The Celtics snapped a three-game losing streak with a 113-99 win over the Timberwolves on Monday, but the story of the night was Kevin Garnett’s return — and perhaps his final farewell — to Boston. Here are some thoughts and observations from an electric night at TD Garden:

¦ Minnesota coach Sam Mitchell sapped much of the excitement when he announced during his pregame media session that Garnett would not play. I get that the Timberwolves rest Garnett on the second of back-to-back games, but I also wondered if it would have been better to have some foresight and have Garnett sit out Sunday’s game in Brooklyn instead.

Of course, Mitchell made it quite clear he was not worried about reunion tours or cheery moments. He was just trying to proceed normally and was mostly focused on developing his young and talented team.

¦ This is my first full season on the Celtics beat, so I wasn’t here during the Garnett era. But it was cool to see the impact he clearly had behind the scenes.

Garnett lingered in the hallways in the bowels of the arena before and after the game, meeting with everyone from former teammates to public relations staffers to strength coaches to security guards. It seems everyone has a good KG story, and it’s hard to have those moments if a star doesn’t open up and create them.

¦ Garnett did not play and did not speak to the media before the game. There was even some question about whether he would talk to us afterward. (OK, it was more than a question: It was a concern. There were like 50 writers planning to write a lot of words about Kevin Garnett, and that task becomes much more challenging when he doesn’t talk to you.)

Then about 45 minutes after the game ended, Garnett waded through a scrum and stood in front of the cameras and voice recorders. Here are a some highlights from the brief interview session:

On the fans’ reaction: “I think I always have that kind of reaction here. Boston’s always been a special place in my heart and probably always will. Tonight, although the outcome wasn’t the way I wanted it to be, it was a great homecoming. It felt really good to be in the building.’’

On not playing: “Back-to-backs are very difficult for me regardless of what I look like out here. I think that’s a tribute to obviously my work ethic and things I put into this, making 39 look like 25 these days. But it’s really hard. It’s hard to even come in this building and not want to play. But the appreciation of not only the city, but the Mass. area, the Northeast, they give me — the love is unconditional. And I’m very appreciative of it.’’

On time in Boston: “It meant everything. I like to say that Minnesota made me a young man. I grew up when I came to Boston. I learned a lot coming from the Minnesota situation, and I applied it in my Boston situation. I’ve got all great memories here.’’

On whether this is the end: “I just want to say thank you all for all the appreciation tonight. I’m out of here, man. On that note, I’m exiting. I’ll see you guys later. Let me out of here. I’ll see you guys later. Thank you all, man. I appreciate you, Boston. See how you just blew that whole thing, right? We outta here.’’

¦ That final question about his retirement came less than three minutes after Garnett started talking, prompting him to dash out of the scrum without answering it. Many of us were kind of hoping the question would be holstered for a few more minutes so we could get a few more stories.

¦ The Celtics fans were strong. They started quickly with the “We want KG’’ chants, blissfully unaware that they would not get KG. But they persisted. Even when they were coaxed into a rhythmic “Let’s go, Celtics’’ call by the arena’s scoreboard, they switched the words around to ask for Garnett.

But since there was an actual game taking place and since Garnett clearly was not going to play in it, it was unclear if there would be that one defining moment that made everyone pull out their cellphone video cameras. But then Celtics coach Brad Stevens stepped in, sort of.

With 1:02 left in the game, Stevens called a timeout and inserted his reserves.

It seemed like he’d been aware that one final stoppage would allow the fans to say one final goodbye to Garnett. And that’s exactly what happened. Garnett took a few steps onto the court and acknowledged the crowd, his favorite “Gino Time’’ clip played, and the cheers poured down once more.

Afterward, Stevens was asked if it had been by design.

“Sure. Yeah, that’s what I was thinking the whole time,’’ he said. “No, I was subbing . . . but in retrospect that was a hell of a call. Yeah. Sorry. No, I didn’t know. I mean, I didn’t even think about it. I heard them chanting him the whole game so I didn’t really figure that that was going to come into play, but I’m sure glad it did.’’

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach @globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @adamhimmelsbach.