Kevin Garnett is competing for more than an NBA championship this spring. He’s working on his legacy, too.

At 31 years old, and complemented by a support group that depends on 32-year-old Ray Allen and 30-year-old Paul Pierce, Garnett could be experiencing his best shot at a championship.  With a team built on defense and the multiple skills of its three stars, the Celtics compiled an NBA best regular season record of 66 and 16.   Boston improved from 24-58 a year ago, a dramatic turn around shaped considerably by Garnett in his first season with the Celtics.

How long the honeymoon continues belongs right at the top of NBA stories to watch.  Those who thought the Celtics would cruise to the NBA finals already received a wake up call when Boston struggled to win a seven game first round playoff series with Atlanta.

The Celtics also labored in their opening second round game with Cleveland on Tuesday night.  Allen, who averaged 17.4 points per game during the regular season, didn’t score.  Pierce scored four points after averaging 16.3.  Garnett carried the team, scoring 28 points including two baskets in the last two minutes that were vital to Boston’s 76-72 win.

Last night the Celtics easily won game two against the Cavs, with an 89-73 win.  The big three clicked as Pierce scored 19, Allen 16 and Garnett had 13 points with 12 rebounds.

Anything less than the NBA finals will be considered a disappointment for the Celtics.  An ending before then will bring suggestions the Celtics are too old and wore down during the 82 game regular season schedule and the playoffs.

Those allegations could be fair.  Boston’s big three is aging and in the NBA that usually means players in their 30s are more susceptible to injuries and have less energy.

Garnett has a lot of “miles” on his body.  This past season was his 13th in the NBA, with all the previous years in Minneapolis with the Timberwolves.  He came straight from high school as an 18-year-old, not even giving his body the opportunity to play fewer games in the less demanding college game.

Next season Garnett will be 32, his birthday is May 19.  Will he still be without a championship ring?  Although he was third in the MVP voting this year, was honored as the league’s defensive player of the year and is an 11 time NBA All-Star game selection, Garnett’s name is included but doesn’t rank at the top of a list with his best contemporaries.  Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Jason Kidd have all either won rings or at least been to the finals.  Even Steve Nash, who hasn’t made the finals, has won two NBA MVP awards while Garnett has one.

A lot of folks with good basketball IQ’s would take any of the above mentioned players before Garnett if they were all 20 years old and starting their careers.  Garnett’s won a string of rebound titles and consistently averaged around 20 points per game, while being an excellent defender and good passer.  He hasn’t, though, been an extraordinary clutch scorer or playmaker.

To use some George Bush type terminology, Garnett is steady superbly good.  So far in his career he can be remembered for that.  He has to be more if one day he’s going to be found among the game’s 50 greatest players and someone who carried his team to a title.  In a series of nationally televised playoff games starting now Garnett must often  be dominating, spectacular and the leader during the most important moments.  Nothing less will provide the best legacy.

Garnett will be judged by his entire career but what he and the Celtics do this spring will jump off the page of his final resume.

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Rumors were numerous last year about Johan Santana being traded by the Twins to Boston. The Red Sox come to Minneapolis for a four game series starting tonight with players speculated to be part of a deal for Santana, the two-time Cy Young award winner who eventually was traded to the New York Mets.

Outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco Crisp, shortstop Jed Lowrie, and pitchers Jon Lester and Justin Masterson were Red Sox names that supposedly could have figured into a trade package. Not all five would have been included but some combination.  Based on their performances so far, there’s no reason for Twins fans to be crying in their beers that these guys aren’t playing here.

Ellsbury, 24, can play center field and left field. He has a .290 average with three home runs and 13 RBI.  Crisp, 28, has been losing playing time to Ellsbury and in more limited plate appearances has hit .315 with no home runs and six RBI.

