HOLY CRAP... Berman has just blown a gasket! This is HILARIOUS!!!!!


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MARBURY GETS COLD SHOULDER

By MARC BERMAN

Last updated: 12:33 pm
December 18, 2008

Stephon Marbury crashed the Knicks New York Knicks ' Hollywood party Tuesday night at Staples Center, but the players would not let him dampen their night.

The Knicks ignored the banned Marbury and then ignored their 15-point halftime lead over the Lakers. Nevertheless, despite the 116-114 defeat, the Knicks left the West Coast with a giddy feeling that they grew as a team during this 1-2 trip. They also finished a stretch of five straight road games at 2-3 as they come home tomorrow to face the Bucks.

Some players, who seem to ooze jealousy at the national attention Marbury receives, appeared irritated he showed up in a courtside seat, front-row baseline with a ticket stub in skirting his official ban. Marbury spent most of the time on his cell phone text-messaging.

Some players pretended they never saw Marbury, though as they came out for second-half warmup, the lightning rod was surrounded by a dozen media members adjacent to the court.

Though Queens native Lamar Odom and former teammate Trevor Ariza gave Marbury hugs, none of the Knicks came over to Marbury to say hello, as if doing so would be a violation of team policy.

To further demonstrate the Knicks' discomfort, the James Dolan-run MSG Network made the decision not to interview the banished Marbury on camera, though it had brought along a special sideline reporter in Mike Crispino. Marbury instead was interviewed on the Lakers' Fox Sports telecast.

"Too sensitive," one MSG official said.

Marbury said Tuesday night he's talking to teams and claimed the media will be "shocked" to find out which team he signs with. Marbury is looking only at playoff clubs, and Boston, Miami and Dallas are potential destinations. There is concern Knicks management will be so vindictive, it will not waive Marbury until after March 1, the last date a signed player can be eligible for a playoff roster.

After the loss, Quentin Richardson , who detests Marbury, made it a point to say how happy-go-lucky the 2008-2009 Knicks are without a certain scowling point guard in the locker room. The Knicks seem to be the happiest 11-14 club in NBA history.

"You can tell with the way everything is, even though it's a game we lost, it's not the same attitude as the last few years," Richardson said. "The most important thing is we're having fun and enjoying each other. We have a good chemistry. We're having fun."

Now if they can learn to close out tight games, this happy family might contend for the eighth seed. The Knicks play fearless speedball under coach Mike D'Antoni, and Kobe Bryant predicted before tip-off the Lakers were in store for a fight, unlike in the past. The Knicks then blasted them in a 65-50 first-half domination, eliciting boos from the celebrity-studded crowd.

Nate Robinson is starting to look like a special player who needs to be re-signed as a free agent this summer. But the Knicks are in search of a finisher and may run out of gas late because of D'Antoni's seven and eight-man rotations. Robinson missed the big shot in the lane with eight seconds left. Their former finisher Jamal Crawford now plays for Golden State.

But after whipping Sacramento and helping to cause Reggie Theus' firing with a 43-point first quarter, after nearly downing Phoenix despite shooting just 5 of 37 on 3-pointers, and after scaring the daylights out of Phil Jackson, the Knicks are earning the league's respect.

"They are starting to show this is a trend, starting to show what they can be," said Allan Houston, assistant to the president. "People are starting to take notice. When you blow out Sacramento, come close to beating Phoenix despite shooting 5 of 37 on 3-pointers and go up 15 on the Lakers, people take notice. They're not a secret. They're making other teams adjust to them."

There is concern Knicks management will be so vindictive, it will not waive Marbury until after March 1, the last date a signed player can be eligible for a playoff roster.

the only ones "concerned" about that fact are Dinglebury & Berman... that is EXACTLY what the Knicks are & SHOULD be doing... Steph made his bed, now he's gonna lie in it & watch the season & the playoffs pass him by... hope he has fun playing in Europe next season.

Give Berman a break...I went to school with the guy...He lived right across the hall from me...He is just trying to make a living like anyone of us in a dying newspaper age...

Posted by holfresh:


Give Berman a break...I went to school with the guy...He lived right across the hall from me...He is just trying to make a living like anyone of us in a dying newspaper age...

not my fault he chose to make his living by being a douche