Pursuit of Happiness: Kevin Garnett banks it in

May 3, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics forward/center Kevin Garnett (5) reacts during the third quarter in game six of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the New York Knicks at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Ed. note: Sports, and the people who play them, can be vicious, hideous things. The past few weeks have been a reminder of that, from Ray Rice to Adrian Peterson to Bruce Levenson to Danny Ferry to the New York Mets to a host of other depressing incidents. Sports as a reflection of life is a first-class cliché, but it’s nonetheless apt. As rampant as racism, domestic violence and sexual discrimination are in sports, they are more so outside of sports. 

This unending shitstorm of pure awful can make it hard to remember that sports can also be things of beauty, even joy. To help you remember, we at the Podium Game present “The Pursuit of Happiness,” in which we write about a highlight, a mix tape, a play, just SOMETHING that shines at least a glimmer of light in this dark cloud of despair. We hope you enjoy, and please, feel free to share with us your moments of happiness. 

When I was 18, I was in a band. Not the “Oh, yeah, me and my buddies get together and play bar shows every couple of months” kind of band, but a band that toured the country. It was the kind of band where you work at the Walmart deli for a month because they’ll give you the next six weeks off to drive through the deep south and up the East Coast playing shows every night for anywhere from 10-100 people, selling t-shirts and CDs for gas money and praying that your rusty, clunking van wouldn’t break down in the bad part of Birmingham, Alabama.

That was back when the Celtics were great. It was a surprisingly brief window in which three future no-brainer Hall-of-Famers were all on the same team at the end of their primes. Between the three of them, it should have led to multiple years of true title contention, but injuries got in the way. Age, conflicts and rumors of trades all conspired against Boston. As hard as it was to believe after watching the 2008 squad, that was the pinnacle of the next six years (and beyond) for the Celtics.

The next year after the 2008 championship, Garnett hurt his knee and missed the playoffs. Two years after, the Celtics suffered the most painful defeat of my sports-fan life, falling in the 2010 Finals to the Lakers in seven games. In 2011, Kendrick Perkins was traded — breaking up a potential Finals contender (incidentally, this was the last time Perkins would ever be a player a fanbase wanted). The 2012 team lucked into the Eastern Conference Finals and put up a tough fight against a Miami Heat buzzsaw — but even tough fights against buzzsaws end with LeBron James wearing your face as a mask. In 2013, a battered Pierce and Garnett made a valiant push down 3-0 to the Knicks, but bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. They were dealt, and the Celtics pressed the reset button on my favorite sports era of all time.

The next year after the 2008 championship, I would quit my band and join another one. Two years later, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and acquired mounds of medical debt, forcing me to face the fact that I wouldn’t be happy forever being young and broke. Three years later, I went back to school and tried to juggle touring, schoolwork and writing about basketball. Five years later, I graduated college with all my bandmates scattered across the Midwest, and we realized we probably wouldn’t tour again.

But on June 17, 2008, Kevin Garnett ran a pick-and-roll with Paul Pierce in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, and dove down the lane. He elevated, stretched one of his freakishly long arms high into the air, and took a hard hit from Lamar Odom. Garnett threw a circus shot at the backboard on his way down, which hit the backboard hard and dropped in. Mike Breen — in his perfect play-by-play voice — yelled “AND the foul!” as Garnett lay on his back, screaming at the TD Garden fans, who screamed back at him.

I screamed too, making everyone in the Applebee’s turn and stare at me. We were in the middle of a tour, and a group of attractive girls had taken us out for half-price appetizers.  I wasn’t particularly interested in the boneless buffalo wings, nor conversation that didn’t pertain to the Celtics, because when Garnett’s shot banked in and the Celtics went up by 20, I knew it was over. The Celtics were going to win.

In the second half, Boston continued to pour on points, as Ray Allen hit three after three after three. The lead stretched, reaching 40 multiple times before a last-second basket by LA brought it back down to 39. Even a young Tony Allen, glued to the bench for most of the playoffs, got in on the action — slamming home a reverse alley-oop with under a minute to play. The Celtics celebrated in Boston, and I celebrated in a Minneapolis suburb.

On June 17, everything was coming up Celtics and, for as far ahead as I could see, everything was coming up me.

Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.