Words Get in the Way for Garnett

Perhaps Sunday’s blow to the head from Anthony Peeler left Kevin Garnett feeling vulnerable.

Or, maybe he’s just prone to hyperbole.

Whatever the case, the NBA’s most valuable player promised to come prepared tonight for Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal series matching his Minnesota Timberwolves and the Sacramento Kings at Minneapolis.

“This is it, all the marbles,” he said. “I’m sitting in the house loading up the pump. I’m loading the Uzis, I’ve got a couple of M-16s, couple of [guns] with some silencers on them, couple of grenades, got a missile launcher. I’m ready for war.”

Playoff basketball hardly qualifies as war -- Garnett apologized Tuesday for his “inappropriate” remarks -- but it has been a combative, confrontational series, never more so than late in the third quarter of Game 6 on Sunday at Sacramento, when an altercation between Garnett and Peeler ended with Peeler throwing his left elbow into Garnett’s jaw.

The fallout: a two-game suspension for Peeler, leaving the Kings, already short-handed without injured sixth man Bobby Jackson (abdominal strain), minus another key reserve as they try to avoid another playoff disappointment.

Awaiting tonight’s winner are the Lakers, who after dispatching the San Antonio Spurs will have had five days off when the Western Conference finals open Friday -- at Minneapolis if it’s the Timberwolves, in Staples Center if it’s the Kings.

Game 7, which in NBA history has been won by the home team nearly 83% of the time, is a new experience for the Timberwolves, a pressure cooker that the more seasoned (and eternally heartbroken) Kings were only too happy to remind them would be unlike anything they’d previously encountered.

Shot back Coach Flip Saunders of the Timberwolves, noting that the Kings’ most recent Game 7 appearances ended in crushing losses to the Lakers two years ago and to the Dallas Mavericks a year ago: “That was not a good experience for them. I think it boils down to, this is a new situation.”

Not new, of course, is the back and forth between the teams.

Brad Miller of the Kings and Darrick Martin of the Timberwolves were ejected from Game 5 after Martin hit Miller below the belt, Miller retaliating by pushing Martin to the floor and falling on top of him.

After Game 6, which featured the Garnett-Peeler confrontation and fans littering the court with glow sticks, the resurgent Kings vowed to stay in the fight.

“You can get rid of all that ‘Kings are soft’ junk,” backup forward Jabari Smith said. “That stuff has ended. We’ve got guys who’ll come off the bench and hit you in the jaw.”

Hardened by their Game 7 defeats -- not to mention Game 5 losses in best-of-five series in 1999 and 2000 -- the Kings believe they’ve paid their dues in playoff heartache. This time, they hope, it’s the Timberwolves’ turn.

“The good thing is, we’ve been in this situation before,” King forward Chris Webber said. “So, I feel comfortable going into it, and I’m excited about it.”

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves are entering new territory. Never having reached the second round of the playoffs before this season, they lost at home in Game 1 and, after falling behind by 10 points in the fourth quarter, had to rally to win Game 2 in the Target Center. Their point guard, Sam Cassell, has been bothered by back spasms and has not played well in the last four games.

But after putting together the West’s best regular-season record, they’re at home for the decisive game. And they’ve still got Garnett, who was fined $7,500 for his part in Sunday’s skirmish while also being praised for his restraint.

“The first thing I had to do was to sort of gather myself and understand the bigger picture,” he said of the incident. “There can only be one winner and one loser in the course of any kind of heated moment.”