We Reminisce: The First Meeting Of Allen Iverson & Stephon Marbury
Amidst all this Rajon Rondo/Chris Paul hoopla today, I stumbled across some amazing footage of the first NBA meeting between Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury. Both rookies during the 1996-97 season, you can understand the hype surrounding the No. 1 pick and No. 4 pick facing off – a game that didn’t occur until March 11, 1997. While this footage is great, it’s even better after watching A.I. and Steph battle in college.
The setting for that game was Madison Square Garden for a semifinal in the 11th annual Preseason National Invitation Tournament. Their assessments of each other after the game:
Iverson on Marbury: “He’s a great player, but he’s a freshman. He’s got a lot to learn, just as I’ve got a lot to learn. He’ll get better.”
Marbury on Iverson: “You can only try to contain him. He’ll get his points, regardless.”
Now enjoy…
What do you think?
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November 30th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
diego says:
THE BEST POINT GUARDS OF THE NBA HISTORY
November 30th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
123 says:
^not sure if serious?
November 30th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
baloogawhales says:
2nd video @4:49 : Jerry Stackhouse kills somebody with a facial..twice
@5:25: KG big dunk
dont care much for Starbury, but it was fun seeing young KG move like a guard and AI being himself
Nice find
November 30th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
that dude says:
I have the NIT game on dvd and I still watch it. The beginning of a new era!!!
November 30th, 2011 at 10:40 pm
catdaddywhack says:
…and the last meeting will probably be played as imports overseas.
November 30th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
DNice says:
This brings back great memories. Dickie V is AWESOME BABY!!
November 30th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Mojo says:
Talent alone their isnt 10 point guards better then Stephon Marbury I see Derrick Rose today and think if Marbury had his head on right and cared about winning and teammates he could have been one of the best ever
November 30th, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Slick Ric says:
That was great to watch, they both were making great passes. Marbury and Iverson remind me of Westbrook and Rose a lil bit.
December 1st, 2011 at 12:07 am
Chicagorilla says:
Aw man this is classic times in college ball. The BIG EAST and ACC was popping for like 3-4 years in a row. AI, Marbury, and Ray Allen. Grant Hill, Stack, Sheed, VC, Twuan, Joe Smith, Duncan, Childress. I feel in love with college ball during that 90′s era.
I used to think Marbury and AI were the most athletic PGs i’d ever seen. Then came Franchise and Baron a few years later. Now DRose and Westbrook are way above them. That’s crazy.
MArubry: Its crazy how much Derrick Rose’s game resembles Marbury’s. Rose just has something inside of him that lets you know he won’t stop growing as a player. Marbury became STARbury and just kinda stopped progressing as a player. Otherwise he’d still be kicking a$$ in the NBA right now.
AI: I’m not gonna lie. I was a HUGE Iverson fan back in his college days. One of the only college games i ever went to was to watch AI destroy Depaul. I’ve seen Rose in person a few times, and im still not sure he’s faster than AI was in college with the rock. And that half court-one handed-bounce pass through traffic was off the f^ckin chain. Oh, what coulda/shoulda been.
The best is yet to come with the good/evil twins Rose vs Westbrook. Those guys have much more professional attitudes than AI and Starbury did. So i see them handling the fame better and maintaining their game over time.
December 1st, 2011 at 12:17 am
Chicagorilla says:
Also, we gotta give props to Stackhouse for the two nasty ass dunks he put down in that game. The first smash on Dean Garret was nasty, but the second one on Tom Gugliata dome piece was down right a$$holish! That dude used to be a problem for the NBA.
December 1st, 2011 at 8:30 am
JAY says:
@Chicago
No kidding, about Iverson. I remember a college game where he picked off an errant pass on his end of the court… did some kind of crazy ‘push dribble’, where he pushed the ball WAY OUT in front of him twice before taking his two steps for a simple layup. He was so fast he just needed TWO FUCKIN DRIBBLES to cover 3/4s of the court. Stupid.
December 1st, 2011 at 8:54 am
theballerway says:
Victor Page was the difference in that game thaey was almost both guarding Steph (who had the flu the game before if I remember) great era tho
December 1st, 2011 at 9:34 am
Detroit Dave says:
This was a great drop by the Dime Crew. Can you guys upload some good KG vs Sheed battles.
December 1st, 2011 at 9:47 am
baloogawhales says:
@Chicagorilla: dude i think everybody was an AI fan back in the day. I still remember his I3 Reebok’s
December 1st, 2011 at 1:46 pm
ctkennedy says:
Marbury was better player …Iverson has better legacy
December 2nd, 2011 at 4:37 pm
douglalr says:
missed the original Gtwon, Gtech game but watching the highlights its easy to see why one’s a HOF and the other a not so much! Maybe it’s just the AI bias in me…or Marbury hate for the way he destroyed the Knicks…if he was 1/10th as good as he said he was we’d have been in the playoff every year…I blame him and Curry that much!
Also, is it me or does AI seem to be a better college player than a pro? His jumper looked better, passes were crisper…