What happens when “strategic rest” goes wrong?

A supremely hot-shooting power forward goes ice cold.

Remember how hot Kevin Garnett was shooting before his mysterious thigh bruise forced him to sit out a game? It seemed like he would never miss, like he couldn’t miss, like the basket was five feet wide and he was throwing Skittles through it.

For the 11 games prior to his injury, KG took 113 shots and hit 78 of them. He was a smoking hot 69% from the floor and, during that stretch, he only had one game (!) during which he shot less than 50%.

Here’s a table of his makes and misses in those games:

He was unconscious. He couldn’t miss. And then came the “strategic rest”, or injury, or whatever it was, and all of a sudden Garnett can’t hit the broad side of a barn.

Granted, it’s only been two games, but Garnett had only shot under 50% once in his previous eleven games and has now done so twice in a row since returning from his ailments.

Maybe Garnett’s hurting and it’s affecting his shot. Maybe he feels fine, but sitting a game was enough to get him off his roll. Hell, maybe I’m just completely over-reacting to two poor shooting games.

Whatever the reason for it, he’s no longer shooting at an ubelievable clip.

Maybe a trip to Golden St. and a visit with their meek frontcourt can heal him.