October 29, 2003
It was the opening night of the 2003-04 NBA season, and Kevin Garnett was out for blood, as per usual. He had just set a career high in point per game scoring last season, and it didn’t take him long to prove he still had the juice in this campaign.
He annihilated the Bucks to the tune of 25 points, 21 rebounds, six assists, one steal and three blocks. The Timberwolves won by six points. In a completely related statistic, the Wolves were plus six with KG on the court that game.
The Bucks of 2003 had already lost all of their big three, and thus the team was in the hands of Michael Redd. Redd, as my favorite phrase to describe him goes, did his best. He added 16 points and nine rebounds to Milwaukee’s cause, but it clearly wasn’t enough to beat the Big Ticket and the Wolves.
This was a revenge game for Sam Cassell, who ended up on the Wolves that season. It would be Cassell’s only All-Star trip, as he tore it up on a 58-win Wolves team that made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. It’d be the only season that Minnesota made it past the first round in their franchise history.