[jayC]

This time, everyone's feeling Garnett's pain

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By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

Editor's note: New season, new Stein Line. Now, Marc Stein's NBA report can be found every weekday during the playoffs.

Playing the Lakers in the first round can't be all bad. Listen close, Kevin Garnett: It's pretty quiet out there.

There is no national outcry today. Compared to last spring's hysteria, when Dirk Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks swept Minnesota in Round 1, there is mostly leaguewide sympathy for KG. His Wolves had to open against the Lakers, and so they inevitably had to lose, which backs up the premonition suggested in this cyberspace Monday.

STEIN SIDELINES
MALES OF THE NIGHT
Tim Duncan and Jason Kidd
Hate to pick two again, but couldn't differentiate between the triple-doubles submitted by Duncan and Kidd in their respective series-clinching victories. Kidd had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for New Jersey, for the NBA's fifth consecutive playoff triple-double ... and then Duncan broke Kidd's hold on the feat with 15 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists for San Antonio. The last player with at least 20 rebounds as part of a playoff triple-double: Boston's Dave Cowens in 1976.

E-MAIL OF THE NIGHT
The Jazz, most likely, are breaking up. Karl Malone will play another season or two to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record. Malone will not, in all probability, go to a team that can't win a title. The Lakers desperately need a power forward. Lakers owner Jerry Buss has been hammered in the media over his reluctance to bring in talent to support Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. Given all that, do you think it's possible Mailman will be wearing purple and gold next year?
Mike Nicholas
San Francisco, Calif.
STEIN: It's certainly possible, Mike. But I still struggle to see Karl fitting in that locker room as a third wheel, and I'm not sure why he'd want to go to the Lakers to get his ring. There will inevitably be folks who downgrade the achievement, saying he needed Shaq and Kobe to finally win one. I suppose it'll be different if the Lakers don't repeat this season -- then Mailman can be billed as the guy the Lakers needed to bring in to get the dynasty movement churning again. If the Lakers do win their fourth straight title, however, it'd be better for Malone to go to Dallas or another team he could legitimately lift. Plus there's Phil Jackson's not-so-secret preference to bring in Scottie Pippen, too. If the Lakers four-peat, Phil will have the juice to get his way, and I really can't imagine a scenario where Malone and Pippen split the $5 million exception.


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SOUNDBITE OF THE NIGHT
"For a guy like me, who's been bounced from the first round of the playoffs three straight years, to finally get to experience the second round, it just feels great."
— Orlando's Tracy McGrady, with a quote that was actually uttered a couple nights back ... but a quote that had to appear in this space. If your eyebrows arched when Kevin Garnett said the L.A. series would be over if Minnesota won Game 4, what's your reaction to this one? McGrady made this statement at 3-1, and, at last check, Orlando still isn't in the second round yet.

STAT OF THE NIGHT
17

San Antonio had lost 17 straight series, after losing Game 1, before closing out Phoenix on Thursday night. The Spurs rallied for a 4-2 dismissal of the Suns after dropping Game 1 in overtime on Stephon Marbury's unforgettable banker.

STAT OF THE TIGHT
38

Indiana's Reggie Miller missed 38 of his 53 shots from the field in the Boston series, for a final reading of 28.3-percent shooting. Sure he was probably due for some playoff struggles, but this was beyond drastic. Reggie fans can only hope the ankles or bothering him more than he ever let on, just as the Suns' Stephon Marbury (held to 18 points or less in Games 4-6 against the Spurs) was clearly affected by that stinger in his right shoulder.

Which was: It's pretty tough to bash Garnett for failing to topple Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, when no one else in the West (or anywhere else) has done it lately.

Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson, who ignited last spring's KG firestorm with their pointed critiques about how real superstars take over playoff games, didn't even sit together Thursday when Garnett got ushered into the off-season. Magic had the evening off from the TNT studio, presumably to watch the Wolves' demise from his usual baseline seat at Staples Center. Barkley, meanwhile, was a softie for the second night running. He and Kenny Smith refused to don their trademark Gone Fishin' hat when Karl Malone and John Stockton were eliminated late Wednesday, out of respect for Stockton-to-Malone, and they spared Garnett from the same shame after Thursday's Game 6 rout.

Garnett, they seem to be saying, is suffering enough as a first-round loser for the seventh straight time. Worse for him, the suffering is bound to continue, even though the Wolves made some tangible progress for once, even in defeat.

Tim Duncan, who actually struggled more individually in the first round than Garnett did against the champs, is going to win the MVP trophy by the end of the week, by all indications. The summer doesn't figure to be any more satisfying for Garnett, since the Wolves have little to offer in trades to get him some better help, along with the same $5 million to offer free agents possessed by every team over the salary cap.

Is that enough to land Gary Payton? If money is Payton's main consideration, he'll either stay with Milwaukee or push for a sign-and-trade with a team that has something to trade the Bucks back. Trading the retirement-bound Terrell Brandon for a high-priced starter is a more feasible option for the Wolves, since Brandon's $11 million salary stops counting against the salary cap in February, but Minnesota won't have significant cap room of their own until the summer of 2004. And they probably won't have any that summer if they can convince Garnett to sign a lucrative contract extension.

Many Minny fans are calling for Garnett to take a major pay cut in his next deal to give the Wolves more flexibility to build around him. It's a noble and sensible idea, since there's no way Garnett can justify his $28 million salary next season, but the more likely scenario, sadly for Minny, is that Garnett refuses to sign the extension. Which would make him a free agent in 2004, making next season even more torturous than the last seven. The Wolves would be forced, in that scenario, to seriously consider trading Garnett before they lost him for nothing. GM Kevin McHale, to this day, has scoffed at any reporter who dared to suggest the possibility of a KG trade. So it'll be real pleasant up in 'Sota, as Garnett calls it, with the clouds of uncertainty hanging overhead.

See? The torture, which seemingly never ends, might only be just beginning. Garnett's two missed free throws in Game 4, and the squandered opportunity to claim a 3-1 lead over Shaq and Kobe, could wind up as fond memories compared to the prospect of sorting out the messy future. The pressure has to be mounting on McHale now, with Saunders facing his own tough challenge -- trying to rally these guys and build some belief for their eighth attempt at series victory No. 1.

Garnett? His Game 6 was rather meek, and it has to hurt worse than ever that the Wolves, on the verge of 3-1 up, crashed out with back-to-back losses by 46 points. Truth is, though, that Garnett found a new level on the floor and made a wide collar sticking out of a sweater look cool in his post-game chats. He did about as much as he could in this series, only to learn at the end that, yes, those other guys can still be the Lakers some nights.

Of course, that's also the good part. Because those other guys can still be the Lakers some nights, and because the Wolves never had a chance against those Lakers, Garnett awoke to relative quiet Friday morning. Given what lies ahead in 'Sota, he's advised to enjoy it while it lasts