Kevin Garnett started Thursday night’s press conference by thanking the Hawks owner for giving him extra motivation to finish off the Hawks. Throughout the presser Garnett was on fire and it made for some very good television. Kevin Garnett ended up with 28 points and 14 rebounds as The Celtics beat The Hawks 83-80 in Game 6 to advance to the 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs.

Garnett was referring to these comments made by Hawks team co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. about K.G.:

“We don’t get any calls, which I know everybody always hears. But I’ll give you a stat. Last night, we are playing this old physical team. They are old. I know what happens when you play basketball, old guys foul. [Kevin] Garnett is the dirtiest guy in the league. We are playing Boston last night and they had two fouls the whole first half. We had five times that and we’re athletic.”

Garnett started the presser with the following:

“First off, I want to say thank you to their owner for giving me some extra gas, my only advice to him is, next time he opens his mouth, actually know what he’s talking about, X’s and O’s versus checkbooks and bottom lines.” Garnett was not finished. “We’re not dirty,” Garnett said. “We’re firm. We play aggressive. We’re not dirty. You have to understand, the word ‘dirty’ in this game is very defined. Going under guys, trying to hurt guys, ill intent, it’s not the way we play basketball.

K.G continued:

“We play very, very respectable of our opponent, the city we’re in, the game. We play with a lot of passion, play with force. It’s the playoffs, but I’m not trying to hurt anybody, nor are my teammates. I just found that comment to be a little rude and a little out of hand and I wanted to address it. Just because you’ve got a bunch of money doesn’t mean you can open your mouth.”

video via @Trags