LOS ANGELES – The media began to congregate around the hastily-constructed podium on the Staples Center floor 10 minutes before his arrival and they couldn’t wait to tell him. Kevin Garnett, as is his style, arrived fashionably late and after a few perfunctory questions, it was time for the main event.

Pau Gasol said you lost a step.

Garnett chuckled a little bit before saying, “I have no comment for his comments.”

That wasn’t good enough and so the point was pressed further, which is another way of saying the match didn’t strike but the fuse was ready to ignite.

“I’m not getting caught up in what Pau’s talking about,” Garnett said still managing to keep things on simmer before working into a boil. “I’m not going to play these games. I’m going to stick to my guns, continue to make the proper adjustments and move on. I’m not into this bull [expletive] that’s going on, you know what I mean? That’s it.”

For the record, this is what Gasol said in its entirety:

“On Kevin’s part he’s also lost some explosiveness. He’s more of a jump shooter now you could say. Before he had a really, really quick step and was getting to the lane and he was more aggressive then. Time passes and we all suffer it one way or another, but he’s still a terrific player, a terrific competitor and he’s going to bring everything he’s got. You can count on that.”

Slow that down and back it all up. Is there anything in that quote that strikes you as untrue? Impolitic maybe, but not untrue. Of course Garnett is not the player he was in Minnesota when he was arguably, or maybe not so arguably, the best player in the league for a period of about three years from 2003-2005.

But this is the NBA finals and we have 48 hours between games so anything and everything becomes fodder for the hype machine. In context or out, Garnett knows that he has to play better in Game 2, so what’s a little media-driven frenzy between big men?

“Every man is entitled to his opinion,” Rajon Rondo said. “You know, Kevin is fine. It’s just one game. We’ll see in Game 2. I just can’t wait. I didn’t know [Gasol] said that, but I’ll be excited to see how it goes in Game 2.”

And so it continues for Kevin Garnett who began the playoffs throwing an inopportune elbow in the general direction of Quentin Richardson’s head, which unleashed all manner of pent-up hellfire and brimstone from his many critics anxious to call him out for his bullying ways.

Garnett got past all that, and so did the Celtics, and then it was on to the Cavaliers where he destroyed Antwan Jamison and had perhaps his finest hour in a Boston uniform in the closing game of that series, scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

Then it was on to Orlando where he made Rashard Lewis disappear in the type of defensive performance that so many said were a thing of the past.

But Jamison and Lewis aren’t Gasol, who is at worst the second-best big man in the world right now and certainly the best offensive player among 7-footers.

“I got to be in control,” Garnett said. “I got to be aggressive. I got to quit thinking and just relax. What I do well is make plays for other guys, making sure other guys are communicating defensively, brining a solid presence to that end and I did none of those things. It’s not a one-on-one situation between me and Pau. To make this team better I have to be a lot more aggressive, and I will.”

All of that is true but he’s wrong when he says it’s not a one-on-one situation between him and Gasol. Not anymore.

Doc Rivers said that Garnett had his best practice of the season on Wednesday and if the game had been played that night instead of Thursday it might have been a completely different performance. But it wasn’t and so the inevitable question of time and its effects has sprung to life again regarding Garnett.

“All year when we play bad, we’re old, and when we play well we have great experience,” Rivers said. “That’s just who we are. It doesn’t bother them.”

Experienced or not, Garnett and the rest of the Celtics made a classic rookie mistake in Game 1: They came out too amped up, too excited and when things calmed down, they didn’t have an extra gear.

By the time they did get themselves together it was too late. The Lakers had a 20-point lead and even with a superb fourth quarter the Celtics were never really able to make it into a competitive game.

“He needs to play with that edge,” Rivers said. “I really thought early on he was going too fast and trying to slow himself down. He probably did it a little bit too much, but he’ll be fine.”

Garnett told Rivers he needed to center himself and Rivers laughed. Rivers doesn’t do deep, but he does understand that each and every one of his players is a little bit off, for lack of a better phrase. They are all so idiosyncratic and quirky and he allows them their indulgences so when Garnett gets all philosophical, Rivers takes that as a good sign.

“He knew it,” Rivers said. “He could feel it. And that’s what makes him good.”

During his three years in Boston, Garnett has made little attempt to explain his moods and his methods to his new city. He has been distant since he arrived, but he has been even more so this season as he has tried to come back from the first serious injury of his career.

So much of what has made him one of the more unique, and yes bizarre, players the league has even known has gone missing at times this season. The anger, the emotion, the half-crazed, (or the bullying, if you’re not a fan) has been absent for much of the season.

With the press he has always kept a wide berth, but he has had even less patience for their constant questions about his knee, about his play, about just about everything.

There was a scene in the locker room in Orlando long after Game 5 when everyone else had left and it was just Garnett and about 10 reporters. The cramped room was like a hothouse sauna and all around were strewn the evidence of a game gone horribly awry with discarded bags of ice for knees, elbows and concussions all over the floor.

He was asked a question about whether a game like this reinforced the notion that everything in this game was tenuous. It was a good question, and it clearly had a deeper resonance than just one night in Orlando.

A long silence followed before Garnett started to answer. “As I sit here and think about what you said,” he began. “I’m trying to answer without a muzzle.”

It was in many ways a tacit acknowledgment that this season has been difficult. That he has seen his basketball mortality up close and that he hasn’t liked what he has seen. There have been whispers around the Celtics that all of this in his head, that place that he refuses to share with the outside world.

He has brought so much to the Celtics, but as always with Garnett, everyone wants more. It wasn’t enough to be the best player in the sport when he was in Minnesota and couldn’t win and it’s clear now that winning a championship didn’t end his career-long torment from his critics either.

Now he has before him his most difficult task since he came to Boston in trying to stop Gasol. The words spoken today will take on a life of their own before Game 2, but once the two step back on the floor, they will mean nothing.

It will just be Garnett and an incredibly confident player who believes that he finally has the upper hand on his long-time tormentor. There are many things the Celtics need to do better if they are to leave here with a split, but all eyes will be on this matchup and whether Garnett can make one more definitive statement.