Lowrie, 24, isn’t the regular shortstop, instead playing behind Julio Lugo.  He has only 35 at-bats with a .263 average, no home runs and six RBI.  Lester, also 24, is 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA. Masterson has pitched in one game, six innings with a 0-0 record and 1.50 ERA.

No doubt if the Twins could have received a package with Ellsbury, Lowrie and Lester, it would have been a nice fit but it’s not believed the Red Sox were willing to make the deal.  Instead the Twins received center fielder Carlos Gomez from the Mets along with three pitchers now in the minor leagues in exchange for Santana who is 3-2 with a 2.91 ERA.  (Livan Hernandez, who the Twins signed as a free agent and possible Santana replacement, is 5-1 with a 3.83 ERA.)

The 22-year-old Gomez is so far more valuable to the Twins than any of the above mentioned Red Sox.  He is tied with Ellsbury and Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle for the American League lead in stolen bases with 13, is hitting .279 with two home runs and 13 RBI, while occasionally making a spectacular play in the outfield.  The extra dividend on the deal for the Twins may one day be the youngest of the three pitchers they acquired, 19-year-old Deolis Guerra.  Keep watch on him in the coming years.

It’s too early to toast the Twins-Mets deal with champagne but local fans should find their beers taste pretty good this weekend.

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Although there was talk to the contrary, Gopher basketball coach Tubby Smith told Sports Headliners yesterday that no other school spoke to him in recent weeks about leaving Minnesota.  Smith has only been the Gopher coach for one season and has made a commitment here including to incoming players.  Regarding a one and out departure Smith said, “You don’t do that kind of stuff.”

A new area can be an adjustment for a coach and spouse. Smith said his wife Donna “loves” the city and its amenities including downtown shopping.  “She’s more happy than I am,” Smith said with a smile explaining he wanted a better record than 20-14.

Smith estimated he’s attended “eight or nine” of the last 10 Kentucky Derby races, including Saturday’s.  He described Big Brown’s dominant win last Saturday as “amazing” and predicted the horse will win the Preakness Stakes on May 17.

Gophers football coach Tim Brewster said junior college transfer Traye Simmons will be eligible to enroll next month at Minnesota.  Simmons was rated by Rivals.com as the No. 4 junior college defensive back in the country.  Projections are that Simmons will be a starting cornerback for Minnesota.  “We recruit junior college players expecting them to start,” Brewster said.

Kevin Whaley, the incoming freshman running back from Virginia Beach, Virginia who was the victim of a random shooting in March, “is doing great”, according to Brewster and will be able to play for the Gophers beginning in August.  Brewster praised him as a student-athlete.  “He’s an excellent student,” Brewster said. “He’s a kid who was offered scholarships by Penn State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Michigan  State.  He’s a great football player. …”

Derek Smith, a defenseman for the Minnesota Thunder who has been part of the team’s spring advertising campaign, had sports hernia surgery and is a couple of weeks away from joining the team.  Coach Amos Magee said Smith, who is from Hopkinsville, Kentucky and has yet to play a game this season, has athleticism and toughness.  Magee has been pleased with the Thunder’s defense in three games (two goals allowed) and said Smith will have a challenge earning a regular position in the lineup.

The Thunder, 2-1, play the Montreal Impact at Griffin Stadium in St. Paul beginning at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow night (Saturday).  Montreal, 2-2, prepared for the USL season with games in Italy and Portugal.

Local media personality Larry Fitzgerald interviewed ESPN baseball commentator Joe Morgan in Phoenix recently.  Among the subjects he quizzed Morgan on were American League superiority and the decline in the number of African-Americans in the big leagues.  You can read the article by visiting Fitzgerald’s Web site (www.larry-fitzgerald.com) and selecting Journals/Articles on the home page menu.

New York Times best selling author Harvey Mackay recently delivered the commencement speech at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix where he was given an honorary doctorate degree.  Mackay, who played golf for the Gophers before building his successful envelope company in Minneapolis, is working on a new book that could be ready for distribution within six months or so.

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