I think too much is being made of "StiffGate" against Detroit!

STEPH HITS BACK
By MARC BERMAN

March 20, 2006 -- Stephon Marbury was irate again before the Knicks' 111-100 loss last night to the Heat, defending himself against the notion he was afraid to take a big shot Friday against Detroit. Marbury also admitted he's tired of being portrayed as "scapegoat" for the Knicks' disastrous season.

Marbury denied he asked out of Friday's win over the Pistons with 41.7 seconds left, but confirmed he did not want to run the play Larry Brown diagrammed for him, believing Jamal Crawford had the hot hand.

Marbury almost sounded as if Brown were setting him up for failure.

"No, I didn't ask out of the game," Marbury said. "When I went into the game he drew the play up for me and I said, 'Why are we running a play for me when Jamal is hot? I'm the last person who should be getting the ball right now.' I just got in the game. And I was sitting for like 30 minutes. Baseball players get to warm up before they get to pitch on the mound."

Marbury used revisionist history. Though he sat out a nine-minute stretch before returning with 3:41 left, he had been in the game for three minutes when the timeout was called.

Brown yanked Marbury for Nate Robinson and Crawford converted a three-point play that gave the Knicks a one-point lead. Brown said he benched Marbury because the guard felt "tight."

"[Crawford is] the guy we needed to be going to now," Marbury said. "I'm not the dude that should be taking the shot at the end of the game when I just came into the game. I was just mad at the fact Jamal should take the shot."

Yes, Marbury was mad that the feud between him and Brown has not dissipated despite their uneasy truce Thursday.

"To be really honest, every day we're talking about what I'm doing and Coach," Marbury said. "Us two are not the problem. And I'm the stiff because I can't take the last-second shot. It seems everything is being pushed away from what's really going on. What's really going on is we're a bad basketball team right now. I'm used to being the scapegoat, but c'mon, when is enough going to be enough?"

Marbury then used a disgusting slang term to describe the situation as nonsense.

As Team Titanic turns, Saturday became another chapter when Brown left it open to interpretation whether Marbury had asked out of the game. Brown also chided Marbury by saying Crawford, who won the game with a pull-up with 2.3 seconds left, always wants to take the "big shot."

"I took [Marbury] out because he said he was stiff and couldn't run a play," Brown said yesterday. "So I put Nate in and then when we got a defensive possession I put [Marbury] back in. He wanted to go back in."

Brown said yesterday more Marbury benchings are in the offing.

"That's the way it's going to be from now on," Brown said. "He might not sit at all, and games he might sit. We're not going anywhere, so I think the only thing we can do now is try to see who's going to help us down the road."

This sickening war can't continue next season. One of them must go this summer. That Marbury did not get suspended for calling his coach "insecure," and saying he was living in the past by citing his résumé is indication that management may side with the star point guard.

Marbury was not at yesterday's morning shoot-around because he took his son to the hospital. If Marbury can't be traded, buying out Brown would be easier than buying out the point guard. Brown is too volatile a personality to suit Knicks owner James Dolan, who is very conscious of inflammatory media coverage.

Dolan was spare in his praise of Brown in his big meeting with Knicks beat writers in Memphis three weeks ago. Dolan called Brown "an open book" regarding his remarks in the media.

marc.berman@nypost.com

You know its interesting, but 9 game minutes is different from 9 actual minutes. I'm sure that no matter what the actual time was that Steph sat, It was an unusually long time for him. We know he usually plays high minutes. STill I agree with Steph. He was right that Jamal should have been the one to take the shot, unless there was no choice and he had to take it. He's also right that the media continues to try and make this fued into more than it is. I think they almost WANT to see Steph traded again.

LB can't escape scott free when this is a team game and no one player should be the reason why a team has a season as bad as this. Its almost impossible for that to happen. Especially when that player for the most part produces more each game than any other player. Year after year, Steph is one of THE most productive players in the league. He hasn't always had the supporting cast, but he certainly comes to play every night.

This team is a lot closer to being a good team than it might seem by the record. Why do I say that. Well for one thing we had an unusually high amount of young players on this team to start the year. The vets we had weren't very good. Mainly guys who came off the bench most of their career or were at most role players. You add the SUPER tough schedule, injuries, half the team being NEW, new Coach and system which were poorly matched and its not too hard to see how that could go wrong. BUT this team has enough talent to win. All we need is to make some changes. Bring in the needed role players and allow our young talent to continue to grow. I mean think about it. MOST of the best players on this team are 25 or younger.

I didn't see the game but here is what I do see...This type of thing LB hates...we saw it when Ariza backed out of his start. Should Craw have taken the shot maybe but LB trusted Marbury would take it and make it, no matter how much he sat because that is what stars do. LB may i his own way been telling Marbury he is the leader of this team and this is what leaders need to do.

However on the flip side he may have been sabotaging Steph by sitting him, and then giving him the last shot since there is nothing to lose anyway.

I personally would like to believe LB was actually giving Steph a chance to either up his value or maybe actually try and give it a last shot (literally, sorry for the pun) with him. Give him the chance to lead because right now(maybe increase his trade value), there is no reason to pile on...as it stands now without anything else happening it looks like ONE of them has to go.

IF Steph deferred to Craw, the hot hand, then he should be applauded for it.

Its hard to really get any clarity on this from either side. Marbs if frustrated at himself, the media and Larry. Larry is frustrated also.

And Berman put a slant on it.

Hey, all is intitled to an opinion!

