Estranged New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury was told on Monday to stay away from the team after talks on a possible buyout of his US$21 million contract failed to produce a settlement.
“After meeting with Stephon and his representative this afternoon, we have directed Stephon not to participate in practice or attend games until further notice,” Knicks president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. “We want to continue to meet with him to discuss a long-term resolution.”
The 31-year-old Marbury, with a career-scoring average of 19.7 points per game over 12 years with four clubs, has not played a single minute this season.
PHOTO: AP
Marbury, who had feuds with the two previous Knicks coaches, was shunned at the start of the season by Mike D’Antoni and placed on the inactive list, attending games in street clothes.
After a series of trades and injuries left the Knicks severely short-handed, Marbury was asked to play but he declined.
Walsh suspended Marbury for one game without pay and docked him an additional game’s salary, forfeiting close to US$400,000 after his refusal to play last week in a loss to Detroit.
Walsh is against cutting Marbury and having to pay him even though he would be free to shop himself to another team. Marbury has said he wants to be paid in full.
The bad blood between the native New Yorker and the Knicks spilled into print when he blasted Knicks player Quentin Richardson for talking about him.
“I sat there for three weeks and didn’t say one word,” Marbury told the New York Post on Monday. “I didn’t hear one of my teammates say, ‘Why isn’t Stephon Marbury playing?’ Guys like Quentin Richardson say, ‘I don’t consider him a teammate. He let his teammates out to dry.’ He didn’t care I was his teammate when I was banished.”
“They left me out for dead. It’s like we’re in a foxhole and I’m facing the other way. If I got shot in the head, at least you want to get shot by the enemy. I got shot in the head by my own guys in my foxhole,” he said.
CELTICS 107, MAGIC 88
Paul Pierce scored 17 of his 24 points in the third quarter to lead the Boston Celtics to their ninth straight win, over the Orlando Magic on Monday.
Ray Allen added 21 points, Rajon Rondo had 16 points with 12 assists and Kevin Garnett scored 15 points for the Celtics (17-2) in a matchup of Eastern Conference division leaders.
Rashard Lewis paced Orlando (13-5) with 30 points. Hedo Turkoglu had 19 and Dwight Howard, the NBA’s leading rebounder, added 14 points with 15 boards.
The Magic had their four-game winning streak snapped. Orlando had won six straight road games, one short of a club record that was set at the start of last season.
BOBCATS 100, TIMBERWOLVES 90
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Jason Richardson scored 25 points in another strong performance following arthroscopic knee surgery as Charlotte beat error-prone Minnesota.
It was the third straight game of at least 21 points for Richardson since his return after sitting out seven contests following exploratory surgery on his right knee. He led an efficient offense that included a season-high 24 points from Emeka Okafor, while Raymond Felton added 14 assists with only one turnover.
Randy Foye scored 23 points and Mike Miller added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who were never in sync in their second straight loss. Top scorer Al Jefferson was held to eight points on 3-of-11 shooting and Minnesota committed 14 of its 18 turnovers in the first half.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
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