Starbury...what a joke!

Star(bury) of own show
With Dolan assist, Steph puts self above Knicks


By FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury have yet to see eye-to-eye on anything.

The public stare-down between Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury - partially fueled by James Dolan's recent comments - is back on.

The Marbury-Brown relationship is the only thing capable of sinking lower than the Knicks' record, which is saying a lot. Marbury and Brown continue to take little digs at each other through the media - a Dolan pet peeve - with the only logical resolution being that one will have to go.

Whether it's Marbury or Brown who departs this summer and whether that decision is made by Dolan, Isiah Thomas or Brown is unclear. In the bizarro world of the Knicks, anything is possible, especially after Dolan gave Marbury a strong endorsement 12 days ago during his State of the Knicks address in Memphis.

Praising the Marbury years in New York, which Dolan actually did, ranks right up there with the Garden chairman declaring that winning isn't integral to the Knicks' strategy.

Dolan also expressed support for Thomas, his embattled team president, while sounding lukewarm about Brown, the Hall of Fame coach who has been to three NBA Finals and has rebuilt teams in San Antonio and Philadelphia.

When Dolan suggested that it's Brown's job to turn Eddy Curry from underachiever into All-Star, he appeared to be placing most of the blame for the season on Brown. Recent comments from Marbury suggest that the eternally dour point guard felt the same vibe.

"I went into this year trying to do something, to put myself in a situation where we can win, okay?" Marbury said on Saturday. "To help the team win games. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. So, what do I do now, as far as the way I play? I go back to playing like Stephon Marbury, aka Starbury. I haven't been Starbury this year. I've been some other dude this year."

You would be willing to cut Marbury some slack if he were still a senior at Lincoln High School. The fact that a 29-year-old man refers to himself in the third person as "Starbury" and believes that he's had a stellar career up until Brown arrived goes beyond ludicrous.

Is there no one in Marbury's circle of enablers to tell him how crazy he sounds?

It bears repeating that in the real world, Marbury has never gotten out of the first round of the playoffs and that his replacement in Phoenix, Steve Nash, won 62 games last season and captured MVP honors. We know Marbury has never been surrounded with talent. Yet, Nash is favored to repeat as MVP, winning with a lineup that now features Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, Eddie House and Tim Thomas.

Imagine the Suns' record if Starbury, and not Nash, was still their point guard. Imagine the Knicks' record with Nash instead of Marbury.

Brown just wants to imagine how much better his job and the locker room would become without Marbury.

Of course, Marbury dubbing himself "Starbury" isn't the most absurd thing to come out of his mouth. Long before Brown arrived, Marbury declared that he was the league's best point guard. Since making that astute observation, the Knicks have won 34 games. And lost 80.

Dolan deserves better. So do Thomas and Brown. One of the many problems former teammates had with Marbury was the idea that he was empowered by the organization. That changed when Brown showed up. But since Dolan spoke in Memphis, Marbury is being led to believe that he is part of the solution and not the cause of the problem.

Following a win over Milwaukee last week, Marbury said: "We're still trying to figure out what we're supposed to do on the basketball court."

Those comments came one day after Marbury elected to argue a non-foul call rather than play defense against Chicago's Ben Gordon. While Marbury protested, Gordon hit the go-ahead three-pointer.

On Saturday, Marbury complimented Charlotte rookie point guard Raymond Felton, saying, "He plays with so much confidence. (Bobcats coach Bernie) Bickerstaff, he does a great job of instilling that in his players. He allows players a lot of freedom, as you can see."

Ouch. Brown's most stinging comment about Marbury came when he said in December, "We don't have a head out there." Lately, he throws jabs at Marbury by praising Jalen Rose and Steve Francis as "ball movers."

Freedom, however. is coming soon to one of them. The Knicks, who play five straight at home starting tonight against Denver, have 21 games left. If Brown keeps his promise and doesn't walk away and Thomas keeps his promise to try to find Brown the players he wants, then Marbury is gone.

That is unless Dolan and Thomas share serious reservations about Brown and side with Marbury. Maybe Starbury knows something the rest of us do not.

On second thought, that's impossible.
 

stephonmarbury8

Benchwarmer
"one second thought, thats impossible"

is that supposed to be a knock on stephons intelligence??

