Kevin Garnett

The graphic came up on the big video scoreboard, and suddenly tension gripped the rambunctious sellout crowd at the Wells Fargo Center. Celtics vs. Sixers, Game Six, Wednesday. Tickets available for purchase behind Section 122.   At the time, the score in Celtics vs. Sixers, Game Four was 88-83, and there were 33 seconds left in regulation as Jodie Meeks stepped to the free throw line. In 33 seconds in the NBA, you can consume a full-course meal. Kiss of death?

BOSTON - Boston Celtics forward-center Kevin Garnett didn't do much to endear himself to the Philadelphia fans, who are bound to give him a less-than-rousing welcome Wednesday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Sixers. Following the Celtics' 101-85 win on Monday at TD Garden that gave them a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, Garnett was asked to compare the Boston and Philadelphia fans. "Not even close, not even close," Garnett said.

The Minnesota Timberwolves wanted to take their game to the next level, but their resident superstar, Kevin Garnett, couldn't take them by himself. So general manager Kevin McHale rolled the dice. He brought in a pair of strong-willed veterans, Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell, in off-season trades to mesh their game with Garnett's and attempt to get the Timberwolves past the first round of the playoffs, where they have been eliminated the last seven seasons. Though viewed in some places as a gamble, the moves have paid off royally for the Timberwolves, who owned the NBA's second-best record entering last night's action.

Kevin Garnett says there is "no running away, no looking back. " At 19, he is the youngest player in the NBA and that's all there is to it. He will never know what college basketball might have been like. The Minnesota Timberwolves rookie, the fifth player picked in the June draft, isn't ready to say it would be right for any other high school player, including Lower Merion wunderkind Kobe Bryant. But it was right for him. Bryant, the 6-6 guard who is the son of former La Salle star and 76ers forward Joe Bryant, has been holding open the option of bypassing college and going directly to the pros.

Just when the search for the new general manager for the 76ers seemed to be reaching a climax, it has entered a new phase. Saying he wanted to make sure he left "no stone unturned," Sixers president Pat Croce decided late Friday to interview Rob Babcock for the job. Babcock, 44, the player-personnel director for the Minnesota Timberwolves, met with Croce yesterday. "As I was doing the checks on other people, I kept hearing his name," Croce said, explaining why he had expanded the field to include one final candidate.

Greg Oden, who'll have much of the world on speed dial after this evening, has one big dream. "Wherever I'm drafted, I want to go to a Boys' Club and be able to go swimming," Oden said yesterday. "I want to go swimming at a Boys' Club. One day in Indianapolis, I went swimming, and a whole bunch of kids came over. It was fun. " Such lightheartedness is what endears people to the 7-foot, 250-pound Oden - who, barring cataclysmic events, will be the first pick in tonight's NBA draft, going to the Portland Trail Blazers.

All right, so maybe this wasn't quite equal to the U.S. Olympic hockey team's winning the gold medal in 1980. There will be no movie made about the unlikely result of last night's game between the 76ers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, considering the way the Sixers have played lately, their 81-74 victory over the Midwest Division leaders in front of a delighted sellout crowd of 20,453 at the Wachovia Center leaned significantly toward the category marked "miracle. " The Sixers, who broke a four-game losing streak, went into the game without their top scorers, Allen Iverson and Glenn Robinson, both of whom are injured.

NOBODY PLAYS perfect, lockdown defense every night. It is unlikely, against any combination of competition. It is impossible in the playoffs, against a team as talented, as professional and as well-coached as the Boston Celtics. Wednesday night, the Sixers delivered their defensive clunker. It had been a nice run. Remember, the Sixers needed to win a slew of road games at the season's end just to secure the final playoff slot. They ran off three in a row. They then held top-seeded Chicago and fourth-seeded Boston to 92 points or fewer in the last seven games, an average of 82.3 points per game.

Eric Fleisher, the agent for Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett, said the All-Star player would not be with the team after the 1997-98 season. Fleisher apparently was upset that owner Glen Taylor revealed earlier yesterday that Garnett had rejected a six-year, $103 million offer from the team. "It's unfortunate that the Timberwolves have not honored their word to keep all contract negotiations strictly confidential," Fleisher said. "Kevin Garnett will not re-sign with the club after next season.

BOSTON - Kevin Garnett palmed the ball in the low post and saw a double team coming. He lifted his head looking to pass. Something was missing. As he looked around, he saw the white Celtics jerseys of four nonstarters. So the 6-foot-11 forward dropped his right foot toward the rim and kissed one of his vintage, knee-raising, one-footed fadeaways off the backboard. Typical KG. The Celtics' 35-year-old big man, who carried them to the 2008 NBA championship, returned to the form of four years ago, dominating the 76ers on both ends of the court as the Celtics pulled off a come-from-behind, 92-91 win in Game 1 of the second-round series.

