"The Miami Heat have seen the dark side firsthand, and not all that long ago, when Kevin Garnett was ejected and later suspended for jumping into the Quentin Richardson-Paul Pierce dustup during the opening game of last season's playoff series against the Boston Celtics.

At the time, as well as moments before and after, the sentiment was that's just Kevin being Kevin, a fiery player emoting.

But now, as the Heat stand poised for their third meeting of the season against the Celtics on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden, the Kevin-being-Kevin sentiment has given way to heightened talk of Garnett instead being a dirty, foul, dangerous presence.

And it's not merely about the rhetoric, the Garnett motor mouth that had Charlie Villanueva crying foul earlier this season over an on-court "cancer" comment, one that each said came in a specific and divergent context.

Now, Garnett seemingly has morphed some sort of irascible Bruce Bowen, stepping into the landing spot of shooters, seemingly even delivering a low blow to Phoenix Suns forward Channing Frye.

After that incident, Suns coach Alvin Gentry, the former Heat coach, said he "lost respect" for Garnett, saying the equally competitive likes of Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan would not have reduced themselves to such shenanigans.

The response of Celtics coach Doc Rivers? "I'll just let Alvin talk," he said. "He seems to do that well."

Before this past week's loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, as the discourse about Garnett crested, Rivers fired back.

"Kevin does everything right," he said. "All those people would take him in a second. All coaches would want their players to be Kevin Garnett and act like Kevin Garnett."

What players think, however, is another story."