Dolan tells Larry,
spat's enough

BY FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Garden chairman James Dolan initiated a truce between Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury during a pregame meeting with the Knicks' coach on Wednesday.

According to a team source, Dolan asked Brown to stop engaging in a public hissing match with Marbury because their feud was becoming an embarrassment to the organization.

Dolan and Knicks president Isiah Thomas met with Brown in Brown's office before Wednesday's win over Atlanta. Dolan left the building following the meeting.

Dolan is sensitive to public spats involving his employees, dating back to 1999 when Jeff Van Gundy and Ernie Grunfeld were embroiled in a dispute that was tame in comparison to Marbury and Brown.

Dolan became so enraged by the daily coverage of the problems between Van Gundy and Grunfeld that he fired Grunfeld. After Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby walked out of mandatory media training session, Dolan wanted both players traded.

In the case of Marbury versus Brown, Dolan has voiced his support for both in recent weeks. He even addressed Brown's habit of publicly criticizing players.

"I think he's very honest with his comments, and when he sees issues, he generally talks about them," Dolan said on March 1. "I don't think Larry intends any criticism; I don't think he intends to use you guys for communicating to any of his players or to Isiah.

"In the other places he's coached, he's been able to have open conversations and then not read the entire conversation the next day in the paper. So, I think he's getting used to that, too."