THIS 5-10 Knicks crisis is ultimately on Isiah Thomas, not Stephon Marbury.

It has taken Thomas only 15 games, but he has made a mess of Marbury just like he made a mess of the CBA.

One of the anticipated elements of Thomas' takeover as Knicks head coach was the belief his strong relationship with Marbury would get the most out of him. Instead, Thomas' offensive scheme has gotten the least out of Marbury of any coach ever, dating to before Lincoln High.

Worse, Thomas has broken Marbury's spirit. Marbury is so confused, he didn't even take a shot Saturday night for the first time in his NBA career.

Marbury was a crushed soul late Saturday, his voice sounding hurt, when he said, "I hope it's going to get better. The way it's looking, it doesn't look like it's going up. It looks like it's going down."

Later, in a private corner of the Garden, Marbury told The Post, "This is just another test for me. I just want to play basketball freely. I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. I love New York more than anything. I hate that our fans have not been able to come to the games and cheer for the team and myself."

Congratulations, Isiah. It's not even December, Marbury already hates you and this is looking like "Team Titanic II: Steph vs. Isiah." Even during Larry Brown's reign, Brown didn't humiliate Marbury this badly, with two second-half benchings in a span of five days.

The Knicks were off yesterday but Marbury and Thomas likely will hold a summit before today's practice.

Brown must have enjoyed his turkey leftovers immensely as he spent time in the Hamptons this weekend. During the Brown-Marbury feud, Thomas never tried to mediate, figuring the two men could work it out. They didn't. That's Thomas' fault just as much as theirs.

If you want to believe Marbury is shot, go ahead. Mentally, he is, the way the Garden has booed his every mistake. Marbury is not the same player at home. That's why the Knicks are 1-6 there.

Was Marbury sending Thomas a message for more freedom? He swears not. What's clear is he doesn't understand what Thomas wants from him. Thomas wants balanced scoring and wants Marbury to facilitate it. But the game plan Saturday was to stuff the ball inside to Eddy Curry. Marbury got rid of the ball early in possessions and never got it back. The Knicks fell behind because Curry kept missing, from inside and the free-throw line, and the Knicks couldn't get a stop.

But Thomas benched Marbury to start the second half and didn't tell him until after he took off his warm-ups on the court.

Marbury is out of rhythm, adjusting to Thomas' hook at the 3:30 mark of the first quarter. Marbury is used to playing the whole quarter and sometimes the first two minutes of the second.

If you think the Knicks are making the playoffs with Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford and rookie Renaldo Balkman running the show from the start of the game, you are sadly mistaken. It's funny none of these kid-inspired comebacks actually amount to victories as they run out of gas.

The only way the Knicks will be a legit playoff threat is if Marbury gets out of his mental funk and he and Thomas get on the same page. The only time the Knicks showed life last season, during their six-game winning streak, was when Marbury played out of his mind.

By his actions, Thomas looks as if he believes his point guard has lost it. Thomas is more attached to the young guys, but Robinson and David Lee are players of diminishing returns. The longer they play, the less effective they are. Now Lee is thrust into the starting role for Channing Frye, out three to six weeks with a sprained left ankle.

The front-running Thomas has sided with the fans on Marbury. Maybe Thomas is happy Marbury is the villain with the black hat and taking the hit for 5-10 and not himself. At least not yet.http://www.nypost.com/seven/11272006/sports/knicks/losing_isiah_knicks_marc_berman.htm?page=0

Only problem I have is the bolded sentence. Does he not remember these kids are coming back from 20 points down? Just the fact that he says "these kid-inspired comebacks" but forgets that the Knicks are LOSING when the kids get on the court....

Berman always has an agenda. Marbury gets paid a ton of money. He needs to perform. It is that simple.

This is crazy.

There is only one coach who has ever had a good relationship with marbury, and that was his first when he was a rookie and before he got his big contracts.

Yea- Isiah is siding with the garden crowds who love the hustle and energy and enthusiasm of players like Lee, Crawford and Francis, and they hate the towel on the head scowl.

C'mon.

I never really ever took sides with press coverage, but this is so far out there.

I mean, Isiah has everyone playing at a high level- curry is showing flashes, frye started to hit stride- francis is starting to show heart.

Everyone but Marbury.

I call that a coaching success.

Larry verbally abused him. Verbalbury was able to shoot some quotes back.

Isiah won't get into a war of words with Verbalbury, cuz Isiah is not that elequant.

Larry kept after Marbury and had him during "The stretch" playing his best ball of his career.

Isiah is breaking Marbury by not even giving him minutes.

Them skippy man made uppers get stiff if you don't play much!

This is not an endorsement of larry, but the Knicks broke him, not the other way around. Isiah has a similar problem.

Steph gets 20 million to become his own little tent city on the bench.

Problem in a nutshell: Starbury freedom = losing % basketball. Marbury under control is like caging a wild animal. They go crazy. He does not know how to play without the ball, or see the court well in transition. HE did it his way all these years and now at almost 30 he might be a tad slower, but his fundamentals were never installed properly to compensate. Ballplayers as they age evolve. The good ones do at least.

This just in: It's the coach's fault. Fire him and give these guys another chance next year.

one can say isiah hurt marbury's career by trying to make him a player that he is not. and then building a team by removing complimentary players that steph can excel with (catch and shoot jumpshooters).

so is the problem a guard that is having problems changing his game?

or the gm who made this guard a cornerstone of the franchise yet put him in situations that he is uncomfortable in?

Berman is a joke! There is 1 common denominator in everyone of the these coach/Marbury relationships and it's not the coaches! Give me a break!
Isiah is at fault for believing he could change Marbury into a winner by bringing him to NY and that its.
Berman has it all backwards. The only way we come close to the playoffs is by turning the PG duties over to Francis!

I said this before but here it is again. I actually feel sorry for Steph! The dude has problems! He is straight up Negative! His negative energy that he sends around in the locker room and out on the court effect this team more than we can imagine(the bad apple theory). It is time for a change for him and for us! We get rid of him then we'll be able to grow TOGETHER! As a TEAM!

Q becomes our captain cause the guys respect him and Stevie will regain his All-Star form or close to it!

Ship Marbury to Miami like we've all been talking about! For anybody!
Yes I believe Miami will then win the title again good for Steph, Miami, and good for us. The only way Marbury will end up winning is if you put him next to a STRONG personality like Shaq and not to mention Riley! Then he has to play as the teams 3rd or 4th option.
This will be good for Steph, good for Miami, and will be even better for us! We will win nothing with him in a knicks jersey unless we can trade for Shaq, bring in Riley, and maybe sign Lebron, Carmelo, or D Wade.

I will never read another Berman article again!

Don Chaney was held responsible for failing with Marbury.

Lenny Wilkens was held responsible for failing with Marbury.

Larry Brown was held responsible for failing with Marbury.

Isiah Thomas will be held responsible for bringing Marbury here, refusing to back up his coaches in dealing with Marbury and failing with Marbury.

Blaming the messenger (Berman) is just as asinine as blaming the fans for the Knicks poor play.

He also left out that several players were upset Marbury was starting after missing the shootaround.

In case you missed it. There's a new movie coming out...

Posted by eViL:

In case you missed it. There's a new movie coming out...

LMAO if u could make that into a sig or sometin a ilttle smaller i'd put that **** on my myspace or somethin lol thats awesome