Stephon Marbury went missing and two other starters were out. Under the circumstances, there was no way the New York Knicks would be able to stay with the Phoenix Suns.
But Tuesday night's game was not an embarrassment, just a 113-102 victory for Phoenix.
Stephon Marbury left the Knicks before Tuesday's 113-102 loss.
(Matt Slocum/Associated Press)
"Even with your full team and your best team, it's still hard to come into this building and play against this team and get a win," Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said. "But there were some good things I saw, some very positive things."
Marbury abruptly left the team earlier in the day and reportedly returned to New York as the Knicks opened a four-game road trip.
The team was left to carry on.
"Everybody doesn't really know what happened, so it's kind of tough to pass judgment on him," Eddy Curry said. "We're going to continue to fight without him.
"Of course, we'd love to have him back. But until then, we've just got to keep playing."
Phoenix had four starters with at least 21 points, but that wasn't good enough for Suns coach Mike D'Antoni.
"I'm not real impressed," D'Antoni said. "We should have had more energy.
"We should have played harder and the crowd's worse than we are. I mean, they're deader than we are."
Was it tough to get motivated to play such a depleted team?
"It might have been, but you know what, that's no excuse," D'Antoni said. "I mean, we're a professional team.
"We should come out and play as hard as we can play and get off the floor and get better. We have to understand what we want this year, where we want to go and how hard it is to get there."
Best night since surgery
Amare Stoudemire had his best night since his arthroscopic knee surgery six weeks ago with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Shawn Marion scored 23 points and Grant Hill 21, his most in his eight games with Phoenix.
Hill was 7-for-8 from the field, 3-of-4 on three-pointers.
Leandro Barbosa, starting in place of injured Raja Bell, added 23 for the Suns, who shot 56 per cent and won their third in a row.
Steve Nash of Victoria didn't get his first field goal until 10:04 remained in the game.
He finished with five points and 12 assists.
Phoenix led by as many as 17 in the second quarter, 19 in the third and 21 in the fourth.
Patchwork lineup for Knicks
In addition to Marbury, New York was without Quentin Richardson (hyperextended right elbow) and Zach Randolph (death of his grandmother), then lost Marbury's replacement, Mardy Collins, with a mild sprain of his right foot six minutes into the game.
Jamal Crawford, one of the remaining New York starters, scored 21.
Fred Jones added 19 and Nate Robinson 18.
Curry scored 17 before fouling out with 7:45 to play.
WNBC New York and The New York Post reported Marbury sent them messages to say he had Thomas' permission to leave the team.
"I would never leave my team on my own," Marbury told The Post.
"What I'm telling you is that I got permission to leave from Isiah. He said I could go home."
Thomas would not confirm that he allowed Marbury to leave.
The Knicks' coach avoided the subject altogether in his meeting with reporters before the game.
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