I'm sick of people ripping on marbury, not just because im a fan, but why wouldnt this team be up for somehting new, they have won fricking 17 games, cmom. If larry brown wanted to suit up i would be ok with that if it could get us a win. I saw marbury put up 40 points and see what happenes, somebody needs to get to the line. Sometimes im a little nervous after stephon does or says somehting, like putting all alone 33 on his shoes while in new jersey but, theres nothing wrong with wanting to be yourself. Allen iverosn didnt want to change and look where that got him, a finals and scoring titles, mvp or somethign. nobody in the nba is used to players speaking from there heart like stephon marbury and iverson, off the subject these guys grew up with nothing, they play the way they have played their whole life. Allen scores at will, gets to the line, marbury goes right at you in the lane scores or dishes for the open shot. he doesnt pull off a fast break and set shit up, its ridiculous, his whole life he has played with the mentality ima go at your head and you not gunna stop me, so deal with it. I wasnt sure when brown came if it would work out, but marbury is who he is. If im making 100 million and am 29 years old, how is a another grown man gunna tell me how to play, it really doesnt matter, cause if the knicks were winning, you guys would be prasing him, the fact of the matter is nobody can guard him and he needs to bust on dudes heads and take no prisoners, he needs to say im a take this team on my shoulders and domionate a game like allen iverson. ex 47 and 12.
 

commonse

Benchwarmer
stephonmarbury8 said:
"one second thought, thats impossible"

is that supposed to be a knock on stephons intelligence??

I'm sick of people ripping on marbury, not just because im a fan, but why wouldnt this team be up for somehting new, they have won fricking 17 games, cmom. If larry brown wanted to suit up i would be ok with that if it could get us a win. I saw marbury put up 40 points and see what happenes, somebody needs to get to the line. Sometimes im a little nervous after stephon does or says somehting, like putting all alone 33 on his shoes while in new jersey but, theres nothing wrong with wanting to be yourself. Allen iverosn didnt want to change and look where that got him, a finals and scoring titles, mvp or somethign. nobody in the nba is used to players speaking from there heart like stephon marbury and iverson, off the subject these guys grew up with nothing, they play the way they have played their whole life. Allen scores at will, gets to the line, marbury goes right at you in the lane scores or dishes for the open shot. he doesnt pull off a fast break and set s**t up, its ridiculous, his whole life he has played with the mentality ima go at your head and you not gunna stop me, so deal with it. I wasnt sure when brown came if it would work out, but marbury is who he is. If im making 100 million and am 29 years old, how is a another grown man gunna tell me how to play, it really doesnt matter, cause if the knicks were winning, you guys would be prasing him, the fact of the matter is nobody can guard him and he needs to bust on dudes heads and take no prisoners, he needs to say im a take this team on my shoulders and domionate a game like allen iverson. ex 47 and 12.

You absolutely have right!! Guys are always telling the same bullsh*t about Marbury, they always come with that stupid compare!!!

He cant win the games alone, thats true! but look at this season, he didnt play his game, he shared the ball, he was injured, he didnt shoot the ball..

I want the real Starbury, if Coach Brown cant change & let the players play their own way (I'm NOT saying that we dont have to set picks!) than fire him!! I Dont think that Brown is that good coach how people say..
The Pistons is good without him too!! And just look at the 2004 olympics & how he handled Carmelo, Dwayne & Lebron, they played sh*t because of the Coach's attitude..

and I hope we are able to get KG & reunite the big duo with Steph this summer!!

GO KNICKS!!!
 

hometheaterguy

Knicks Guru
commonse said:
stephonmarbury8 said:
"one second thought, thats impossible"

is that supposed to be a knock on stephons intelligence??

