Two amigos... Just kidding.

I care more about this year’s Survivor season than I care about the Garnett-Villanueva feud. And I haven’t cared about Survivor (not even a little bit) since the very first season, when Jervis was voted off and the nine- or ten-year old me cried tears of frustration and confusion. (Note: I didn’t really cry. I don’t want you to think I was THAT big a wuss.)

But the Garnett-Villanueva spat does nothing for me. I’ve been done with it for quite some time, since Garnett apologized to George Karl and showed that, yes, Garnett actually has compassion for real cancer patients, just not for cancerous basketball players.

That said, I doubt Garnett forgets. Actually, I’d bet my new laptop and my entire life savings (admittedly, not much) that Garnett holds a grudge with Villanueva. Even if Garnett actually said the comments (I’m still undecided on whether he did), he despises Villanueva for tweeting about them. You know what they say — what happens on the court stays on the court. Wait, they don’t actually say that? Whatever. Nobody else ever voices trash talk to the media, or through Twitter, and so Garnett holds Villanueva in disregard for staining his public image.

And if Garnett didn’t actually say the comments? If Villanueva is lying? Then KG’s grudge against Villanueva is tenfold, and his hatred completely justified.

Either way, if I’m Charlie Villanueva, I would hate to see KG’s wrath tonight. Garnett’s a lot like Fluffy, the three-headed monster who guarded the sorcerer’s stone in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. If you played sweet music in Fluffy’s vicinity, he would fall asleep, and you’d have a chance to pass by him and get the stone. But as soon as the music stopped, Fluffy became a vicious, flesh-eating beast. Villanueva should have played sweet music in Garnett’s vicinity, and then he’d have a chance. But he blew that chance by voicing his comments, and now Garnett’s a vicious, flesh-eating beast focused on nothing but defending the sorcerer’s stone — err, I mean, focused on nothing but getting his team a win, and in the process humiliating Charlie Villanueva.

There are other interesting aspects of tonight’s game, of course. There’s the always interesting “the Celtics almost traded Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen for Rip Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, and Tayshaun Prince!” angle. Then there’s the “Jesus Christ, Joe Dumars destroyed this once-proud franchise” angle,  which goes hand in hand with the “Ben Gordon and the aforementioned Charlie Villanueva make far too much money” angle. I’m starting to enjoy the “please, Celtics, no January swoon!” angle, even if it’s not quite January, although the “how do the Celtics keep winning with three regulars on the shelf?” angle’s probably played out.

Which is how I settled on the “I’m willing to bet my entire life savings (aka a dollar or two) that KG destroys Villanueva tonight” angle.

If things don’t work out as planned, well, you can always blame my jinx.

Charlie Villanueva maintains Garnett called him a cancer patient

I hate even bringing up this story. It’s old news and I don’t even care about it anymore, regardless of what Garnett said. When Garnett apologized to George Karl after the Nuggets game, the door to the “cancer patient/cancerous” comments should have been closed.

But it wasn’t, and some of you still probably care about this stuff. So I’ll share it with you, even though I could care less myself. (Boston Globe)

“I stand by (the Tweet), it is what it is, but it’s over,” Villanueva said following this morning’s shootaround in Auburn Hills. “It happened in November. I will do whatever it takes to win a ball game. But I’m not the type of guy who’s going to go out there and make things up. I said what I said. It is what it is. Move on. The truth as told. That’s all I’m worried about. I said what I had to say and it’s over with.” ….

“I think he’s a tremendous player. He’s somebody in my younger days that I looked up to. I respect him as player.”

In other words, Villanueva said he doesn’t respect KG as a person. Which is fine, because the respect (or rather, the lack thereof) is mutual.

Villanueva told the Detroit Free Press he’s treating tonight like an average game.

“I’m not worried about him, man,” Villanueva said after scoring 25 points. “It’s just another game.

“I’m just going to go out there and play and not going to worry about it.”

Villanueva probably should be worried. I can imagine Garnett is out for blood, and — just ask Joakim Noah or Andray Blatche — that doesn’t normally work out well for his opponents.

Paul Pierce is “the most confident person in the world”

Tony Allen, speaking to Dime Magazine, discussed Pierce’s unfailing confidence. Some might even call such confidence “cockiness,” but I digress.

“He’s never down,” Allen said. “He’s the most confident person in the world. I saw games where he went 3-for-17 and pretty much shot us out of the game. But he always had the confidence and the mentality to say to himself, ‘You know what? Those odd shots that I missed? I guarantee that I won’t miss them next game.’

“Then the next game he comes out and probably has 35. The way he deals with consistency and how he practices to be prepared, it’s almost like he has the right to be and has the confidence…He has the right to be selfish because he’s a winner and he definitely knows how to win. That reputation that he had, you have to know him in order to judge him. He’s definitely one of the most confident players that I’ve competed against or that I’ve known.”

Tell us something we don’t know, Tony.

In other news, I hate thinking about Tony Allen. It brings back memories of all the headaches and broken remote controls in my recent past.

