It's 2004, and the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves are in the final seconds of a prolonged, testy battle to determine who advances in the playoffs to face the mighty Los Angeles Lakers. Poetically, the deciding moment -- either overtime or game over -- comes down to a fascinating, longstanding matchup: Kevin Garnett vs. Chris Webber. To appreciate this moment, we should understand the intertwined history of those two revolutionary players.
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00:00 It's May 19th, 2004.
00:03 We're in Minneapolis, where it's game seven
00:05 of a Western Conference semifinal
00:07 between the Timberwolves and the Sacramento Kings.
00:10 Down three points, the Kings have the ball
00:13 and two seconds to send this game to overtime.
00:16 If they miss here, it's all over.
00:19 Wolves advance.
00:20 Before we see what happens, we need to meet these teams
00:24 and the centerpiece players who will decide this moment.
00:27 We need to rewind.
00:30 (dramatic music)
00:32 Yup, we might be headed for even more basketball.
00:38 Somewhere, the super stacked, already advanced LA Lakers
00:42 are just chilling and waiting
00:44 for their conference final opponent.
00:46 Good for you, Lakers.
00:47 In here, it is the opposite of chill.
00:50 The possibility of a game seven needing overtime
00:53 has 20,000 people on razor's edge,
00:56 exactly what you would expect from this matchup.
00:59 The Minnesota Timberwolves have existed since 1989.
01:04 Since then, their regular season record
01:06 against the Sacramento Kings is a clean 30 and 30.
01:11 That record includes four consecutive overtime games,
01:15 spanning all of 2003.
01:18 So, of course, this first ever postseason matchup
01:21 between the Kings and Wolves has been neck and neck,
01:25 tit for tat.
01:26 Each team stole an early road win.
01:29 We've even gotten overtime.
01:31 And each team won one of the last two games
01:34 by double digits.
01:36 Constant, drawn out battles have engendered respect
01:39 between enemies, but they're also really sick
01:42 of each other and they're getting feisty.
01:44 Game five saw some ejections.
01:47 Game six saw more and that actually matters now.
01:51 Anthony Peeler, a former Wolf,
01:53 tangled with one of his good friends,
01:55 Minnesota's Kevin Garnett.
01:57 This fight, if you can call one guy weaponizing his elbow
02:01 and the other guy immediately declining to retaliate,
02:04 a fight, got Peeler suspended for this game seven.
02:08 Garnett managed to avoid suspension for that scuffle.
02:12 And for his prolonged, eerily calm,
02:15 extremely specific gun metaphor
02:18 describing his preparation for this game.
02:20 - Sitting in the house, I'm loading up the pump.
02:22 I'm loading up the Uzi.
02:23 I got a couple of M16s, a couple of nines.
02:27 I got a couple of joints with some silencers on.
02:29 I'm just loading up clips, a couple grenades.
02:32 Got a missile launcher with a couple of missiles.
02:36 I'm ready for war.
02:37 - So Peeler's not here to offer three-point shooting
02:40 when the Kings desperately need it.
02:42 Garnett, meanwhile, is over here scrambling
02:45 to prevent that three-pointer
02:47 and avoid yet another deadlock.
02:49 He's trying to stop Chris Webber.
02:52 If you've heard of anyone on this court, it's these guys.
02:55 You know each of Webber and Garnett
02:57 as the face of his franchise,
02:59 but first you knew them as the vanguard
03:02 of the power forward position.
03:04 Webber came first, electrifying the state of Michigan
03:08 in high school and then in college
03:10 with the Fab Five Wolverines.
03:12 As an eighth grader, Kevin Garnett watched Webber
03:15 dominate the 1991 McDonald's High School All-American game.
03:20 He saw an older kid about his size
03:23 blocking shots all the way to half court,
03:26 acting crazy, hollering.
03:28 Chris had a lot of personality and energy
03:31 to go with a cross-positional repertoire of skill.
03:35 Kevin liked that, and a few years later,
03:37 strongly considered following Webber's footsteps
03:40 to the University of Michigan.
03:42 The Wolverines would have been delighted
03:44 to mobilize yet another revolutionary power forward,
03:48 but the 18-year-old Garnett tried something even bolder,
03:52 entering the 1995 NBA draft
03:54 straight after his senior high school season.
03:58 Ever since, Webber vs. Garnett
04:00 has been one of the best shows in the NBA.