I'm sick of people ripping on marbury, not just because im a fan, but why wouldnt this team be up for somehting new, they have won fricking 17 games, cmom. If larry brown wanted to suit up i would be ok with that if it could get us a win. I saw marbury put up 40 points and see what happenes, somebody needs to get to the line. Sometimes im a little nervous after stephon does or says somehting, like putting all alone 33 on his shoes while in new jersey but, theres nothing wrong with wanting to be yourself. Allen iverosn didnt want to change and look where that got him, a finals and scoring titles, mvp or somethign. nobody in the nba is used to players speaking from there heart like stephon marbury and iverson, off the subject these guys grew up with nothing, they play the way they have played their whole life. Allen scores at will, gets to the line, marbury goes right at you in the lane scores or dishes for the open shot. he doesnt pull off a fast break and set s**t up, its ridiculous, his whole life he has played with the mentality ima go at your head and you not gunna stop me, so deal with it. I wasnt sure when brown came if it would work out, but marbury is who he is. If im making 100 million and am 29 years old, how is a another grown man gunna tell me how to play, it really doesnt matter, cause if the knicks were winning, you guys would be prasing him, the fact of the matter is nobody can guard him and he needs to bust on dudes heads and take no prisoners, he needs to say im a take this team on my shoulders and domionate a game like allen iverson. ex 47 and 12.

You absolutely have right!! Guys are always telling the same bullsh*t about Marbury, they always come with that stupid compare!!!

He cant win the games alone, thats true! but look at this season, he didnt play his game, he shared the ball, he was injured, he didnt shoot the ball..

I want the real Starbury, if Coach Brown cant change & let the players play their own way (I'm NOT saying that we dont have to set picks!) than fire him!! I Dont think that Brown is that good coach how people say..
The Pistons is good without him too!! And just look at the 2004 olympics & how he handled Carmelo, Dwayne & Lebron, they played sh*t because of the Coach's attitude..

and I hope we are able to get KG & reunite the big duo with Steph this summer!!

GO KNICKS!!!

It is called progress not regresses and that's what the Knicks will do, regress or stagnate if they let Marbury play the game the way he wants too. Marbury can not consistantly take a team on his back and produce wins. He just can't do it!!! He is a streaky shooter and an inconsistant defender, unlike Iverson or Bryant who are streaky shooters as well but ARE great defenders. What the Knicks are trying to do, at this point, is to see what they are going to do for the future. I say play the rookies more and let Frances get comfortable at the 1 (since he is the point guard for the Knicks now). I would play James more, if not for anything but to hope he can put a game together so his value raises a little. The Knicks are, and should be, in evaluation mode now and for the rest of the season.
 

sxmarbury516

Benchwarmer
i think its pathetic that all you haterz out there are blaiming steph for this season. the season will be over before u know it and larry brown still hasnt decided a starting 5. the rookies that were untradable are barely getting minutes. lil nate comes back from the all-star break after winning the dunk contest and gets thrown on the bench for the next 4 games. brown is starting people like malik rose and q. rich over players like francis and rookie sensation channing frye. play your best 5 players and let them get used to eachother. if brown were as smart as all his @$$kissers say he is then he would start...
pg- marbury
sg- francis
sf- j. rose
pf- frye
c- curry

along with these playes as 2nd string
pg- n. robinson
sg- crawford
sf- q. rich
pf- d. lee
c- j. james

and alternate butler, woods, m. rose, and mo taylor in the mix.
------------------------------------------------------------

if brown were that good a coach he would be able to look @ the talent around him and find a way for them to click. but to be starting players like malik rose, who's averaging 4 ppg, and q. rich, who is having his worst shooting season of his career, is completely mind boggling.

when the knicks were on a 6 game winning streak i bet a lot of you were praising marbury for his leadership. things were looking up for 2006. then wally sets a dirty pick that not only hurt marburys shoulder but did even more damge to the knicks record.

and for those who criticize marbury for calling himself starbury might as well criticize iverson for calling himself the answer or other players refering to themselves as their nickname. starbury led terror squad to the ebc championship 3 times in a row @ rucker park. and you can go ahead and say well street ball is different but on a nba court hes the only player other then oscar robertson to have a career average of @ least 20 points and 8 assists. and he may not know what its like to advance past the 1st round of the playoffs but those few years he made it there he was matched up against top seed teams.

in case u forgot larrys dream team took home the bronze medal. that was with the best of nba's young players. if he couldnt mold together the best of the best to beat manu ginobli's argentina or even carlos arroyo's puerto rico how the h3ll do you expect him to mold together a knicks franchise with the competition thats in the league today?
 

portega1968

El Cacique
I love Stephon and it'd be awesome if he led us back to the playoffs next year.

