Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Garnett steps back in the Garden tonight for the first time since returning to the Minnesota Timberwolves roster, and judging from the comments this weekend by the former Celtics big man, the place remains singular in his affections. Asked by the Minnesota media who had better fans, New York or Boston, Garnett said, “Bostonians all day, and they know that.”

As part of his reunion tour, Garnett visited the Barclays Center yesterday and his former Nets teammates.

But his lessons won’t ever be forgotten around the Celtics, especially by the two former teammates still on the roster —Jared Sullinger and Avery Bradley.

Sullinger easily can see how Garnett fits in as a mentor with Minnesota’s young roster. It’s how the impending Hall of Famer has fit on every place he has played.

“He helped me out,” said Sullinger. “Every little minor mistake and every little good thing I did in my rookie year, he would point it out and try to help me become better, and understand the game even better. “Very big brotherish. You make a mistake, he’s there supporting you, you make a helluva play, I think he’s more excited for you. That’s been his style over the years, from what I heard, and the one year I had with him he was like that with me.”

Boston Herald – Garnett remains a mentor in hearts, minds of Green 

It’s not often that a guy bringing in a 4.8 ppg scoring average is “must-see” action at the Garden, but this city pulses, as it usually does, when Kevin Garnett comes back to town. In addition to just his mere presence, some emotional clips on the jumbo-tron and his patented pre-tip salute to the crowd, KG in Boston brings out the stories that measure just how great an impact he had on this city and this team during his six years in green.

Only Jared Sullinger and Avery Bradley remain from KG’s last season with the Celtics in 2012-2013 and each year Garnett returns to the Garden, the praise from those guys grows only more effusive. As Jackie MacMullan pointed out last month, Garnett is in the ear and in the mind of every young player on his team –players either take to it, or they’re discarded and potentially damaged. Sully was an impressionable rookie, yet one with basketball pedigree who was clearly impacted by Garnett’s presence.

Tonight we’ll get a chance to see how much of Garnett’s passion is transferred to the young, promising pups on this Wolves team. After a three-game losing streak has the Cs searching a bit for answers, it would behoove them to come out with a little bit of Garnett’s fire tonight.

On Page 2, on KG and the origins of “Gino Time.”

GinoMania crescendoed during the 2008 playoffs and there were internal discussions about whether the Celtics should track down the real Gino for some sort of postseason visit. But when word filtered back to Garnett, he pleaded with staffers to call off the hunt.

“KG definitely did not want the legend of Gino to be disturbed in any way,” Celtics team president Rich Gotham said.

With the Celtics in the NBA Finals, the Wall Street Journal launched its own search. With help from Dick Clark Productions, the producers of “American Bandstand,” the paper located Terry Izen of East Highlands, California. She’s the redhead dancing next to Gino in one of the clips and said she even lent him the Gino T-shirt that contributed to his stardom. Izen told the Journal she started making calls to locate the real Gino, Joseph R. Massoni, only to find out he passed away from pneumonia in 1990 at the age of 34.

No one seems quite sure if Garnett ever found out the truth about Gino, but the fact that there was no way to bring the man in the video to Boston somehow only made the clip more of a treasure.

ESPN Boston – Kevin Garnett and the legend of ‘Gino’

A highly recommended read on the conception of “Gino,” and Garnett’s fondness of the late-game, blowout, jumbo-tron clip. I can just imagine Garnett busting into a meeting of higher level execs and jumping into an expletive-laced tirade:

“DON’T YOU DARE GO LOOKING FOR GINO RIGHT NOW. YOU’LL RUIN THE MOTHERF&^%IN’ MYSTIQUE!”

I for one didn’t realize the American Bandstand clip has its roots in the late 90s, mostly because there were so few occasions during which to bust it out.

And finally, the Cs may be without Amir Johnson tonight

According to Stevens, Johnson has been getting treatment for the injury for “at least a couple weeks.” The team did not reveal the issue until Sunday, when Johnson missed his second consecutive practice.

The starting big man could still play Monday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but has been wearing a walking boot for precautionary reasons.

Mass Live – Amir Johnson has plantar fasciitis, missed both Boston Celtics practices this week 

Here’s where I get to play  injury expert and tell you all about the time I had plantar fasciitis and how it’ll continue to affect Amir Johnson. This things nags and doesn’t go away without rest. Even giving Johnson a 1-2 week blow might not be enough for him to feel 100%. Either they shut him down for an extended period of time, or he’ll probably be dealing with this for the rest of the year.

I’ve really enjoyed watching Johnson play — especially defensively. It’d be great to see him with all of his explosiveness, but odds are that won’t be on display until this injury becomes a non-factor.

With murmurs that Brad Stevens is going to be shaking up the rotation soon, an injury to a player like Johnson might force his hand.

The rest of the links: 

ESPN Boston – Amir Johnson, foot, uncertain vs. Timberwolves

Mass Live – Kevin Garnett on who has better fans

NESN – Kevin Garnett: Boston fans better than New York and they know that

Herald – Ex-celtic Adrian Griffin still grateful for Rick Pitino’s faith