Isiah Thomas is the NBA's ultimate sophist.

First, he claims that Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis will form a dynamic duo comparable to Walt Frazier-Earl Monroe and Joe Dumars-himself. Next, the gospel according to Isiah is that the organization is collecting high-priced players only as chips so that New York will be able to ante up in the off-season and secure the likes of Kevin Garnett.
Both proposals seem to be highly improbable. But if the second if these can't be definitively evaluated until the summer, the first can be investigated forthwith.

So, then, let's reconsider the Knicks' 101-99 loss in Memphis on Wednesday to see how, and if, there's any possibility that Marbury and Francis can indeed co-exist.


MIN FG 3FG FT R A ST BS TO PTS
Marbury 38 8-11 2-2 7-8 1 13 1 0 1 25
Francis 31 9-15 0-0 1-2 2 5 2 0 2 19

Marbury was the starting point guard and Francis started the game on the bench, and the Knicks came out of the chute playing with more energy, smarts, and unselfishness than they've shown in weeks. And it was Marbury who set the pace, making wonderful passes and unblemished decisions in every possible situation. A pair of scintillating assist-passes to Qyntel Woods cutting backdoor. Setting up a fast-break dunk for Quentin Richardson, then a rim-jammer in tight quarters for Malik Rose. Hey, Marbury even played hustling defense.

When Francis took the court at 4:19 in the first quarter, he played No. 1 on offense and No. 2 on defense. Within seconds, Francis turned his head on defense, allowing Eddie Jones to make a back-door cut, and forcing him to commit a foul. Indeed, Francis' initial rotation was far from brilliant. He made a swift move into the middle and converted a layup. A few plays later, he ran out, received a long pass, and performed an elementary but impressive dunk. Otherwise, Francis had trouble hanging on to the ball, and was content to let Marbury control the unfolding of the half-court offense. Actually, Francis seemed too inhibited — passing up several wide open shots to force passes to surprised teammates.

With Marbury shifting to the shooting guard, the Knicks finally had a dependable go-to guy who was not the point guard. A situation that Larry Brown has been promoting for quite a while.

Most often, while Francis carried the ball into the attack zone, Marbury hustled to the left box, waited for a brush down-screen, than cut to the wing to receive the ball. From there, Marbury's first option was to go one-on-one, but he was much more intent on passing the ball than in looking for his shot. (In fact, Marbury didn't fire one up until 6:37 of the second quarter.)

Francis seemed more comfortable when Jamal Crawford replaced Marbury, and Francis moved to the 2-guard position. Francis has never had any problem creating his own shot, and a slick driving layup was quickly followed by a spinning jumper in the lane.

When Marbury and Francis were reunited in the second quarter, Francis (playing No. 1 on offense and No. 2 on defense as before) was presented with several familiar screen/role situations to ease his confusion. From the 2-guard slot, however, Marbury dominated the ball. A quartet of isos netted a basket, four points from the foul line, and his only turnover — a foolish passed launched when he was airborne. And Marbury was still in his passing mode. Dropping dimes on Jackie Butler, Woods, and David Lee.

The defense of the Knicks' latest gold-dust twins wasn't quite as sterling. Francis was late in offense-defense transition and made several late rotations. Meanwhile, Marbury worked hard, but was badly beaten off the dribble by both Antonio Burke (who passed up a free layup in favor of making a wild pass to the first-row) and Chucky Atkins.

In any case, after a sloppy spell to close out the second quarter, the Knicks clung to a 49-47 lead at the intermission and, overall, were playing with uncharacteristic efficiency and confidence.

With Marbury in and Francis out, the Knicks opened the third quarter with the same hang-dog look NBA watchers have become accustomed to seeing. Then Francis checked into the action (at 7:33) and the team perked up. At the point, Francis made some nifty passes and some stinko ones — but Marbury got back into his electric bag — passing and scoring from iso alignments; running, driving and losing two assists when Butler had a layup blocked and Lee missed a chippie. And he never made a foolish move ¹ at least on offense.

For the duration, Marbury's defense retrogressed. On two occasions, he left Atkins to help on Pau Gasol, but failed to recover in time to prevent Atkins from bagging a pair of damaging 3-balls. One good rotation on a down-screen enabled Marbury to steal an errant pass. One poor rotation forced Eddy Curry into fouling the man Marbury let loose.

As for Francis, his defense picked up noticeably. Hustling after loose balls. Doing an adequate job defending screen-and-roll plays. And making two savvy rotations that resulted in his two steals. Granted that Francis wasn't challenged on defense as much as Marbury was, but he still showed quicker hands and quicker feet.

Marbury and Francis partnered up for the last 8:45 of the game. With Crawford manning the small forward, the Knicks were quick and lively on offense. Francis moved well with and without the ball — and made an absolutely great pass into Lee for another dunk.

In the home stretch, Marbury went into his scoring act. Knocking down two treys, and three pull-up jumpers. His only assist came on a kick-out to Richardson for a trey.

The only down side here was Crawford's pitiful defense which gave Atkins too many open looks.

With the game racing toward the wire, Marbury and Francis were involved in the two most critical plays. With the score knotted at 99 and the clock ticking down, the Grizzlies ran a screen-and-roll play that forced Marbury to switch on to Gasol. Marbury played tough-enough, body-up defense, but nobody (i.e. David Lee) came to his aid when Gasol moved the ball to the baseline. With his long arms and 10-inch height advantage, Gasol merely turned, reached over Marbury, and knocked down the winning basket.

The Knicks had 2-plus seconds left, and Brown called Francis's number. But his 20-footer bounced off the back-rim at the buzzer.

Based on the evidence gleaned from this particular game, Marbury (at the No. 2) and Francis (at the No. 1) can certainly work in tandem to score beaucoup points and create easy shots for each other and for the rest of the gang. Sure, their defense will be problematic, but it's conceivable that the Knicks will wind up on the plus side of virtually every backcourt matchup.

The problem is the rest of the team. Can any of the bigs, mediums or smalls play enough defense? (No.) Will anybody else get sufficient touches to avoid getting frustrated, and to prevent opponents from keying on Marbury and Francis? (No.) Can Larry Brown become the kind of warm, fuzzy avuncular coach who can inspire his players to overachieve? (Never.) Can Brown stop publicly snipping at his players and complaining about the composition of his roster? (No.) Will Nate Robinson ever be activated again? (Only in an emergency.) Do David Lee and Channing Frye have the goods to provide a spark of hope for the future? (Yes.)

And, can Marbury and Francis learn to work and play well together? Yes, with a qualification. Should the team continue its descent into the NBA's underworld, all bets are off. In this likely scenario, it'll be every man for himself. Including Marbury, Francis, Brown, Isiah, and even Jim Dolan.