There will never be another Kevin Garnett.
The NBA waves goodbye to a legend after The Big Ticket announced his retirement Friday evening, and beyond the loss of one of the greatest power forwards and defensive players of all time, the league is losing one of its most colorful personalities.
After all, this is a man who called longtime teammate Paul Pierce "Picasso," because "he's like a beautiful painting, a beautiful painting I get to watch every night."
Here are some of KG's most memorable quotes.
'I'm beat up'
Garnett's incredibly emotional nature came out during a 2005 TNT interview with John Thompson, when he began crying while lamenting the Minnesota Timberwolves' losing ways (4:21 mark).
Ready for war
Garnett got a little carried away in 2004, saying he was "ready for war" ahead of Game 7 of a playoff series against the Sacramento Kings. After naming off various guns and munitions, enough blowback came his way that he was forced to publicly apologize.
He didn't need hardware metaphors anyway: Garnett scored 32 points and pulled down 21 rebounds as the Wolves advanced with a win.
On cooking
After he was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2007, Garnett became the defensive anchor of a championship team, integrating alongside players like Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo. He knew team chemistry wasn't easy, a topic he was quoted by SB Nation's Paul Flannery on in 2011.
Timing is everything, and chemistry isn't something that you just don't throw in the frying pan and mix it up with another something, and throw something on top of that, and then fry it up, put it in a tortilla, put it in the microwave, heat it up and give it to you, and expect it to taste good. For those who can cook, y'all know what I'm talking about. If y'all don't know what I'm talking about and can't cook, then this doesn't concern you.
'Bar fight'
In one of his classic encounters with TNT's Craig Sager, Garnett called a 2012 win over the Orlando Magic a "bar fight," took a shot at Charles Barkley, and lost his train of thought all in one postgame interview.
'Take this outfit home and you burn it'
At 2009 All-Star weekend, Garnett took issue with Sager's eclectic wardrobe, and gave very specific instructions about what he should do with it.
