In the early 2000s, the NBA featured a group of incredible guards who won MVPs and titles and were considered some of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
The list includes the iconic Kobe Bryant, master showman Allen Iverson, and the likes of Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Tony Parker, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Gary Payton, Dwyane Wade, and more. Other Hall of Famers included:
The first decade of this century also spotlighted backcourt standout and native New Yorker Stephon Marbury. He was a two-time All-Star and a two-time All-NBA Third Team selection.
Marbury scored over 20 points per game for seven consecutive seasons and became a national sports hero in China both as a player and as a coach after leaving the NBA.
Now, Marbury, who played parts of five seasons with the New York Knicks, can be seen screaming at the top of his lungs at Madison Square Garden for the team he's cheered for since he was a kid growing up on Coney Island. Can be seen.
The Knicks will face the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 on Friday for a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Boston Celtics await.
“Even before I got into the NBA, the Knicks were already my team,” Marbury told USA TODAY Sports. “It's the stage that every basketball player on the planet wants to play on.”
During the first two rounds of the playoffs, Marbury, who wore No. 3 during his time in New York, encouraged his team alongside John Starks, another famous Knicks guard who wore the same number.
“He's a true New Yorker. You feel his energy,” said Marbury of the Starks. “Just to get out on the basketball court and see what they're doing. It's phenomenal to be there, especially live.”
Both former Knicks No. 3s enjoy watching the players from their baseline seats, especially Josh Hart, the current New York player who wears his former number.
Hart played at least 39 minutes in four of the first five games of the Pacers series, including 48 minutes in back-to-back games.
When Hart was finally ejected from the game, it was a big deal.
“They had breaking news “Josh Hart came off the bench and left the game,” Marbury said. “There’s a lot of energy in that number.”
Like Hart, the Knicks' other two Villanova alumni, Donte DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson, are also excited about the 47-year-old Marbury, who is being inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
“He's on one,” Marbury said of Brunson, who scored 40 or more points in five of the first 11 games this postseason. “This is what he came to do.”
Marbury envisions a new wrinkle in Brunson's arsenal that will eventually make him even more effective.
“We're probably going to start seeing more of his dunks,” Marbury said. “But he doesn't have to because he has already surprised us.”
Marbury, the 1995 Mr. New York Basketball Award winner, praised both Hart and Brunson, but was completely giddy when talking about DiVincenzo.
“When you have a player like Donte, 'The Ragoo' does what he does,” Marbury said. “He brought a sense of urgency. He brought what Thisbus (coach Tom Thibodeau) preaches over and over again every day.”
One of the few issues for this trio (particularly Hart), and the rest of the team, is the amount of playing time for key players. Through the first 11 games of the playoffs, the Knicks had three players play more than 40 minutes per game.
Marbury doesn't think that's a big problem. “They've been conditioning all summer, not during the season,” Marbury said. “For those three, four, maybe five months, instead of relaxing, hanging out, going here, doing that, they were conditioning.”
Over the past two seasons, the Knicks have turned their fortunes around, going from a team with experience to a team with a legitimate chance to make the playoffs. And this version of the Knicks might be the best in decades.
To turn that around, Marbury pointed squarely in the front office's direction.
“I think (team president) Leon (Rose) and Wes (executive vice president and senior basketball advisor William Wesley) have (injected) new energy into New York basketball culture and made people respect that. I believe that,” Marbury said.
Led by the Villanova trio, Thibodeau and a shrewd front office, the Knicks have given fans plenty to cheer about.
And whether or not their run continues into the NBA Finals, there will be one fan riding shotgun. “I love supporting this,” Marbury said. “For me, it's like a kid playing a game.”
