Julius Randle Says He's 'Not Scared' of Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett has logged more than 50,000 more NBA minutes than Julius Randle. Don't expect that to intimidate the second-year Los Angeles Lakers forward.
“I’m not scared of anybody,” Randle said after Wednesday's 112-111 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, per Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “The main thing is we know that’s his thing. That’s what he does, try to get in people’s heads. I’ve been watching him my whole life so I knew what to expect.”
Randle and Garnett were involved in multiple mini-altercations during the season-opening contest for both teams. One second-quarter Randle shove led to officials going to replay monitors to determine whether he'd committed a flagrant foul (he had not), and a verbal exchange between the two later led to Garnett receiving a technical. (In a lighter moment, Randle also inbounded the ball off of a turned Garnett's back.)
At least one person was impressed by Randle's courage: Kobe Bryant, according to Medina:
Garnett has long been considered one of the NBA's pre-eminent trash-talkers. Howard Beck's oral history of the Timberwolves star highlighted a time when he "crushed" then-Bulls rookie Joakim Noah, who had long idolized Garnett. Bulls rookie Bobby Portis also complained of his trash talk during the preseason, joining a lengthy list over his two-decade career.
Mike Trudell of Lakers.com noted the discrepancy in age:
While Garnett's Timberwolves got the better of Randle's Lakers on the scoreboard, there's no questioning the youngster one-upped his elder on the stat sheet. Randle finished his first game since breaking his leg opening night in 2014-15 with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Garnett, who played 13 minutes and has taken more of a mentorship role during his second Minnesota tenure, had four points and seven boards.
Odds are, this is far from the last time we'll hear of Garnett "initiating" a young player. His reputation around the league has been "love him as a teammate, hate him as an opponent" almost since the moment he was drafted in 1995. With a cabal of youngsters adorning Minnesota's young roster, he likely has to hold his tongue at times during practice. It's nice to see that hasn't stopped him from rattling the cages of opposing up-and-comers.
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