But I've accepted the notion that he won't be a Knick next year after what has happened this season, especially the past week. IMO, there is a 95% chance he's a goner within a year.

So we just should be real about this and move on. I'll be a Knick fan no matter who wears the uni and no individual player is above that.
 

hometheaterguy

Knicks Guru

No one is blaming Marbury for the Knicks failure! I think the majority has stated that the Knicks couldn’t be a championship caliber team with Steph as the man. I think it is insane that the Steph supporters think that if you leave Marbury alone to run amok on the court, the Knicks would be a championship contender; that is just delusional! Steph’s problems are simple: He is an unintelligent basketball player and he is a 6’2” shooter who plays lackadaisical and inconsistent defense. Not only does he just want to shoot, he only has the ability to create for himself not for anyone else on the team. His game is like Kobe’s game but with out the Kobe! If you had Jordan in is prime flanking Steph and Jabaar at the center with Duncan at the 4, Steph would still run up the floor and drive to the rim, or throw up one of those quick 3 point shots before anyone else makes it back to grab a rebound. He might even kick out the ball once every 5th trip back if they were lucky. Steph is a victim of his talent and lack of talent, not to mention size (or lack of). Steph should be in Utah or Charlotte, teams that are so far away from a championship, he would be enough entertainment until they are ready to take the next step.
 

sxmarbury516

Benchwarmer
hometheaterguy said:
Not only does he just want to shoot, he only has the ability to create for himself not for anyone else on the team...

how can u say that about a man whos averaging over 8 assists per game throughout his career. hes averaging more assists per game throughout his career then steve nash. but yet he doesnt know how to create for anyone else on the team? he is the hardest pg to stop when he penetrates the lane because of his strength and speed. i agree that his defense does need work. but steph is a great passer. i think if he played his normal aggressive style just like he was during the knicks 6 game win streak things would look a lot brighter.
 

alonreppinNY23

Benchwarmer
wow ... what kind of games do you guys watch ... are you sure marbury is a joke? ...

i dunno if all of you realize just cause he on the floor he is not feeling hundred percent ... marbury is not as healthy as all of you think he is ...

his 285 (around there) streak broken cause of a shoulder injury ...

try playing 285 games straight ... especially when your game is driving to the hoop breaking down the defense ... you think that he'd be healthy?

especially cause he supposed to be a allstar ... so there is so much smack being talked about him ... he not gonna force himself ... so he can hurt himself for good and end his career on a note like this ...

let the man do what he needs to do ...

hes been the reason why the knicks even have 17 wins so far....


there is not one game where marbury didnt do anything to contribute to the win ...


its just wierd that u guys think hes a bum ....

i dunno what you guys are wacthing....



wow
 

hometheaterguy

Knicks Guru
Marbury is averaging for his career; 20.3 point per game and 8.2 assists per game. He will probably end his career with a double, double and still he is a bad guy to have on your team! All the people that love Marbury, I suspect are fairly young and haven't really seen what a true NBA allstar point guard looks like and acts on the court (except for the like of Jason Kidd). Marbury's game is missing an intangable. While he puts up assist numbers, he doesn't seem to make the players around him better, like a Jason Kidd or Stockton did. Marbury wants to be a scoring machine, but teams do not need a 6' 2' scorer that doesn't play D! If Marbury made half the money he makes, he might be more in demand because he could be a guy that can give a spark off the bench or a change of pace guy. He is talented but his talent is not what most teams need. Not teams that are trying to make a championship run. Like I said, he would be good in a city where they just care about putting seats in the arena not really wining.
 

Trin_Starr

Starter
hometheaterguy said:
he would be good in a city where they just care about putting seats in the arena not really wining.

And that would be the NY knicks....
Do not forget that Dolan is not a basketball fan. He is a business man who needs to make his investors happy.
How do you do that?
His ultimate goal is to create a competitive, entertaining team that sells seats.
If this team happens to win a championship then so be it....

Why do you think in the Dolan's meeting with the team, he publicly praised Marbury? Because he knows how much revenue he brought back to the NYK franchise.
Why do you think Dolan is most upset with LB for not producing because the $10mil per season investment is not paying dividends....