Posted by TMS:

why can't Steph just shut his mouth & do what the coach tells him to do?... is a leader supposed to question his coach at every turn? he's also always deflecting blame from himself onto others instead of taking accountability for himself... this is what i can't stand about Marbury, & why i think he has to go... his talent is not the issue... he sets a horrible example for the young kids to follow, & he's a big cause (not the ONLY cause obviously) of why this team has had no chemistry over the longterm since he's been here.

I posted this exact point in a thread questioning LB and Zeke....these players seem to have no accountability and at least LB is saying it's my fault I should be coaching better, blame it on me.....Steph is saying blame the coach....no accountability at all.

Posted by Allanfan20:

If Steph took the shot and missed, we'd be saying how much of an unclutch bad leader he is. Give the guy a break. Although, I personally think that your best player should be at least in there to be one of the top 2 options taking the shot, it's good he knew the situation and realized that Craw did need to take that shot. Ride with the hot hand.

Who cares about his leadership? Channing Frye actually said that Steph, along with Q and Malik are the leaders, so what more do you need? Don't pay attention to what the media says.

And how long has Scottie Pippen tried to live down when he didn't go in for the final shot against the Knicks even as a decoy? Absolutely Steph should have been in there if for nothing more that may or may not have LB just letting his emotions get the dbest of him about Steph questioning him (again) in a situation where coaching is key or Steph could've said he was too stiff and didn't want to go in. My point is leaders lead, I mean how many times has a teams best player dressed with no intention of playing in a game unless absolutely needed? I am sure they are stiff but they are willing to take a shot if needed.

Steph has to take responsibility for things like this...it is his job. It is a stature he has been fighting his whole career for and he is just giving it away.

Posted by joec32033:

Posted by Allanfan20:

If Steph took the shot and missed, we'd be saying how much of an unclutch bad leader he is. Give the guy a break. Although, I personally think that your best player should be at least in there to be one of the top 2 options taking the shot, it's good he knew the situation and realized that Craw did need to take that shot. Ride with the hot hand.

Who cares about his leadership? Channing Frye actually said that Steph, along with Q and Malik are the leaders, so what more do you need? Don't pay attention to what the media says.

And how long has Scottie Pippen tried to live down when he didn't go in for the final shot against the Knicks even as a decoy? Absolutely Steph should have been in there if for nothing more that may or may not have LB just letting his emotions get the dbest of him about Steph questioning him (again) in a situation where coaching is key or Steph could've said he was too stiff and didn't want to go in. My point is leaders lead, I mean how many times has a teams best player dressed with no intention of playing in a game unless absolutely needed? I am sure they are stiff but they are willing to take a shot if needed.

Steph has to take responsibility for things like this...it is his job. It is a stature he has been fighting his whole career for and he is just giving it away.

I think you need to read more....

no where there does it say that he DIDN'T want to be in the game. Just that he FELT J.Crawford should take the last shot. Brown could have put Marbury in the game and still draw up a play for Crawford....
but Brown didn't do that....he got frustrated and left Marbury on the bench. and at the end of it all....Marbury was right.

I agree this is too much. Craw was hot, and it was right to give him the ball. It was also right to seat Marbury because he was having a bad game. Marbury did the right thing, and so did Brown. The media needs to STFU already.

Posted by Bippity10:

The media is over doing it. They are harping on every little thing. They make Marbs look out to be a bad guy. LB to be a bad guy. Zeke to be a bad guy. Why? because they know that most of us believe at least one of these statements is true and we will therefore buy more papers to hear the story of how bad a guy the guy we think is a bad guy, really is. Or something like that.

Bottome line is the papers blow up these non stories and make them a big deal. Then the players and coach's get half the story and they get mad. Before you know it, it is a real story with one guy pitted against the other. All media created. Stop buying this nonsense. We don't know anymore about Stephon Marbury or LB today than we did 20 years ago. Writers that dislike them will paint them as bad people and at fault for all the Knicks problems. Writers that like them will write articles defending them and blaming others. Stop buying it.

good post.

but we will always have media h0es that will rather follow anothers man's opinion than form one on their own.


the way I see it...that game was a lose/lose for both Brown and Marbury cuz if Marbury would have gone in and take that last shot...and miss. we will all be "discussing" why Brown didn't go with the hot hand in Crawford and ASSUMING that Marbury is a bad team cuz he took the last shot and didn't pass it to Crawford.

i find it funny how people are being accused of not being able to formulate their own opinions based on what they've seen from Marbury over his career... i think you all are being the short-sighted ones here... people here aren't morons (well, most... i have my doubts about a few of you)... we can call a spade a spade when we see one.

TMS Marbs needs to shut up and so does LB. They are both idiots.

As for formulating your own opinion. I played with a guy in college who the media talked about as if he was the sweetest person on the planet. They talked about his grades, his personality, his ability to be a great father, his loyalty to the team.

What they didn't see was him beating his girlfriend(who wasn't the mother of his child), bitching and moaning about paying child support, smoking before games, sleeping with everyone on the planet, and screwing his teammates over on a daily basis. But since he was a good player, smiled a lot, helped us win and gave a great interview he recieved a pass on everything. Sorry but since that day I don't pretend to know these guys.

It's alright to want this guy on your team or off the team because of on the court issues but some of the vile comments directed towards Marbs' personality? We know less than we think we do. He may be a jerk. He may not be. I no longer let the media determine this portion of my beleif system. They will paint a picture of a guy depending on what they think of him, not on reality.