“If there was dissension and turmoil it would always show up out on the floor in terms of our play” insisted Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas, shortly before his charges dropped their 5th game in a row, a 123-118 double OT decision to Sacramento. David Lee and Eddy Curry missed game-winning shots underneath the basket at the end of regulation and the first overtime respectively, while Stephon Marbury scored just one point in the 4th quarter.
Fashionable though it may be to bash Marbury this week, the Knicks PG tells Newsday’s Alan Hahn that he remains focused on, uh, achieving individual honors.
Marbury, who went AWOL on Tuesday when informed that he was headed to the bench, played his second game as the NBA™s most expensive sub.
œA decision was made for me to come off the bench; I™m willing to take on that role, Marbury said. œI™m not happy and comfortable with that, but that™s something I have to do because the coach made a decision to do that.
After pouting for a day, Marbury now says œI™m not going to cry about it and now says he feels the benching is œdefinitely lighting a fire under me. He even went as far to suggest he could compete with Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry for the NBA™s Sixth Man of the Year award.
Forrest Gump might liken daily chats with Marbury to a box of chocolates.
That was David Lee on the other opportunity to win. Still, I also expect better team play from Marbury. If the coach calls a play to the point guard, he’s supposed to run it. If the chance to give a foul to make an opponent inbound with a short clock, you give it. Isaiah is asking Steph to recognize and execute the basics. While flying back to NYC to console the family of a deceased mentor is excusable, playing selfishly and late-game lapses of defensive pressure are not.
…indeed, Zach Randolph wasn’t even in Sacramento. I regret the error. And I regret staying up to watch the game.