It's all about the money....This is New York.
 

hoop115

Benchwarmer
Trin_Starr said:
And that would be the NY knicks....
Do not forget that Dolan is not a basketball fan. He is a business man who needs to make his investors happy.
How do you do that?
His ultimate goal is to create a competitive, entertaining team that sells seats.
If this team happens to win a championship then so be it....
It's all about the money....This is New York.

I agree that in NY it IS all about the money...BUT if Dolan's ultimate goal is to create a competitive, entertaining team that sells seats, then he's failed to do so and this responsibility lies solely on his shoulders. Dolan is the guy writing the checks and signing off on the trades. The team that Isaiah has put together is neither competitive nor entertaining, but Dolan has continued to allow Isaiah to do so. No one can really be certain that any other GM could've done a better job than Isaiah b/c NY has always been a difficult situation to come into. Our win now mentality has always made it difficult for us to go through a rebuilding period. Financially speaking, Dolan may take a hit for few years but if the team is rebuilt properly then it could end up being more lucrative in the long run.

Even though we never won a championship, the late 80's early 90's was great b/c we were always competitive and entertaining. NY was able to get to that point by going through a rebuilding period during the early 80's. We got Ewing and surrounded him with talent. The only way for us to get back to that type of environment is to go through a rebuilding mode again. We need to get a young player that we can make our foundation and build upon. IF we do finally go through a makeover, Marbury should be the first to go. Marbury isn't a player that you can build a foundation on. He will never mean to NY what Ewing meant to us.
 

commonse

Benchwarmer
hometheaterguy said:
Marbury is averaging for his career; 20.3 point per game and 8.2 assists per game. He will probably end his career with a double, double and still he is a bad guy to have on your team! All the people that love Marbury, I suspect are fairly young and haven't really seen what a true NBA allstar point guard looks like and acts on the court (except for the like of Jason Kidd). Marbury's game is missing an intangable. While he puts up assist numbers, he doesn't seem to make the players around him better, like a Jason Kidd or Stockton did. Marbury wants to be a scoring machine, but teams do not need a 6' 2' scorer that doesn't play D! If Marbury made half the money he makes, he might be more in demand because he could be a guy that can give a spark off the bench or a change of pace guy. He is talented but his talent is not what most teams need. Not teams that are trying to make a championship run. Like I said, he would be good in a city where they just care about putting seats in the arena not really wining.

Marbury is one of the best defenders in our team! (even if they fight wit Brown, Larry already told this) You dont know nothing about these whole stuff but you have an opinion, its okay..
 

alonreppinNY23

Benchwarmer
marbury never plays this game healthy ... u have to all know that ...once he heals he will be high calibur again...
have to realize that


thats y his d isnt as good
 

hometheaterguy

Knicks Guru
commonse said:
Marbury is one of the best defenders in our team! (even if they fight wit Brown, Larry already told this) You dont know nothing about these whole stuff but you have an opinion, its okay..

I do not know what NY Knicks games you are watching but I see almost every game and he is toasted by everyone who he guards! I don't care what face Brown puts on, he does not think Steph, or anyone else for that matter, plays decent D never mind good to great D. Saying Steph is the best defender on this team is like saying Gheorghe Muresan is the fastest player on a team of 1 legged players. It's not saying that much for the state of Defense on the Knicks. As far as my comment about a team that doesn't care about wining; The Knicks care about wining and Dolan cares about wining but that alone doesn't mean they will or even shoould win. They have a horrible team! Isiah has totally mismatched this team and they just outright stink!
 

Trin_Starr

Starter
Apparently you were not watching any games either....In the beginning of the season, LB had Steph guarding the league's top shooting guards - Vince, Ray Allen etc because of the great job he was doing, even tho he was in all cases 25lbs lighter and 4-5" shorter. He was playing great D for LB but after exerting all that energy and not seeing the results - he's been giving up on it....

And tht's like all of us in life. You work at ur job and bust ur ass to get shit done and when u don't get the results u expected (aka a raise) u say fuck this shit, i'm not going to put myself thru this anymore for nothing....
 
Stephon cries foul
Attacks Brown for 'insecurity'


BY FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Larry Brown attempts to get through to Stephon Marbury in first half.

