OPINION

By Stan McNeal

updated 9:22 p.m. ET June 9, 2008

Kevin Garnett never lets his guard down.

When James Taylor finishes singing the national anthem before Game 1 of The Finals, he passes the Celtics' bench as he walks off the court. Like his teammates, Garnett doesn't acknowledge Taylor with as much as a nod or a fist bump. Garnett doesn't even look up from his customary seat near the end of Boston's bench.

He is too focused on the task at hand. Before every home game, Garnett sits alone, head down, preparing to go to work. The arena goes dark and the amped-up production that precedes lineup introductions — featuring a closeup of Garnett in primal scream — goes up on the giant video board. During his ritual, Garnett exchanges a choreographed handshake with a teammate, gathers his fellow Celtics, adjusts his shorts and bangs his head against the basket stanchion. Thank goodness it's padded or the Celtics' best player would be starting the game with a headache.

Only Garnett knows whether his act is for show, born of superstition or, in fact, pure intensity. Whatever the reason, the buildup is working. Fueled from Day 1 by Garnett's fury and unselfishness, the Celtics are back in The Finals for the first time in 21 years. He came to Boston in a seven-for-one trade last summer because he figured the Celtics would give him his best shot at a championship. Before the series moved to Los Angeles, Garnett's reasoning looked sound as the Celtics moved within two victories of their first championsip since 1984.

Anyone figuring the Celtics' early playoff struggles would carry over against the Lakers quickly was proved wrong. In a 98-88 Game 1 victory, they rode Garnett early and the 3-point shooting of Pierce — playing on a "sprained" knee after a third-quarter spill — late and dominated the Lakers on the boards. Apparently a quick healer, Pierce was even better in Game 2. He hit all four of his 3-pointers and finished with 28 points as the Celtics barely beat L.A., 108-102.

For the first two games of The Finals anyway, the best player in the league, Kobe Bryant, was not better than the Celtics' best players. Pierce outshot Bryant (61.5-40.1 percent) while nearly matching his production (27.0-25.0 ppg), and Garnett collected two double-doubles and pestered Lakers shooters so thoroughly that it seemed he was playing with broomsticks.

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Garnett's intensity, versatility and steady-if-salty communication (he is the unofficial leader in use of a certain 12-letter word beginning with "M") have been driving forces all season in making the Celtics the league's best defensive team. He won his first Defensive Player of the Year award not for personal stats (he ranked 22nd in blocked shots per game) but for helping the Celtics lead the league in both opponents' field-goal and 3-point percentages.

As protective as Garnett, 32, has been of the Celtics' basket, he has been even stingier off the court. During an age in which athletes have good reason to be wary of the media, no one is warier than Garnett. He protects his privacy with the same intensity he uses trying to stop Bryant from driving around him on a pick-and-roll.

Garnett has refused virtually all requests for one-on-one interviews since arriving in Boston. He meets the media only in news conferences, almost always with teammate Paul Pierce at his side. Garnett is professional but unrevealing, courteous but distant. "We have written thousands of words about him since he got here," veteran Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy says, "and we still know nothing about him."

When his wife, Brandi, gave birth just before the playoffs and Garnett missed a couple of practices, the Celtics said only that he was away for personal reasons. "Family issues are never public, so I ask (the media) to respect that," Garnett told reporters after his return. "We still don't know if they had a boy or girl," says one reporter who covers the Celtics.

Garnett works for the Celtics on community endeavors as long as the efforts involve "kids on the rise," says a Celtics spokesperson. The Celtics knew when they acquired Garnett that he would not be volunteering for interviews, and they know when it's time to wrap up his group sessions because of the look he'll flash a media relations person.

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