce] and [Rajon] Rondo get massages. My ritual is no different than that."
An ill-timed follow-up question asked about Garnett's knee.
"Next question," he snapped. When none came immediately, he added, "Cool, then we done," and departed.