Breaking news: Shaq’s a funny dude

Pierce steals water from courtside fan

In flu season, this can’t be healthy.

Linking to myself

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been writing for CelticsBlog in addition to my Celtics Town duties. Today, I tackled Marquis Daniels’ ability to match up well against opposing point guards. Especially when he’s playing alongside Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. In the process, I described my thoughts about Daniels.

Anyway, before I lose ALL my readers with this absurd tangent, there’s a point to my Prison Break talk. In the episode I watched last night, an FBI agent discussed his drug habit with a former addict, Sara Tancredi. The FBI agent used tranquilizers every day, and Tancredi told him something like, “You must feel like you’re walking under water all the time.”

Since I’m a Celtics freak, that quote made me think of one person: Marquis Daniels.

No, I’m not accusing Daniels of a tranquilizer addiction. Of course not. But you have to admit: compared to his teammates and opponents, Daniels often seems like he plays basketball under water. It’s not that he’s lazy, because he’s not. It’s not that he’s unathletic, because he’s not. Daniels just plays basketball at his own pace. Some people sprint; Daniels glides. Some people celebrate big plays; Daniels stays completely stone-faced. Some people possess another gear to drive by opponents; Daniels just patiently saunters by.

Lastly, vote Celtics Town as Sports Blog of the Year

Just go to the link and vote for www.celticstown.com.

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “In a brief conversation as he headed out of the locker room for the team flight to Philadelphia, Rajon Rondo said that he was fine. It’s admirable that Rondo won’t discuss his various injuries and even more admirable that he’s playing through them, and still doing it a high level. He played 30 minutes, took just three shots, rarely attacked the basket and still dished out 13 assists. ‘He was great,’ Rivers said. ‘I thought Rondo was good. Really good. He looked fine. I thought he had it in cruise a little bit, but he was just trying to run the team.’ That’s the difference between the 2010 Rondo and the one from years past. His speed is his greatest weapon and even without it he’s still able to be effective. But Rondo is hurting. Ty Lawson, who in fairness makes everyone look slow, repeatedly got past him. He also came out of the game in the third quarter and stretched out his leg. After a few minutes he walked back to the scorer’s table and checked himself back into the game rather than let his leg get stiff. ‘Him and Nate [Robinson] are actually grinding it out,’ Paul Pierce said. ‘Those two are both having feet problems. We’re just thankful that we get them through right now. We’re trying to get through this tough stretch where one day we get healthy. I don’t know when that day is going to be.’ It may never happen, actually. The healthy part, that is, because it appears that Rondo is going to be bothered by his leg and foot ailments for the foreseeable future. Credit him with playing through it and playing as well as he can, but understand that it’s not easy for him right now.” Read more »

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston - ”Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett didn’t spend long addressing his spat with Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva on Friday, but sent a terse message amidst the fallout from Villanueva suggesting Garnett called him a ‘cancer patient’ during Tuesday’s game in Detroit. ‘He’s a nobody,’ Garnett said following the Celtics’ 110-105 overtime win against the Chicago Bulls at TD Garden. ‘I’m not paying attention to nobodies anymore.’ … ’I don’t even want to get into that,’ Noah said, when asked about Garnett’s propensity to rile up opponents. Garnett got whistled for a double technical with Villanueva on Tuesday, then got the same infraction after a scuffle with Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut on Wednesday night. ‘I think … whatever. He is who he is. At the end of the day, it cost me $2,000 today [for the technical foul]. Just getting upset at his dumb [stuff]. I’m not getting involved in it. It’s stupid. I let his dumb a– cost me $2,000, so I’m the dumb a–.’” Read more »

Update:

I doubt we’ll ever hear Kevin Garnett confess to calling Charlie Villanueva a “cancer patient,” so this will likely evolve into a “he-says she-says” type of scenario.

Who do you guys believe?

Kevin Garnett denied Charlie Villanueva’s allegations that KG called Villanueva a “cancer patient.” (CBS Sports)

“I am aware there was a major miscommunication regarding something I said on the court last night,” Garnett said in a statement from his representatives released by the Celtics. “My comment to Charlie Villanueva was in fact, ‘You are cancerous to your team and our league.’ I would never be insensitive to the brave struggle that cancer patients endure. I have lost loved ones to this deadly disease and have a family member currently undergoing treatment. I would never say anything that distasteful. The game of life is far bigger than the game of basketball.”

Two thoughts, without getting into whether I think Garnett actually called Villanueva a cancer patient.

1) Garnett’s P.R. person drafted a great statement. Whether Garnett did or didn’t actually say the insult, this was the best way to respond. It at least throws a shadow of doubt about what Garnett actually said. (Garnett HAS done some great things with real cancer patients.)

2) My mom’s reactions to KG’s comments: “Very few people are actually THAT insensitive to cancer patients or another human being, and KG doesn’t seem like one of them. Even if he did say the insult, it doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy who despises cancer patients or hates Charlie Villanueva. We shouldn’t judge him because of one thing he said during a basketball game.”