Back to the beginning
Kevin Garnett begins his 21st NBA season Wednesday in Los Angeles against the Lakers by playing his 1,425th regular-season game. Here's a look at the first one he ever played:
Friday, Nov. 3, 1995, at Sacramento
Kings 95, Wolves 86
Garnett's stat line: He played 16 minutes off the bench, went 4-for-4 from the field, scored eight points and had a rebound, an assist and a personal foul.
How long ago was it?
• Bill Blair coached the Wolves that night. Flip Saunders didn't take over for another 19 games.
• Current interim coach Sam Mitchell started for the Wolves alongside Terry Porter, Christian Laettner, Tom Gugliotta and Doug West.
• Current Memphis coach Dave Joerger was a 21-year-old college kid and had just transferred schools two blocks away in Moorhead, Minn. He later coached five teams in four different minor leagues across the Dakotas and Iowa for a decade before the Grizzlies hired him as an assistant in 2007. "Is that when it was?" he asked. "Wow. He's the best, man. I love that guy."
Jerry Zgoda