BOSTON - Shortly after Monday's 101-85 win over the 76ers at TD Garden that put his Boston Celtics team one game from advancing in the Eastern Conference semifinal, Celtics coach Doc Rivers had to deal with the inevitable question - what now? More specifically, how do the Celtics, who now lead this best-of-seven series by 3-2, send this 76ers team with younger legs and unending resolve packing? The 76ers looked cooked after losing Game 3 at home, 107-91, and trailing by 18 in Game 4. But they came back to win that game, 92-83, to even the series.

AFTER Game 5's collapse, the Sixers must do-or- die Wednesday night, so Broad Street Baller turned to their crazy-fan Revolutionaries for hope: GARNETT VS. KUNCIO: Chris Kuncio of Center City, who dresses as "old-school baller Thomas Jefferson" in the 76ers' crazy-fan section, is offended that Celtics superstar Kevin Garnett and other nonlocals trash Philly sports fans. "During our last regular-season game against Boston, when Mickael Pietrus went down with a concussion, people were disgusted at how we cheered," Kuncio told Broad Street Baller.

The 76ers might have chuckled at Kevin Garnett's comments about their fans, but they neither agreed with nor appreciated them. "We'll see the fans tomorrow," Elton Brand said after Tuesday's light practice. "We appreciate our fans. We know we have their support, and they've got our backs. I'm sure they're going to show him how fair-weather they are tomorrow. " After the Celtics' 101-85 victory in Game 5 Monday night in Boston, Garnett said Philadelphia fans weren't as loyal as Boston fans.

BOSTON - Boston Celtics forward-center Kevin Garnett didn't do much to endear himself to the Philadelphia fans, who are bound to give him a less-than-rousing welcome Wednesday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Sixers. Following the Celtics' 101-85 win on Monday at TD Garden that gave them a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, Garnett was asked to compare the Boston and Philadelphia fans. "Not even close, not even close," Garnett said.

The graphic came up on the big video scoreboard, and suddenly tension gripped the rambunctious sellout crowd at the Wells Fargo Center. Celtics vs. Sixers, Game Six, Wednesday. Tickets available for purchase behind Section 122.   At the time, the score in Celtics vs. Sixers, Game Four was 88-83, and there were 33 seconds left in regulation as Jodie Meeks stepped to the free throw line. In 33 seconds in the NBA, you can consume a full-course meal. Kiss of death?

NOBODY PLAYS perfect, lockdown defense every night. It is unlikely, against any combination of competition. It is impossible in the playoffs, against a team as talented, as professional and as well-coached as the Boston Celtics. Wednesday night, the Sixers delivered their defensive clunker. It had been a nice run. Remember, the Sixers needed to win a slew of road games at the season's end just to secure the final playoff slot. They ran off three in a row. They then held top-seeded Chicago and fourth-seeded Boston to 92 points or fewer in the last seven games, an average of 82.3 points per game.

BOSTON - Kevin Garnett palmed the ball in the low post and saw a double team coming. He lifted his head looking to pass. Something was missing. As he looked around, he saw the white Celtics jerseys of four nonstarters. So the 6-foot-11 forward dropped his right foot toward the rim and kissed one of his vintage, knee-raising, one-footed fadeaways off the backboard. Typical KG. The Celtics' 35-year-old big man, who carried them to the 2008 NBA championship, returned to the form of four years ago, dominating the 76ers on both ends of the court as the Celtics pulled off a come-from-behind, 92-91 win in Game 1 of the second-round series.

BOSTON - Kevin Garnett palmed the ball in the low post and saw a double team coming. He lifted his head looking to pass. Something was missing. As he looked around, he saw the white Celtics jerseys of four non-starters. So the 6-foot-11 forward dropped his right foot toward the rim and kissed one of his vintage knee-raising, one-footed fadeaways off the backboard. Typical KG. The Celtics' 35-year-old big man, who carried them to the 2008 NBA championship, returned to the form of four years ago, dominating the 76ers on both ends of the court as the Celtics pulled off a come-from-behind 92-91 win in Game 1 of their second-round series with the 76ers.

CALL HIM OLD. Call him dirty. It just fires up Kevin Garnett even more - and that didn't work out very well for the Atlanta Hawks in their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Upset by comments from a Hawks owner calling him "the dirtiest guy in the league," Garnett responded with 28 points and 14 rebounds to give the host Celtics an 83-80 victory in Game 6 on Thursday night that eliminated Atlanta. "Thank you to their owner for giving me some extra gas tonight," Garnett said.

KEVIN GARNETT found Keyon Dooling for a three-pointer. Then the Boston big man hit a fallaway jumper of his own. Back at the other end, Garnett grabbed a rebound to start a fast break that ended with Avery Bradley at the free throw line. Just like that, the Celtics broke open a tie game and took a seven-point lead they never relinquished. Garnett had 23 points and 10 rebounds on Wednesday night to lead Boston to a 94-82 victory over visiting the Utah Jazz and move the Celtics back into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division.