According to the New York Post Knicks captains Stephon Marbury and Kurt Thomas both got into a shouting match walking to the bench last Friday against Cleveland, and while coach Herb Williams counseled Thomas recently on how a captain should conduct himself Marbury insists that his relationship with his power forward is fine.

"It was nothing," Marbury told The Post. "I have no problems [with Thomas] and I don't think he has any problems. We had a disagreement about a play."

Thomas declined comment two straight days about Monday's Slam magazine's report that Thomas shouted at Marbury, "Everyone in this organization is afraid of you, but I'm not and I'll beat your [butt]."

Said Marbury: "We're not talking about it because it was not that big a deal. As a team, we're all trying to stick together to get through this. It's a frustrating time. We're going on the court playing the game to win, and he's doing the same thing. It ain't always going to be bad."

With the Knicks unable to turn their losses into wins, Marc Berman writes that everything that happens is bound to be analyzed as though under a microscope.

"Players are going to have blow-ups," Williams said. "Ultimately, you get past that stuff. Kurt and Steph are fine. We took care of it. It's been happening since I've been in the league. I haven't been in the league where two guys haven't gone at it."

Thomas also got into a scuffle with Bruno Sundov in practice Thursday. They shoved each other and exchanged heated words before Sundov bolted.

"I apologized to Bruno and everything's fine," Thomas said.