Sam Smith

LOS ANGELES - Can a team win with Kevin Garnett?

It's perhaps that 800-pound elephant in the room in the NBA. Everyone loves and admires Garnett, one of the hardest workers in the game, a leader in the locker room and on the court, something of the informal president of the "Dunk, Jump and Run" fraternity of NBA players. Garnett tends to treat the NBA like a campus secret society with everyone as special brothers.

Which make it so difficult for anyone around the NBA to acknowledge what has been whispered about Garnett for years, and what has been seeping through on this greatest of stages, the NBA Finals.

At the biggest of times, Garnett comes off small.

The Celtics have the edge in the NBA Finals, ahead 3-1 with one more game here and two in Boston, if needed. The Lakers kept their hopes alive with an 87-81 win Tuesday as Paul Pierce and Garnett were a combined eight for 35. That won't happen with Pierce again. No one knows with Garnett.

He is averaging a solid 18 points and 13 rebounds in the series, and active, as always, on defense and in the huddle. But he is shooting a woeful 35.4 percent and 30.2 percent — 16 of 53 — since halftime of Game 1. In the fourth quarters of the three games, Garnett is a six-for 18 disappearing act, averaging 4.7 points.

If you are for Boston, you keep screaming at the TV: "Kevin! In the post! Get it to Kevin in the post! Kevin, Kevin! Get in the post. Where's he going?"

"He needed a blow," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said about having Garnett out early in the fourth quarter. "We had no choice. When he came back, we went down there (postups). We just didn't get anything out of him."

Rivers, who has done an excellent job in these playoffs, dances gently around the Garnett questions. After all, it's hardly likely the Celtics would be here, let alone in the playoffs, without Garnett and everything he brings. He's a Hall-of-Fame talent.

But there's always that question: Why not more, Kevin?

"I probably do need to take the ball to the basket a little more," Garnett conceded after Game 3.

Garnett can be a particularly difficult player to deal with for reporters. Even sometimes with teammates. Whereas the Lakers' Kobe Bryant often is chastised for being harsh on his teammates in public, Garnett's bite can be just as fierce. But it's done more in the locker room, where Garnett seems at time in a frenzy waiting for a game and dismissive of his teammates.

That's one of the theories about Garnett and his history of late-game disappearances.

It's often been said — quietly — Garnett is the league's best player through three quarters.

The worst thing anyone can say for an athlete — other than the check is late — is that he is a choker. No one wants to go there because Garnett is such a great team player, unselfish, defensive oriented and committed, a coach's dream.

One theory is that Garnett is so intense, hyper even, that when the pressure mounts and the game gets late, he gets so excited and determined to do well he overplays. Players generally like the "tries too hard" theory.

Even reporters try to find gentle ways around that. Yes, even media members respect Garnett. So he was asked Wednesday about perhaps going too fast (translation: so nervous he loses control and panics).

"There were times I went quick and didn't really let defenses set," Garnett said. "I wasn't successful, but at times I was patient, I had some success."

Reporters don't exactly love Garnett, as he routinely refuses to meet with reporters on practice days and other off hours perhaps more than anyone. But when Garnett does talk with media, he remains one of the most interesting, honest, engaging players in the NBA.

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The other popular theory, less public but more common, is that Garnett doesn't like contact. Though he likes to talk and challenge opponents in a daring way, he's said to dislike physical play. Coaches often instruct their players to give Garnett a few shots early and he'll fall back. It's why he ends up on the perimeter so much shooting jump shots when he would seem to have an edge inside with his size (he is at least 7 feet tall, though he lists himself less than that) and quickness.

Garnett has attempted 12 free throws in the four games with 62 field goal attempts, an unusually low number for a 7-footer.

What, is he really from Europe?

Garnett is fifth among the Celtics in free-throw attempts. How is that even possible?

The Celtics have plenty of jump shooters. Garnett isn't supposed to be one, but that's where the majority of his shots come from. And it's not like he's playing against Tim Duncan. This is Pau Gasol, for gosh sakes.

It's why, many said, Garnett's teams were always first-round playoff victims until that one season they had Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell, two players who liked to finish the game scoring. And now, Garnett has Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, with Pierce something of the perfect complement for Garnett.

It's long been whispered Garnett can get you there, but someone else has to take you home. Pierce can do that, though he suffered a bit of homecoming stage fright in Game 3. That should change if he is healthy. It's also why you've got to like the Celtics in this series now. Gasol and Lamar Odom, who were playing so well in the playoffs, have backed off with the physical play. And although it's said Garnett does as well, he never quits hustling, rebounding and defending, which is what the game is about. You do what you can to help your team.

Perhaps Garnett is not the complete star we'd like him to be. But he's getting awfully close to that championship, and it doesn't matter how you get there. As long as you do.

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