Stephon Marbury accused Larry Brown of trying to drag him into a public dispute and said the coach is making their ongoing feud a personal one.
Another explosive day in the deteriorating Marbury-Brown relationship included the player calling his coach insecure and promising to "defend myself" for as long as Brown continues to criticize him publicly.

"I'm no longer going to allow him to say things about me (and) I'm not going to say anything back," Marbury said at yesterday morning's shootaround. "That's just not going to happen. I allowed him to drag me the first three, four months in the paper and I didn't say one word. I just sat back and took it. I'm not taking it any more. If something is going to be said, I'm going to defend myself. My mother taught me that if somebody hits you, hit them back."

When informed of Marbury's comments about fighting back, Brown said sarcastically, "That's great. That's great."

The feud between Marbury and Brown is turning uglier by the day, while the Knicks are becoming the NBA's biggest laughingstock on and off the court. One of the two will not be back next season and unless Brown walks away, the most logical solution is that Marbury either will be traded or released.

Brown reiterated that he has no intention of leaving behind the final four years of his contract. But Brown continues to hint that he and Marbury can't work together because Marbury has a personal agenda, not a team one.

"If you're the best player, surely you're going to have some effect on the outcome of a game," Brown said. "And I've said this from Day 1: I've never given anybody in my career more free rein. In my career. And I went to the conference finals (in Indiana) with Haywood Workman as a point guard. With Eric Snow, who was the fourth-string point guard in Seattle. He went to the NBA Finals (with Philadelphia).

"I've been around guys (and) every good team, it's all about team. That's what we're going to try to get here. If you want to come and join that, that's fine. That's the only message that needs to be said. If you want to be part of a team, you want to make your teammates better, you want to care about the right things, playing the right way, it's a pretty good place to be. If you don't have that on your agenda, then it's probably a bad place to be."

Marbury, who on Saturday said he would return to playing like "Starbury," was responding yesterday to comments Brown made on Tuesday, when the Knicks' coach told reporters to compare his resume to Marbury's.

"If Coach is comparing his career to my career, he's got like a 20-year edge on me," Marbury said. "To me, that sounds like a lot of insecurity going on. As a man, I just look at it as, we're supposed to be trying to get better, and we're concentrating on things that I'm doing and things that he's done."

Earlier this season, Marbury criticized Brown for taking shots at him in the newspaper. Marbury felt that Brown owed it to him to address whatever problems he had with him in private.

"He always crosses the line," Marbury said. "That's not nothing new. But like I said at the beginning, certain coaches deal with certain things certain ways. He handles his things through the media as opposed to sitting down and talking with people.

"And still, you sit down and talk with Coach, it's liable to get back to everybody. So you're really not safe there, either. So you're pretty much just trying to stay afloat."

Thomas and Garden chairman James Dolan were unavailable to comment on the Marbury-Brown soap opera, which began during the 2004 Olympics when Brown lobbied USA Basketball to send Marbury home one week before the Games opened.

The feeling inside the organization is that Brown has not done a good job this season and that Marbury's criticisms of Brown are shared by many players on the team. Of course, Marbury has a history of feuding with his coach and has worn out his welcome in Minnesota, New Jersey, Phoenix and now New York.

"Coach is a great coach from what everyone says," Marbury said. "And we're supposed to be better than what we are. Did it happen now? No. Is it going to take time? Maybe."

Brown said he will take "full responsibility" for the Knicks' awful record, but he also suggested that Marbury, or Starbury, should also accept some blame.

"You're the best guard in the league and the team's 17-45?" Brown said. "Yeah, it's the coach's fault."
 
Ouch!!

The other 11 get along
just fine without Starbury


The Knicks finished the game, a draining last quarter and two intense overtimes, with five players from the far end of the bench. The Garden crowd was pleading for defense by then and these unfamiliar Knicks gave it to them. And at the very end it was the other team losing the ball, losing its way.

The score was Knicks 121, Atlanta 117, and Larry Brown was able to say after this first home win in a month, "We went to the young kids and they were phenomenal."

Went to them and, even more surprising, stayed with them. He dumped on the regulars who gummed up the third quarter - "a horrendous quarter; (the Hawks) got any shot they wanted" - and then replaced them with his final five: Nate Robinson, David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Jackie Butler and Qyntel Woods. Not a Marbury in the bunch.

