<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> GREENBURGH, NY, January 20, 2006 --- The day after the profoundly unsatisfactory performance against the Pistons, the Knicks still seemed preoccupied with Stephon Marbury?s injury and the suspension of Antonio Davis. And Captain Steph was not at all happy about that: ?What disturbed me most watching on the bench was that we didn?t play with the intensity, as hard as we have been playing,? he said. ?I wasn?t discouraged that we lost, I was discouraged by HOW we lost. Sure, the two of us going down was a blow. But, in the NBA, that?s an opportunity for someone else to step up and earn playing time. Especially on a team like we have, everyone has to make up for our absence by playing that much harder and doing all the little things.? Not surprisingly, Marbury does feel the extra pressure to return as soon as possible. ?It?s all up to me,? he says. ?No one knows my body like I do. Let?s put it this way: yesterday I couldn?t shoot the ball. Today I could. I don?t have to really extend my arm shooting jump shots. But today I still couldn?t make a left-handed lay up. It hurt too much. Tomorrow, maybe I will. I?m still having that pain in my shoulder ? but the pain is breaking up.? Yes, to win Saturday night against the Hornets would be big -- but the Knicks have three full days off following that game. ?That does play into it,? Coach Larry Brown said. ?Steph wants to play. He hasn?t missed many games throughout his career. Not to play is killing him. But you don?t want to come back too early because we got blown out by Detroit or because of what happened to Antonio ? then be out for a long period of time.? Still, the Davis situation makes things even more urgent. ?I got the urgency to just come back, period, because I want to win,? said Marbury. ?At the same time, I?m very supportive of what he?s done. He made a decision to think of his family first. Almost anybody, if you see someone pull your wife?s arm, your first reaction is to go help her.? Quite emotionally, Brown seconded that emotion. ?Antonio is laying low,? he said. Right now, he?s feeling like somebody who needs to lay low, trying to sort things out Antonio?s situation, and what happened in Detroit last year, they are not nearly the same. I?d love you (writers) guys to take a poll and decide what you would do if your wife and child are in a difficult situation. You?d be up in the stands. I understand what the league is saying ? but five games? If you look at Antonio Davis and his career, if you know the kind of person he is, I can?t imagine you coming up with a five-game suspension. If you are going to try to prove a point, get real. That, to me, is ridiculous. Anybody in the NBA office, if that happened to their family, they?d be right up there to see that everything?s taken care of themselves.? ?I don?t think they used good judgement. But Tony will take it like a man. The rest of the players know the kind of person he is -- and they think what he did was right.? </div> Knicks.com
