Kevin Garnett takes the ball to the basket during Sunday's night win over the Wizards. (AP)

Flip Saunders knows Kevin Garnett well enough. For 10 seasons, Saunders coached the perennial All-Star with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

With all apologizes to Jim Croce, Saunders, now the head coach of the Wizards, knows you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind and you don’t tick off the Big Ticket.

The last part of that equation was especially troublesome in Saunders’ eyes as he watched his Wizards blow a 79-66 lead with just over six minutes to go Sunday night.

“Well, we choked,” Saunders began. “Six minutes to go, we’re up 13. We’ve got young guys, they don’t know what it’s like to be in a situation. We start talking to Garnett, start talking trash and everything else. Got Garnett and those guys juiced up and we just pissed down our leg the last six minutes.

“You have a veteran team that knows how to close out games against a young team that hasn’t been there, and instead of just letting a sleeping dog lie, we juiced up their energies. We had plays coming off timeouts and we had guys going to the wrong side of the floor, we were so discombobulated.”

[Click here to hear Saunders rip into his team for coming unglued at the end of the game.] Read the rest of this entry »

The Boston Celtics may not have Stephon Marbury in their long-term plans, but other teams around the league are reportedly expressing interest. According to the Boston Globe, Marbury was disappointed by the Celtics’ one-year, $1.3 million offer and effectively announced his departure in an email: “Thank you Boston for allowing the world to see me play again after all that went on in N.Y. The fans treated me with open arms and that’s all anyone can ask for.”

The New York Post has reported the Washington Wizards are the favorite to land Marbury while the Sacramento Kings have also inquired about the veteran guard. Marbury played for Wizards head coach Flip Saunders when Saunders coached the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Talks of Marbury reuniting with Saunders began in May when the New York Daily News reported Marbury reached out to his former coach nearly every day during the Celtics playoff run.