Stephon Marbury was taken out with 61 seconds left in the third - no points from him that quarter, three assists, an offensive foul, a turnover, 0-for-2 from the foul line - and spent the rest of the night on the bench with a towel over his head. The crowd didn't miss him.

Maybe it's had enough of the season-long war between the coach and the self-described best point guard in the league. But when the star and the coach of the worst team on 33rd St. keep throwing darts at each other - as if they both want the same parking space, as if there's a bonus for appearing in the most headlines - their next game might as well be Jeopardy: Point guards for $100, Alex.

The tabloid crowd (and I know who I am) isn't to blame for the ongoing noise - well, not completely - and Brown and Marbury can't enjoy rehashing the season, and the toilet it went down. They can't help themselves.

The worms in the media seem ready to crawl into a new apple but the coach and the star can't help themselves. So when Brown approached the notebooks at yesterday's shootaround the first question was about - no, not the parking space - Quentin Richardson's thumb injury.

Better, the coach said. Or maybe he said wetter. I didn't write anything down. The office isn't covering my tolls and mileage to find out about Richardson's thumb. After that one, chit-chat time was over and from that point on it was all Marbury all the time.

Frankly, nothing has changed. Not the answers. Not the questions. Not the obvious, that these two guys want nothing to do with each other. Can they ever get on the same page, the same billboard? Sure, but only if scientists find enough water on that Saturn moon so that Ratner of the Nets can install a fountain and bathrooms and build an arena and start a new league where the atmosphere makes three-point shots a snap.

Marbury and Brown can't possibly be together next season. That's what the last month of the season will keep reminding people. Maybe even the Dolan person.

"This is not an individual sport," Brown said. "Everywhere I went it's about team. I've been coaching the same way my whole life. I never had a problem getting people to understand."

This makes Marbury one-of-a-kind. He is either tuning out his coach or, to be kind, trying too hard to score enough points to make a difference.

Marbury's complaint is that he doesn't get enough freedom on the court. Brown argues that he's given Marbury more freedom than any other pair of shorts he's coached. They go back and forth on that, back and forth ... it's the only category the Knicks lead the league in.

Brown has been a pro coach, at nine addresses, for just over 25 pro seasons. Not one of those teams was under .500 after his time with them. Marbury's 9 1/2 years in the league have produced two winning seasons.

The numbers give Brown the edge. The same generous edge Brown gives himself. "Look," he said recently, "I've been coaching how many years? I never left a team in worse shape than I got it. Not one. Now think about that. Think about me and think about the guy who's talking."

He means his point guard, his star, his Advil headache No. 1 through 62. Marbury didn't respond until yesterday's shootaround, when he let us know, "I'm not gonna let him say anything about me and not talk back. I'm not gonna take it anymore. My mother taught me 'If somebody hits you, hit them back.'"

Here it is, the sound of Marbury hitting back: "If coach is comparing his career to my career, there's a lot of insecurity going on. We're trying to get better and he's trying to compare things I've done and things he's done. It's personal. I don't think it's about basketball any more."

One more shot. "We're supposed to be better than we are. We're 17-and-45. You tell me, are we better now? No."

Well, sure they're better. They're 18-and-45 now. And they got there with a towel over the point guard's head.
 
Marbury wants to say goodbye soon

Stephon Marbury has told at least two teammates that he expects to be traded during the offseason, according to a team source.

Following Monday's loss to Denver, Marbury said to a teammate, "I'm out of here this summer," and added that he is looking forward to next month's exit interview with James Dolan, Isiah Thomas and Larry Brown so he can express his feelings about Brown in front of the organization's highest-ranking officials.


Yesterday, Marbury said that he wants to continue playing for the Knicks.

"I love New York and I believe New York loves me," Marbury said. "I'm at the point where I just want to win. I want to play in New York more than anything in this world but if that's not happening next year, I can't cry about it."

Marbury will earn $60 million over the last three years of his contract. Trading him would be no easy chore, although there is a possibility the Knicks will attempt to negotiate a buyout. Thomas, the team president, has said repeatedly that he will try to get Brown players he wants.
 
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