Word: allenated
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...point doormatted 18 straight games. During the off-season, Celtics GM Danny Ainge pulled off a pair of heists, bringing Kevin Garnett, the 6-ft. 11-in. (2.1 m) EX-MVP who is one of the most versatile players ever, and sweet-shooting guard Ray Allen to Boston. There they joined Paul Pierce, an automatic scorer and a six-time All-Star himself. Nice. But none of these guys have ever sniffed a championship. And they have only one ball to share...
Like thank goodness these guys stank last year--or at least their teams did. "First and foremost, it only works when you have guys who have been on teams that have struggled," says Allen, whose Seattle SuperSonics finished in last place in their division. "The three of us have carried teams in the past, and the only thing we need to prove is that we want to win a championship." Garnett missed the playoffs in Minnesota; Pierce admits that basketball became a "drag...
...young, you are trying to secure yourself," says Pierce, 30. (Read: Just give me the damn ball.) "You look at us three--we've made millions of dollars. We've won tons of awards. So we look at each other and say, 'Hey, what's left to do?'" Allen is 32, Garnett 31--old enough to buy their own team yet young enough to still score at will...
...shouldn't totally dismiss that more mysterious component of team success: chemistry. Kicking back in the players' lounge at the team's Waltham, Mass., training facility, Allen, Garnett and Pierce are loose, introspective and quick to pounce. Garnett calls Allen stubborn, and Allen predicts that if Pierce doesn't shave his head, he'll grow George Jefferson hair. The trio's personal history helps. Garnett and Allen were Olympic teammates in 2000 and have known each other since their South Carolina schoolboy days; Garnett and Pierce played as teens for the same Amateur Athletic Union team...
...easy to get them going about issues. Allen thinks the NBA's interminable 82-game regular season waters down the action. "I would cut the games back," he says. "You're going to see a level of intensity go up." In a sports world consumed with wiping out drugs, Garnett, who was chosen for the Feb. 17 All-Star game but has an abdominal strain, would offer a curious reform. "We're drug-tested too much," he says. "We're very funny about our routines. The policy is set up now where, on game day, they can come...