04:03 It's a wonderful rivalry,
04:05 friendly but jaw-dropping in intensity and creativity
04:09 once the sneakers hit the hardwood.
04:11 The first time these guys met as pros in '96,
04:14 Webber and his Washington Bullets
04:16 got the better of Garnett and his still-pretty-new Wolves.
04:20 Garnett looked so dazzled to be facing his role model
04:24 that veteran Minnesota teammate Sam Mitchell
04:27 gave Kevin a little slap in the face
04:28 to snap him out of it.
04:30 Garnett snapped out of it.
04:32 In his sophomore season, KG absolutely blossomed.
04:36 In 1997, a kid two years removed from high school
04:40 made sports history.
04:42 Minnesota extended Garnett's contract
04:45 for six years and $126 million,
04:49 at the time, the largest contract ever in any pro sport.
04:54 When you do that, you shake the league,
04:56 and franchise owners were quite shook indeed,
04:59 and you also placed big expectations on everyone involved.
05:03 When you sign that contract,
05:05 you're expected to become a superstar,
05:07 and Kevin did that, exploding outside the box
05:10 of how a big guy is expected to play.
05:13 He has been worth it the whole time.
05:16 Perennial All-Star, always in the conversation
05:19 for all NBA and all defense.
05:22 For six straight seasons, Kevin held up his end of the deal,
05:26 but those Minnesota rosters included one All-Star teammate,
05:30 and I'm sorry, Wally Zerbiak,
05:31 but I have no idea how you pulled this off,
05:34 and they won zero playoff series,
05:37 first-round elimination after first-round elimination.
05:40 Most recently, it was a glum collapse last season
05:43 against the Lakers.
05:45 Minnesota went up 2-1 in the series,
05:48 up double digits in game four, and then just, pfft.
05:51 See, when you offer that contract,
05:54 you're expected to go all in,
05:56 nail down a supporting cast, and contend for a title.
06:00 The Wolves haven't done that.
06:02 They fumbled away Garnett's initial co-stars,
06:05 they drew a debilitating league penalty
06:07 for trying to snake the free agent system,
06:10 and there's been tragedy, too,
06:12 in the 2,000 death of Garnett's teammate
06:14 and close friend, Malik Sealy.
06:17 To the extent that the Wolves won during those years,
06:20 and they did win in the regular season,
06:22 it was Garnett making that happen.
06:24 Immediately after last season's
06:26 sixth straight playoff elimination,
06:29 Garnett again became extension eligible.
06:32 The Wolves knew they had to ante up
06:34 if they wanted to keep their guy,
06:35 and if they wanted to contend during his prime, so they did.
06:40 That June deal that sent away Anthony Peeler and his elbows
06:43 brought back Sam Cassell,
06:45 a ballsy, battle-tested veteran point guard
06:48 with championship experience.
06:50 A month later, Minnesota acquired Latrell Sprewell,
06:53 who had reestablished himself as a star scorer
06:57 after his whole thing.
07:00 Free agent pickup Trenton Hassel
07:01 has really broken out as a defensive specialist.
07:05 This is a real supporting cast.
07:08 These pickups helped convince Garnett to re-up.
07:11 Still, as KG goes, so go the Wolves,
07:14 and KG went this year.
07:17 This was by far the best season in Timberwolves history.
07:21 They're the damn one seed in the West.
07:24 They throttled the Denver Nuggets
07:26 to deliver the franchise's first playoff series win.
07:29 Garnett notched a 20-20 triple-double
07:32 in one of those victories,
07:33 and closed the thing out with a 28-point performance.
07:36 A month into these playoffs,
07:38 Garnett's only wavered once.
07:40 Ironically, it was in game one of this series,
07:43 right after they gave him a trophy
07:45 for that incredible season.
07:46 That's right.
07:49 You are looking at the 2004 NBA MVP right here,
07:53 and trust that he's played like one
07:55 after that game one slip-up.
07:56 So, that supporting cast is critical,
07:59 but the Wolves wouldn't be ahead in a game seven right now
08:02 without Garnett taking over.
08:04 Sam Cassell's hip is severely messed up.
08:07 You don't see guys getting electro-stim
08:09 on the bench that often, but he's doing his best.
08:12 Same goes for Wally Zerbiak,
08:14 who's been decent despite literally breaking his back
08:17 a few weeks ago.
08:19 And Sprewell's been kinda shaky,
08:21 with six turnovers and some open misses.
08:23 Garnett?
