Stephon Marbury’s mother told him he didn’t look right after he scored 14 points in a 91-76 loss to Philadelphia last week, and he should let his injured shoulder get healthy.
“She was right,” Marbury said. “Always listen to Mom.”
Instead, Marbury played in the Knicks’ next two games – both lopsided losses – and wound up injuring his sprained left shoulder again. Although the team listed Marbury’s status for tonight’s game in Toronto as doubtful with a bruised shoulder, the point guard said he would not play against the Raptors, but hoped to return Sunday, when the Knicks host the Rockets.
“I’m going to rest so I can be back for Sunday,” Marbury said after sitting out practice yesterday. The injury was aggravated when he took a couple of hits in Tuesday’s 130-97 loss to the Lakers at the Garden. “It’s unfortunate. It’s a tough situation to cope with.”
The Knicks have a lot of those these days, and it would be easy to wonder why Marbury is in such a hurry to get back when it’s becoming exceedingly clear the season is lost with the team at 14-30.
Marbury had company on the sidelines yesterday. Eddy Curry also missed practice after he suffered what the team is calling a rib contusion in practice on Wednesday, and is questionable for tonight. In addition, Jerome James is still suffering from a strained neck, although no one seems quite as concerned about that.
What is a concern is Marbury’s status. He says now he regrets coming back as soon as he did after he missed three games last month. He originally sustained the injury Jan. 16 against Minnesota.
“I probably should have [taken more time],” Marbury said. “But I wanted to get back out there as soon as possible because I saw how much we were struggling.”
His absence broke his streak of 280 consecutive games played, and he likely would have been better served if he stayed out a bit longer.
Marbury said yesterday the shoulder was healing, but this was a setback.
“Obviously, when you’re on the court, you’re going to get hit,” Marbury said. “That bothers me more now than it normally would.”
Although he said he expects to return after tonight’s game, Marbury admitted he won’t be so quick to rush back.
“I’m going to try to be more cautious,” Marbury said. “I don’t know how much better it’s going to get, but I don’t want to have to keep missing games.”
Marbury’s absence naturally means more time at the point for Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson.
“I’m just going to try to bring my energy and learn from what I did the last time he was out,” Robinson said.
Trevor Ariza also figures to handle the ball more.
“I’ll do anything that gets me on the floor more,” Ariza said. “I’ve [handled the ball] in practice all the time.”
But he knows that with all the Knicks’ difficulties, even with Marbury in the lineup, they are in considerably worse shape when he’s not.
“It hurts us a lot when he’s not playing,” Ariza said. “But you never can tell what’s going to happen. Right now, we’re going through a rough stretch.”
Unfortunately for the Knicks, it seems to be lasting the entire season.