During his playing career, Kevin Garnett was known across the NBA as one of the game’s most notorious trash talkers. He had an uncanny ability to get into his opponent’s head, but that trash-talking prowess had its limits.
That limit was Michael Jordan.
Separate podcast and radio interviews with J.R. Rider and Garnett from All-Star weekend made rounds on social media this week. And both players described the same Jordan trash-talking story with stunning consistency (so you know it’s probably true). Basically, Rider was going into the fourth quarter against the Bulls having already scored 24 points on Jordan. A young Garnett wanted to get under Jordan’s skin and said that MJ couldn’t guard Rider.
Big mistake, Kevin. (NSFW language)
Garnett described Rider trying to apologize to Jordan ahead of time, saying that Garnett was young and didn’t know any better. Jordan didn’t care.
A two-point game ballooned to a 25-point Bulls lead with Jordan shutting down Rider, and a gassed Garnett apologized to Rider for the mishap. Rider told Garnett to keep his mouth shut next time.
Garnett learned an important lesson that night.