08:25 32 points on 23 shots,
08:27 five blocks, four steals, 21 rebounds.
08:31 20 of those boards on the defensive glass
08:33 equal the NBA playoff record.
08:36 Zoom in even closer for a microcosm
08:39 of Garnett's revolutionary excellence.
08:41 The first eight minutes or so of this fourth quarter,
08:45 the most important quarter of his career to date,
08:48 were a cagey masterpiece.
08:51 Here you had a seven-footer running stride for stride
08:54 with Doug Christie, a guard,
08:56 then snuffing out a transition attempt with his left hand.
08:59 That's special.
09:00 Here's that same seven-footer bringing the ball up
09:03 and calling the play,
09:04 basically running point with Cassell on the bench.
09:06 Special.
09:08 Fadeaway Jay spinning toward his offhand.
09:11 Soft touch near the rim, even with the contact.
09:14 Gliding through traffic for an easy lay-in.
09:17 An honest-to-God ankle-breaking crossover on the perimeter,
09:20 then two strides to a huge dunk.
09:23 A desperate heave of a three-pointer over two people.
09:26 Cash.
09:27 Special, special, special.
09:30 Kevin Garnett built this lead,
09:32 and he protected it too.
09:34 When Weber put Ervin Johnson in the spin cycle,
09:37 there was Garnett to smash the finish.
09:39 In that exchange,
09:40 and in the effectiveness of that Garnett crossover,
09:44 and in the way Weber's been moving the last few minutes,
09:47 you get a taste for the contrast
09:50 that makes this moment feel even heavier.
09:54 Most of that stuff we just saw KG do,
09:58 the astounding combination of finesse and force
10:01 for a man his size, Weber once had it.
10:05 Remember, he was KG's inspiration.
10:07 So what changed?
10:09 When Weber got traded to Sacramento in 1998,
10:12 he had no reason to expect excellence.
10:15 The Kings were a small-market, mediocre team.
10:18 They hadn't won a single playoff series
10:20 since relocating to Sacramento in the mid-'80s.
10:23 Weber considered just ghosting his new employer.
10:27 When he finally did get on the plane to California,
10:29 he spent the flight crying.
10:31 He has called it the worst time in his life.
10:34 Well, it got better.
10:36 Sacramento turned out to be the best place for Chris.
10:39 He got the support KG lacked for so long.
10:42 Here in Sacto, he's been coached by Rick Adleman,
10:45 who built his free-flowing, fast-paced offense
10:48 on Weber's brilliance.
10:50 Buckets and boards, gorgeous passes out of the high post,
10:54 sweet touch, sassy stuffs, big plays, big numbers,
10:58 regular selections to all-star and all-NBA teams.
11:01 Garnett has become the superior player, sure,
11:05 but we can agree that the resume of the man
11:07 to whom he owes inspiration
11:09 doesn't rank that far behind him.
11:12 And Weber owes Garnett something, too.
11:14 When Chris became a free agent in 2001,
11:17 he eventually accepted a big new extension with Sacramento.
11:21 And you can be certain Garnett's record salary
11:23 set the bar high for Weber's agent,
11:26 $123 million over seven years,
11:29 made Chris a very close second to his friend and rival.
11:33 And in this case, the Kings' investment quickly paid off
11:36 in the form of deep playoff runs because Weber had a squad.
11:40 Peja Stojakovic, a rookie when Weber arrived,
11:43 developed into a superstar
11:45 among the best shooters on Earth.
11:48 Mike Bibby isn't as flashy
11:50 as Weber's original Sacramento setup man, Jason Williams,
11:53 but he's even more productive.
11:55 Bibby is as much of a scoring threat on any given night
11:58 as C. Webb or Peja.
12:00 Vladdy Divac has been Weber's older, scruffier,
12:03 equally crafty frontcourt mate for this whole stint.
12:06 And the supporting cast has gotten better and better.
12:09 Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson, Kings since 2000,
12:12 solidified some of the best
12:14 and most entertaining lineups in the league.
12:17 Brad Miller arrived recently,
12:18 bringing all-star frontcourt depth
12:20 and another body to throw at Shaq
12:22 whenever it's time to face the Lakers.
12:25 Oh, about that.
12:27 So Weber's Kings ascended,
12:29 routinely capturing one of the topmost playoff seats
12:32 in this brutal Western Conference,
12:34 routinely making real runs toward the finals.
12:37 But they never ran all the way.
