Kevin Garnett on Philadelphia's 'fairweather' fans

BOSTON -- For 24 minutes of Game 5, the Celtics looked lazy, old, disinterested and whatever other adjective you want to use to describe a team that appeared resigned to the fact that Father Time wasn't willing to cooperate and the Eastern Conference semifinals were slipping away to the younger, fresher legs of the 76ers.

Whatever they felt, the hushed Garden crowd sensed it, too. And then the third quarter happened.

Whether it was the ridiculous offensive foul call on Kevin Garnett against Spencer Hawes four minutes after halftime that elicited chants of "bull[stuff], bull[stuff]" or the barrage of Brandon Bass buckets, the Celtics awoke a Boston crowd that sleepwalked through the first half. Or was it the other way around?

"This goddamned crowd here sparks you," said Garnett (20 points, 8-17 FG). "It doesn't take much here, man. ... When speaking about this crowd, man, it's like plugging in. They're enthused from 48 minutes on, from the tip on, so I can't see the difference between minute from minute. I feel like every minute I look up, I see my family, I see people yelling, I see the drunk fat guy. I can decipher one from the other. This crowd is ridiculous, man. I love it."

The Celtics outscored the 76ers 28-16 in a third quarter that featured 18 of Bass's career-high 27 points, turning a 50-47 halftime deficit into a 75-66 lead that ballooned as large as 20 in the fourth. After his charge (the second of four personal fouls), Garnett ignited a 10-0 run with a 17-footer that was followed by a pair of Bass free throws, two Bass dunks, a Ray Allen layup from Rajon Rondo and a Sixers timeout that sent the Garden crowd into a frenzy.

Bass "was able to make statement plays that get the crowd involved with two dunks in a row, and we were just never able to recover after that," said 76ers Sixth Man Lou Williams.

"It's like taking a cold shower, stepping into a freezer that's below 60," added Garnett of the Boston crowd. "I wouldn't recommend it, but if you want the feeling, try it out, come back and let me know."

Alrighty, then. Well, now Garnett and the Celtics hope to close out the series in Game 6 on Wednesday night in Philadelphia, where the Philly faithful will surely give the 76ers a similar home court advantage, right KG?

"Not even close," he said. "Not even close. You got fans, and then you got fairweather fans. Take it how you want."

Now if only Boston fans could settle this whole Brian Scalabrine chant thing. First, the "Scal-a-bri-ne" chants rained down as their C's trailed the 76ers by seven in the second half of their eventual Game 2 loss, and then the same White Mamba mantra capped Monday night's victory when Bass deserved all their praise. Go figure.

For more on the Celtics, visit weei.com/celtics.

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[Ashburnalley5]

Wrong. Go back to the year before you guys traded for Garnett. The few celics fans that actually went to those games would wear bags on their heads. Shows how much you know about your team

[stroboscopie]

No no, I meant AWESOME.As in fucking great :)

[cenafan216]

Bitch please, Miami has the most fairweather fans EVER no joke it's fucking sad. In 10 years there aren't gonna be any fans

[Nick Oberhau]

lol do some research dumb fuck. More like number #1 fan base. Unlike Boston who nearly let the patriots fold out of the NFL in the early 1990's. Also people even say constantly Boston fans are fair weather (not all) Anyway it mainly comes down to sport Baseball/football/hockey philly in top 3 Best fan base. Basketball.... top 10

[Tony Moncada]

He 's a dick....

[deanuts237]

not to mention kobe getting mvp chants in the garden too!

[ryanhoward61]

Kg can suck a dick

[FrostyDrummer23]

Fuck you KG

[Ashburnalley5]

Obviously it wasn't literally empty. Check the attendance numbers, numbnuts. And Penn state? Where did that even come from. You're gettin desperate, man

[illad3lph]

Well no shit 76er fans are "fairweather," cause over here to be honest I really don't care about basketball in the first place, nor do most people. I just don't get how you become a fan of the sport in general when they don't even break a sweat until the 4th quarter. College hoops though is an entirely different atmosphere. This city has Drexel, Villanova, and Temple who are all D1 programs. That's just basketball for here, any other sport though we have the best fans in the country, FACT.

[781jb]

KG coulnt have said it better, philly fans arent even close to us.

[ryanmerk11]

i never said boston dosnt have stars... I said before the stars came..their was plenty of empty green seats