As much as I like Kevin Garnett, and think he brings a much needed sense of desire and urgency to the Celtics, I'm afraid these playoffs have officially confirmed that he's not worthy of ever being considered amongst the elite to play this game. And maybe not even the very good. Sure he may have an MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year award, but when it comes to his team needing him in crunch time, Garnett is about as small as they come.

That's of course always been the knock on Garnett. That we know of. But often as great players streak towards a potential championship, we see them reach a new level of greatness, and they overcome the limitations of their past.

That hasn't been the case with KG at all.

In Game 5 at the Staples Center, it was KG who cost his team a chance to close out the series. He missed two huge free throws late in the game, then followed that up by bricking a relatively easy put back. It was painful to watch.

And if you think I'm singling him out there, because we all know every player can have a bad game here and there, let's go back further in the playoffs.

In Game 4 of the Cleveland series, Anderson "Flop Machine" Varejao held Garnett to only 2 points on 1 of 4 shooting in the entire second half. Cleveland wound up winning 88-77. How does a former MVP and a team leader let that happen in a critical game that could have put his team up 3-1 in the series? It was pretty much inexcusable. KG's team needed him to show up, and he disappeared.

Let's go back even further. In the Atlanta series John Hollinger of ESPN ripped into KG's pathetic 4th quarter performance in Game 6 where Boston desperately needed him to show up. KG finished with four points and four rebounds in the quarter, and committed two turnovers when he passed up opportunities to shoot. Hollinger also complained that Garnett also didn't challenge Josh Smith, even when Smith had five fouls. Worse, Garnett passed up a chance to go one-on-one in the post against Smith with about 1:40 left and Boston down four, and instead deferred to James Posey, who launched a contested 30-footer that missed. But the biggest issue that Hollinger had was that Boston seemed to know KG would come up small. They ran every important play in the quarter for Ray Allen because Paul Pierce had fouled out and Garnett wasn't stepping up. Atlanta smartly gave a ton of defensive attention to Allen - who was 1-for-8 in the quarter - while KG was primarily single covered.

The problem is, the longer I watch these playoffs, the more of these horrible clutch time performances Garnett keeps putting up. He should be breaking through now, but instead is seemingly regressing.

What's most telling is how my opinions of KG and Pierce have changed throughout these playoffs. I once thought Pierce was an overhyped player who was little more than a reasonably talented jump shooter with some slashing ability. Now, I'm watching him dice up the Lakers defense in exactly the same way I expected Kobe to be doing against Boston. He's pushing himself to a new level.

It's moments like these, the playoffs and the Finals, where true greatness comes out. We've seen it from Pierce, but it's been totally absent from KG. In fact, this isn't even KG's team anymore, it's Pierce's. Yes, you could say it's always been Pierce's team, but KG was brought to town to give this team the heart and soul it needed. And Pierce has now officially taken it back.

It's a shame that this has happened to KG, a player I've liked for so many years. But it's simply the truth. He's come up small these playoffs when it mattered most, and a result, I'll never consider him to be as great as he should have been.

These are Paul Pierce's playoffs. KG's just been along for the ride.