The Lakers don't have the personnel or the D to stop KG.

Right now the Wolves have advanced to stage 2 -- Championship Playoff Level NBA basketball. They must be aware there is one level left. They must play to close the show. Or not. Some of it is physical. A player can be good enough to compete to his top level, physically. And then, through no fault of his own, the game leaves him behind, just from a physical standpoint ... but with KG, the Wolves have Winning Championship Playoff Level potential.

First things first. Just as the Kenny the Sage Jet says, "The hardest game to win is the close-out game," KG and the Wolves have to win another game, just to even get to the doorstop of winning; once there, they'll find the oxygen allowance not as generous.

With the Big Ticket, they can do it. But will they?

The answer my friend, is between their ears, and, probably, not yet.

Physically, they can. They have the MVP. No doubt of that. There are point guards Hudson can be held down by, and out-played by, but Derek Fisher and Jennero Pargo are not two of them. Wally S. World must take what the game gives him, stop getting caught up in the moment, realize that there is nothing wrong with swinging it away if he doesn't have the shot, because he is not likely to get the shot on his own. He is not Scottie Pippen. He is Wally S. World.

KG has no ceiling. He proved it again Thursday night, when the Wolves once more took down the Lake Show. They had already won Game 2 last Tuesday, and won in such a way that made the Lakers adjust to them, which most playoff foes, except the Kings, have not been able to do. Hudson continued his D. Fisher expose. Hudson has proven to be a money point, if error-prone. On one level, this is the highest level, and you can't play mistake-free; the other guy is competing too, and he's good. But still ... if you could put Rod Strickland's head on Troy's body ... but you can't. If you could, I'd put my head on LeBron's body. So Strick gimps around dragging a leg, but, amazingly, does some damage just on guile.

It all works off KG. The Wolves can apply their pressure only after makes, and Garnett gives them makes against any defense. Garnett shot 15 of 21 in Game 2, over the top of them all, Kobe, Horry and/or Shaq, three championship quality shot-blockers.

Think about that. That's .714 percent shooting, against a playoff-level intensity defense mounted by the world champions.

The Wolfies then can front the Laker guards in their press, and force the forwards -- Horry, Fox and Madsen -- to handle. The obvious play, the long overhead pass, even if completed, still leaves them with KG the Shot Blocker to contend with. It all works off Monk.

For years now, KG has been the difference in the All-Star Game for the West because there is no match-up for him -- not anywhere. He can play two, three, four or five -- everywhere but up top, and, by God, I wouldn't put up top past him. He can always pick up his dribble, pass over the top.

	On both ends of the floor, KG's intensity and patience is second to none.

Non-old heads might say, "Wait, the Wolves are a great team! They beat the Lakers in overtime without KG!" Well, not really. KG has ascended now to the uppermost Levels of the Game as an individual baller (the list of the individual levels is too long to get into here; maybe later) -- he not only makes his teammates better (his 7-plus assists were by far the best of any big in the league, better than any non-guard in the league), he also inspires them.

"I fed off the Big Ticket's energy," said Anthony Peeler after he scored four of the Wolves' 10 in OT, sans KG, in dire need of ChapStick on the bench. Again, this geekdom is fast leaving him, I think; it's the last hurdle between KG and greatness. There's still a naivete. It showed when he let Horry deke him into a sixth foul in OT. You've got to play smarter than that, Tick. It's not a question of whether you fouled; it's whether you unnecessarily put yourself in a position where it looks like you must've fouled, and then the veteran acts out the foul, and there you are, sitting with six. You can't put yourself in that position; if you do, you can't bitch and moan that the referees put you there. You put yourself there. Well, you can bitch and moan, especially if you're Danny Ainge, doing ref instead of game commentary, but what good does it do?

Peeler's rugged diligence on Bryant and the boards, Jackson's and Nesterovic's lack of fear and positioning under the rack, utter will, and their obvious desire to both please and play up to level of KG, spelled good fortune for the Wolves. Luck favors preparedness.

Now, for the Rebellion to take hold, the Ticket and the T-Wolves must act as if nothing has happened. They must play as if they are down 1-2 instead of up 2-1. Even if they lose on Sunday, they must quickly forget that. They cannot let Game 5 at the Target Center get away. Wally, Hudson, and especially KG must remain rock-calm. So. The game has come to him. Nothing to do now but allow himself to embrace it, smoothly, like a lover. If he does that, the Lakers can be on their backs without knowing how they got there. Even if they don't go down, KG can make them remember his name, and look to avoid him in the future.

If he doesn't win it, he's still the MVP. Go ahead, KG. Say it. "King me."

Dear God. A year ago, the Lakers had, by acclamation, the two best players in the league in Shaq and Kobe. Now, there are days, sick playoff days, when you can only say they have two of the best five. But for these last eight quarters-plus, in the Ticket, they had to face the best. We move on now, from KG, to T-Mac, to A.I., in time.

Pay attention, Chairman Yao, LeBron, all ye who enter here.

School's in, baby. For real.

Ralph Wiley spent nine years at Sports Illustrated and wrote 28 cover stories on celebrity athletes. He is the author of several books, including "Best Seat in the House," with Spike Lee, "Born to Play: The Eric Davis Story," and "Serenity, A Boxing Memoir."