Kevin Garnett followed Lance Stephenson's stunt on LeBron James by blowing on David West's ear during their game on December 28.
Garnett and the Brooklyn Nets were against West and the Indiana Pacers. Garnett fouled West, trash talked like he always does then blew into the power forward's face to tick him off, giving one free point to the Nets, based on a report by Deadspin.com.
Kevin Garnett's contract is set to expire in the summer of 2015 but he remains to be one of the best players that can start a psychological war that pushes most NBA players over the edge. A video was presented by Yahoo Sports, showing the forward getting in West's nerves.
After Garnett fouled West, he went around the court complaining about West supposedly flopping. As the Pacers prepared to in-bound the basketball, Garnett blew into West's ear. West responded by brushing the veteran off and was called for a technical foul.
The move was most probably copied by Garnett from Lance Stephenson, when the latter was still with the Indiana Pacers and playing against LeBron James and the Miami Heat during the 2014 playoffs. Garnett has made a reputation for being one of the loudest trash-talkers in the league as well as pulling a number of shenanigans during games. Late in November 2014, he was seen jokingly trying to bite the hand of Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah.
West commented about the call in a News Day report, "Yeah, I didn't like that. I don't want to play those games. We are out there to play basketball, so let's play basketball. Everyone's kind of looking at me trying to figure out what made me push him. I told them he blew in my face -- an aggressive blow at that. I think Lance's was more sensual. That was an aggressive blow.
West added, "I felt the . . . I don't know what you call it. But it was just too much."
The 38-year-old Garnett scored six points and had one rebound while playing 14 minutes. He did not speak with reporters after the game. Despite his on-court tactics, however, the Pacers blew past the Nets 110-85. West was the second best scorer in the team with 17 points.
Nets coach Frank Vogel said about Garnett in the same report by News Day, "He's the best. All-time warrior. Nothing but respect for what he means to this league and his approach throughout the year."
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