The Knicks Fix

With so much travel already done and more coming, I got a needed break the past two days. On Tuesday I waded through piles of receipts to input my expenses. This morning I kept my son out of preschool to take him to a local rink for some father-son hockey. This afternoon, it’s a date on the swings with my daughter.

And tonight I’ll be watching the Knicks take on the Wizards tonight on MSG Network, just like most of you, while Ken Berger covers the game for Newsday (hold your applause).

I’ll also be watching to see how Stephon Marbury rebounds from Monday’s 0-for-6 outing against the Cavaliers. Quite frankly, I don’t think he played as poorly as people would like to say he did. I recall he took the assignment to cover LeBron James late in the fourth quarter, when Quentin Richardson was on the bench in foul trouble. Marbury was able to handle James physically and even stripped him as James attempted a spin off a post-up. The Garden crowd sure didn’t boo that play. They also didn’t boo his terrific zip pass into the paint for a Channing Frye dunk.

Yes, he had a wide-open look from downtown that could have tied the game, but he missed it. And it’s hard to argue when one of my colleagues barks “Un-clutch” every time he misses these kinds of shots, like he did against the Spurs on Nov. 6 at the Garden.

Stephon can say all he wants that he’s holding himself back. I’m not sure that’s really the truth as much as maybe his game is no longer what it used to be, just like Steve Francis is no longer as explosive as he once was. It takes a lot out of a 6-2 guard to continually drive to the rack like Marbury has done in his career, take a pounding from big men and then go to the free throw line. Marbury will be 30 in February. This is his 11th season. That’s a lot of miles. Even if he goes for 30 in one night, it’s asking a lot of a small guard to do it 82 times in a season. Even Iverson breaks down physically.

There’s also the Garden factor. Maybe it is in his head now. He can pretend to be as apathetic as he wants to how he’s received at home, but it’s hard to believe that the kid who once used to go to games there as a fan doesn’t feel any pain about not being loved at home. He was a New York son that came along at the wrong time and was asked to be the savior he just couldn’t be. No one could have been. It was going to take someone special – Bernard King special – to lift this franchise out of the depths it has reached. I don’t hold that against Marbury. No Knicks fan should.

I also think people need to get over how much he gets paid – that was a contract someone else gave him and the Knicks took a gamble on picking up – and realize he isn’t the franchise player the contract suggests he is. It doesn’t mean he can’t be a useful or productive player -- he probably could run more pick-and-pops with Frye and Quentin Richardson -- but let’s just get over the idea that he should be dropping 25 a night and carrying the load.

He needs to get over it, as well. And maybe show a little more humility and lot less petulance. The David Cone approach is always a better option than the Barry Bonds way.

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A San Antonio newspaper claims Newsday misquoted Isiah Thomas saying “[expletive] murder him” when he talked about how he’d react if someone came under him like Bruce Bowen came under Steve Francis. The San Antonio newspaper is saying Thomas said “That’s murder.” The San Antonio newspaper is wrong. And, by the way, that reporter wasn’t there when Thomas said it, nor did he bother to check with me. Instead, he took it from another paper that covers the Knicks and, in my opinion, got it wrong. The Knicks and Thomas never said a word to me about it and, when I asked a team spokesman today, he said the misquote claim was “news to me.”

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I’m digging the MSG’s 50 Greatest Moments documentary. It’s definitely worth checking out if you just want to enjoy some of the good old days you grew up with. If you’re just looking to see the Garden for being the cold, detached and paranoid corporate board room it is today, then don’t bother.

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Gotta go rake leaves. Swing with my daughter. Get a haircut. Something about renting a steamer so my wife can clean the rugs. Get my car inspected.

Like Kanye says in "Touch the Sky", Feels good to be home baby, feels good to be home.