More KG-for-MVP Talk

Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks that Kevin Garnett deserves to be MVP for being the catalyst for the Boston Celtic's renaissance.

In this article, True Hoop's Henry Abbot discusses some ways the Boston Celtics have come up with to quantify KG's contributions on the court.

Sports Illustrated's David Dupree, on the other hand, says here that KG is "perhaps the most singularly responsible for the Celtics' resurgence, guiding them to the league's best record and changing the culture and mind-set of the team and its belief in itself," and that he deserves to be named MVP, although he probably won't win the award.

Dupree adds:

His statistics aren't that earth-shattering, as this is the first time in 10 seasons that he hasn't averaged at least 20 points and 10 rebounds (18.9 points and 9.4 rebounds going into Tuesday's games). He is shooing a career-best 53.7 percent and committing a career-low 2.0 turnovers, but he is also averaging a career-low 1.2 blocked shots and his assists average of 3.5 is his lowest in the last 11 seasons. He's also playing the fewest minutes (33.6) since he was a rookie. But his impact is immeasurable.

Here is a team that many critics felt would have trouble accommodating three big scorers such as Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, yet with two weeks left in the season, the Celtics are the league's best defensive team. From Day One, Garnett said that the offense would take care of itself and that champions are made at the defensive end. He made that his mission, and the Celtics have responded by allowing NBA lows in points (90.2) and opponents' shooting (41.9 percent).

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Garnett this season is that when he missed nine-straight games in late January and early February with an abdominal strain, the Celtics went 7-2. The argument can be made that if he is so valuable, his team shouldn't have won so many games without him? But the reality of it could be that he has helped instill such confidence and belief in each other that his team can win, at least for the short term, without him.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers, however, puts forth an intriguing proposition. Rivers argues that while it's true that the who should win the MVP award is debatable, who should win Defensive Player of the Year award isn't, because to him, it clearly belongs to KG.

Somehow, I think all these things mean crap to KG. All he wants at the end of the season in the NBA Championship, and it's obvious that he'll do anything––i.e., sacrifice his stats, downplay MVP talk––to get it.

And that's why he deserves to be MVP.