Ballad of a Tatted Bald Man

I know it's odd we haven't mentioned one of the high- (low-) lights of the season, Tuesday's 100-99 loss to the Sonics, in which Stephon Marbury put up 40 points, but missed the second of the two free throws that would have tied the game and sent it to overtime.

(Not to make excuses, but Shirts has been out with flu-like symptoms. He's listed as day-to-day through the weekend. For my part, I threw up Part II of the first-half Knicks review Monday and kept a running diary of last night's Mets spring training game over at my other digs. That's some committed blogging, kids. I haven't seen sunlight in like eight days.)

It needs to be said that Marbury left that court strewn with his blood, sweat, and guts. With Crawford and Lee out (oh yeah, and Nate too) and Curry fading (shocking, truly shocking), Steph did the one thing that he's built to do on a court, which is play offense all by himself. For once it was the appropriate strategy, and damned if he didn't almost pull it off. Curry's 5 for 10 day at the line dug a hole, leaving Marbury asking, Dylan-like, "Oh my God, am I here all alone?"

Trust me, it's an odd feeling, sympathizing with the chief avatar of the Knicks' descent into perfidy. Consider this a Bounce outreach program for wayward point guards.

Lenny Bitchkins, Ouch

I think they have a whole lot better talent than when I had them, and I got them to the playoffs ... I would have liked to have had that kind of talent.

Lenny Wilkins landed that beautiful cheap shot on his return to MSG. I just wanted to point it out.

Free throw woes sabotage Knicks' comeback against Sonics [ESPN.com]
Wilkins' return is no big deal [Newark Star-Ledger]