12:39 Weber's Kings kept nearing the finish line
12:42 only to trip in the elimination games.
12:45 They got really close to beating those mighty Lakers
12:48 only to falter miserably,
12:50 like the perfect storm of heartbreak and rough weirdness
12:53 that made 2002 truly haunting.
12:56 Here is all that recent history in one place.
13:01 Meanwhile, Weber's personal history
13:03 overlaps with the above unfavorably.
13:07 You can look at nearly any of these elimination games
13:09 and find that Weber wasn't his best,
13:12 didn't come through in the clutch moments.
13:14 This is understandably a bit of a sore point
13:17 given how Weber's college career ended.
13:20 But in the last game seven Sacramento played and lost,
13:24 2003 against the Mavericks, Weber was absent.
13:27 Late in game two, with defeat of foregone conclusion
13:31 in the game, but definitely not that series,
13:33 Weber planted his foot to catch a lob from Bibby
13:36 and never left the floor.
13:38 A devastating knee injury cost Weber
13:41 not only the rest of that '03 series,
13:43 but most of this '03-'04 season,
13:46 plus a bunch more games lost to suspension.
13:48 Without Weber, the Kings were basically as good as usual,
13:55 just different.
13:57 Bibby had his best season.
13:59 Pagia has been a borderline MVP
14:01 as the crux of the offense.
14:03 New look, same great taste.
14:06 Alas, Weber's long-awaited return didn't add spice.
14:10 It kind of soured things.
14:12 C. Webb played decently in his first few games back,
14:15 but looked shaky enough that the Kings actually sat him
14:18 for a game, even though he said he felt fine.
14:21 When he returned with a stinker,
14:23 and a two-for-21 outing really does stink,
14:27 Weber got booed by the same home fans
14:29 who once begged him to stay.
14:31 Each forced shot, each slow defensive rotation,
14:35 each missed box out drew more ire from fans.
14:38 And Weber felt something worse than betrayed by it,
14:42 truly hurt.
14:44 It was a grim close to the regular season,
14:46 but the playoffs are a great opportunity
14:48 to rewrite a narrative very fast.
14:51 Did Weber do that in a first-round rematch
14:54 against the Mavs?
14:56 Not entirely.
14:57 He got pretty soundly outplayed by young Dirk Nowitzki.
15:00 At least the Kings got revenge with a win.
15:03 Has Weber done it in six games, 47 minutes,
15:06 and 58 seconds against the Wolves?
15:09 No, not entirely.
15:11 Listen, you try battling KG coming off knee surgery,
15:15 and especially after tacking on a calf strain
15:17 from game five.
15:19 This just isn't the Chris Weber we're used to.
15:22 Tonight, he's been most successful when he accepts that.
15:26 Just pick, pop, and bury the standstill jumper.
15:29 Stuff like this doesn't work the way it used to.
15:32 You can see the plan,
15:33 Weber just doesn't have the juice to finish.
15:36 Weber used to flush from this position,
15:39 but here he was smoking a point-blank layup
15:41 in the final minute.
15:43 This last Kings sequence began with 16 seconds on the clock,
15:47 and in that play, Coach Adleman had Weber screening,
15:51 and screening, and screening.
15:53 He wasn't the guy taking the shot.
15:55 But that's all the past.
15:58 This is right now.
16:00 Right now, it has to be three points.
16:03 With Anthony Peeler suspended,
16:05 and with Pedro Stojakovic blanketed by Trenton Hassel,
16:08 Chris will be asked to find these three points.
16:11 The Kings have a longstanding elimination game problem,
16:14 a longstanding Lakers problem.
16:16 Weber factors into both.
16:18 This moment represents one last shot
16:21 at fixing the first problem,
16:23 and hopefully earning another chance
16:25 at fixing the second problem.
16:27 The Wolves had a first-round problem seven years in a row.
16:31 They are one stop away from advancing
16:33 to the third round of this postseason,
16:36 building upon the MVP year
16:38 and masterpiece postseason of Kevin Garnett,
16:41 who is running to contest the role model of his youth.
16:45 All that narrative comes down to one shot.
16:50 Welcome to a moment in history.
16:52 (crowd cheering)
16:55 - Weber, to the tie,
16:56 and the Minnesota Timberwolves
16:59 are going to the Western Conference Finals.
17:03 (crowd cheering)
17:05 (crowd cheering)
17:09 (camera shutter clicking)
17:13 (logo chiming)