Kiwi Gardner Keeps Grinding His Way To Fan Favorite Status (Photo: Ryan Brown | LetsGoWarriors Instagram)
Everywhere Kiwi Gardner goes, he always seems to become a fan favorite.
“Personally, I just think its that I’m not seven-feet tall.”
At just 5 feet, 7 inches, Gardner is usually the smallest guy on the team, but that’s never stopped him from making an impact like he did in the Golden State Warriors final Las Vegas Summer League game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Gardner saw limited action in the Warriors’ 70-58 win over the Charlotte Hornets, in which he went 0-1 from the field and didn’t record any other stats.
After watching the next three games from the bench, with fans constantly shouting for Kiwi see some action on the court, he finally got another chance.
Gardner played 15 minutes, scoring 8 points to go with 3 rebounds and a steal, and his night included a stellar run of 7 straight points without a miss late in the third quarter.
“I’m kind of embracing that role. I sat a lot in Santa Cruz and I don’t really care,” Gardner said. “You can’t really play basketball if you’re sad or worried about why you’re not in the game, things like that. You’ve just got to be ready when your number’s called.”
Kiwi was a blur of activity, penetrating the lane and scoring over bigger defenders with creative, acrobatic releases that fell into the basket just over their out-stretched hands.
It also sparked a Warriors-friendly crowd, as murmurs of “M-V-P” grew into full-on chants with Gardner on the line converting an “and-one” opportunity.
“It was fun to hear that,” Gardner said. “It kind of loosened me up a little bit and just bringing the joy back into the game, when it’s maybe a couple seconds away from being so serious. So that was cool.”
After the game, Santa Cruz Warriors head coach Casey Hill, who once called Gardner “Mighty Mouse” and was also an assistant at Summer League, said that he’s come to expect his point guard to get the crowd going.
“He’s going to have that effect in any gym he plays in. It’s just the way he is,” Hill said. “I knew at some point, he was going to go out there and do something spectacular. It didn’t surprise me at all.”
Kiwi attributes his special effect on the crowd to the fact that he isn’t the biggest guy on the court and fans see him as a representative of themselves.
“Everybody can relate to the grind and just working hard for something,” Gardner said. “Something that’s not just given to you. I think that’s why a lot of fans and lot of kids adapt to me.”
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