March 8, 2026, 6:01 a.m. ET
Today in Boston Celtics history, Kevin Garnett hit the milestone of putting up the 20,001st point of his career during a road game with the Celtics against the Memphis Grizzlies. In what was his 13th season in the Hall of Fame NBA, KG surpassed the 20,000-point mark with a layup in the final five minutes of the first half, extending the Celtics’ lead to 45-27. At that time, only Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, and Kobe Bryant were also active NBA players who had reached this prestigious scoring milestone.
With this accomplishment, Garnett, The Big Ticket, became the 32nd player in league history to score 20,000 points in their career. “I wasn’t aware coming in,” Garnett said at the time via Boston Dot Com’s Mark Spears. “It’s a great accomplishment for me. I’m more grateful to every coach, point guard, staff, everybody who’s put me in a position to be successful, and I just say thank you.”
“It’s a bit more meaningful as a Celtic when it happened. It seems like things are lining (up) for something more beautiful, like a championship.”
Historic milestones
It is also the date that John Havlicek scored 43 points against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Milwaukee Bucks.
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Hondo also logged 9 rebounds and 9 assists to go with his forty-burger, but surprisingly was not the game’s leading scorer. That honor went to Kareem, who put up 44 points in response to seal a 130-134 win.
Gone too soon
It is also the date that former Celtics forward Don Barksdale left us in 1993. The Hall of Fame swingman was in Oakland, California, and played his NCAA ball with Marin Junior College and UCLA before being picked up by the Baltimore Bullets (now defunct). Traded to the Celtics, Barksdale played two seasons with Boston before ankle injuries ended his career. The Oakland native averaged 9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists while with the team – rest in peace.
Finally, it is also on this date that we lost Boston guard Joe Mullaney. The Holy Cross alum played just one season for the Celtics in 1949-50 after being selected by Boston in the 1949 BAA draft. In the 50 contests he suited up for the Celtics, he averaged 1.4 assists per game — rest in peace.