Kevin Garnett & Stephon Marbury - Interview with Bob Costas (NBC, May 1, 1998)

I remember this interview like it was yesterday.

Two 21-year-olds Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury sat down with NBC's Bob Costas on May 1, 1997, the day before the Timberwolves (7th seed) took on the Sonics (2nd seed) in the deciding Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round Playoffs.

This interview aired on NBC the following day (May 2, 1998), during the studio's pregame show before the start of Game 5.

A lot of interesting things here:

-The interview starts with KG and Steph bantering about the significance of last year's Playoffs, where the T-Wolves were swept 3-0 by the veteran Rockets
- Costas brings up KG's new $126 million contract, signed before the season began
-Interesting how Steph defends KG contract here, but would ultimately leave Minnesota partly because of it
-Steph missed out on the 1998 All-Star Game in his hometown NYC, where the hype was all on MJ and Kobe.
-The state of the Timberwolves, and the trends of this Playoff series
-It's almost eerie how the promise of a bright future can be snuffed out so easily. Marbury would force his way out of Minnesota early next season, and KG and the Timberwolves would continue to get eliminated in the First Round for the next five straight years.
-The "He Got Game" reference -- the movie was just coming out in the theaters a the time
-Wow, Peter Vecsey is actually being nice here
-Hannah Storm!


I have some cool KG stuff on old VHS, but at the moment I don't have equipment to digitize them. Until I can do that, the next best thing is to use my camera. There's more stuff to come, but I'm spreading things out a bit, and uploading some to my secondary account as well:

[allenstewart]

they could of been one of the best duos.

[Mnight]

great vid, and the quality actually isnt that horrible. Compared to other videos ive seen where they try to tape their tv, this is pretty good. great upload.

[fballjones]

K.G. and Marbury could've been one of the best duos and could've brought a few championship banners in the Target Center, unfortunately that was never was to be because of selfishness and greed.

[mannymunny]

this was about the time where i started really following the nba...

[lilman]

Funny how Marbury is defending KG's contact but he left because of it.... That was a great Duo they should have never broken

[HerbChambers]

you are the man garnettribute

thank you

[Playstationshow]

Awesome. I don't remember this due to my age, but Garnett is the best.

[elbowgang]

For all of you pocket watching fools talking bad about Stephon let me ask you a question. If your job put a cap limit on how much you and some of your coworkers could make compared to a few other coworkers y'all would've been mad too.

[DJRashadHayes]

I was so disappointed when Marbury forced that trade. It was a shock. Completely. Straight up jealousy and greed and they could've been incredible together. Just absolutely ridiculous.

[TBryant]

3:37-3:59 hilarious stuff thanks 4 uploading

[reh]

yeah that garnett boy isnt going amount to anything. he has no game. he is going to be a journey man for the rest of his career.

as that marbury kid-WATCH OUT! mvps, rings, all nba teams. the sky is the limit.

[BlackCardTraveler]

it definitely look like they kissed at the beginning!!! @0:09