The Marbury story may reach its close this afternoon, but in light of a comment by stingy d, I'm wondering which of the media's two pet Knicks topics irritates you more.

Update: Here's a little more of that Starbury story that just. won't. go. away.

Don Nelson will see this in his sleep. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

I wasn't gonna watch this one. I popped MSG on to catch a bit of the first quarter before I left the house, but things got crazy. Two and a half hours later, I was looking back at a record-setting game that was exactly the kind of matchup you'd expect from two of the league's fastest teams. If you missed, you missed the Knicks setting a couple team and individual records en route to an offensive extravaganza. Let's recap:

- 82 points in the first half. 43 in the second quarter alone. Both are Knick records at MSG. 138 for the game ain't too shabby either. How, you ask, do the Knicks manage those numbers? Well, one factor was hot three-point shooting. As a team, New York was 13-27 from downtown. Another was the Warriors' utter ineptitude on defense. I don't think I've ever seen such bad help. Chris Duhon and David Lee ran the pick-and-roll to death tonight, and Golden State didn't do anything to stop it. It's like they'd never seen one before. The closest the Dubs got to stopping Duhon's antics was a zone defense, and even that fell apart as soon as someone got into the paint.

- I miss Jamal Crawford. I really do. He's such a nice guy, and such a captivating player. MSG played a nice tribute for him, and he got a very warm ovation from the crowd. Good to see.

- On the other hand, Jamal went 6-20 for 21 points, 10 boards, and 5 assists in his return. The side dishes are nice, but I'll trade that shooting any night.

- I'll especially trade it when I'm getting 13-25 (including 5-7 from three) for 36 points and 12 boards from Al Harrington. He was a bully, too, beasting over smaller folks in the paint and finishing ferociously around the rim. Guess he had something to prove.

- Speaking of Harrington's abusing people, this may be the only team the Knicks will face in which they have size mismatches in their favor. Quentin Richardson, for instance, got to back down guys like Crawford and Marco Bellinelli, while Harrington saw time against the shorter Corey Maggette. Credit Duhon with spotting these mismatches and feeding the post when he saw fit.

- Kelly Tripucka needs to stop calling Wilson Chandler "Tyson".

- Chris Duhon set the Knick record for assists in a game with an unbelievable 22 dimes (breaking the record set by Richie Guerin in 1958), and just ran the show this evening. He cut into the paint and got anything he wanted, partly because the Warriors' post defense was sound asleep, and party because he and David Lee are starting to click very nicely. Around half of Du's assists came on routine pick and rolls, hitting Lee or Harrington for easy dunks. He was fantastic out there, and I'll take a 22 to 3 assist-to-turnover ratio any night.

- Your other Knick of the night is Mr. David Lee, who put up Dwight Howard numbers (and actually out-performed Howard himself tonight) and became the first Knick to log 30 and 20 since Patrick Ewing in 1994. 37 points (16-29) and 21 rebounds set a pair of career highs for D-Lee, and as Coach D noted, Lee could've been looking at 50 if it weren't for a few bad rolls and some foul trouble. Unbelievable nights for Harrington, Duhon, and Lee, and fantastic chemistry between all three of them.

- Do they purposely seat hot girls behind the coaches? I swear, anytime networks show a shot of a coach pacing the sideline, I find myself fixated on some hotties in the background. Maybe I just have low standards.

- Jill Martin's "Gimme a Minute" halftime interview was with Fat Joe, who proclaimed that the Knicks were "number one in the world". Listen, Fat- can I call you Fat?- I love the optimism. It's great to see that celebrities are sticking with the Knicks. But that's just false. The Knicks aren't number one in the world in anything. Except for maybe sexual harassment allegations and DePaul alumni. Maybe that's what he was talking about. Maybe Fat Joe comes to Knick games not for the basketball, but rather in hopes of seeing some sexual harassment.

- In the second quarter, Tim Thomas absolutely thrashed C.J. Watson's shot off the backboard. In the third quarter, David Lee threw an alley-oop to himself on the fast break. In the fourth, Thomas backed down Anthony Randolph and then dunked quite forcefully on his head. Highlights for all.

- If Anthony Roberson got two more points, then all 7 guys who stepped on the floor would've scored in double figures.

- All in all, it was a fast-paced, defense-free battle between two of the team's top offensive squads. What made the difference? I'll say point guard play. The Knicks had Chris Duhon to run the show and get everybody else easy looks. The Warriors had, well, Jamal Crawford, which isn't bad, but as we know, doesn't always win you games.

Anyway, surprisingly exciting game, and it was good to see a few different guys break out big time. The schedule gets tough going forward, but the Knicks sit at .500 for now, and all is well. I'm heading back to school tomorrow, so we'll talk later on. Peace.

Good evening, all. Tonight marks a momentous game in light of recent Knicks history. Jamal Crawford makes his hasty return to Madison Square Garden, while Al Harrington will face his former team for the first time (if he plays. I don't think Crawford has any ill will towards these Knicks, nor does he strike me as the vengeful type, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him break out of his mini-slump tonight. Meanwhile, the Knicks could use a win to get to 8-8 and delay the descent into sub-.500 basketball a little further. About half the New York roster is listed as day-to-day, so don't be surprised if you see that practice squad of Herb Williams and Allan Houston get a little playing time. I don't even know if I'm joking.

Check out GSoM (the best team community there is anywhere) for the Warriors perspective on tonight's contest. 2010, y'all!

Update: Oh, anybody wanna write a recap?

In response to this season's second refusal to play basketball on Wednesday in Detroit, Stephon Marbury has been suspended one game by the Knicks.

"A player's central obligation is to provide his professional services when called upon," team president of basketball operations Donnie Walsh said in the team's announcement. "Because he refused the coach's request to play in the team's last game, we had no choice but to impose disciplinary action."

Marbury has disputed the Knicks' allegation that he refused to play, telling The New York Post: "I never told [coach Mike D'Antoni] I'm not going to play. Those words never came out of my mouth. That's insubordination."

Hal Biagas, an NBA Players' Association attorney advising Marbury, told ESPN.com Friday morning: "We feel the discipline imposed by the Knicks is baseless. We plan to file a grievance."

Meow meow meow. This would be a lot easier if the guy had an agent to hook him up with a deal somewhere else. To make things more interesting we've got this from Quentin Richardson:

“I don’t consider him my teammate, so, I mean, whatever," Quentin Richardson said. "He hasn’t played with us all year, he doesn’t want to play with us. He’s expressed that a second time, so whatever. I don’t look at him as a teammate because teammates don’t do that. Regardless of what you have going on with the organization or what you have going on with your coach or whatever, you’re not going to allow your teammates to be left out there the way they were left out there"

Well, now it's officially too weird to give Steph minutes, so let's get rid of him, shall we? Please? So I can stop hearing about this?

We'll talk about some Marbury news tomorrow. For now, eat yourself into a coma and do yourself a favor: skip that football nonsense and watch some Thanksgiving basketball. Also, ditch the turkey and order some pizzas. My mom won't let us do that, but that shouldn't stop you. You know you like pizza better than turkey.

Sorry I'm late, guys. I counted on being able to post this from my dad's iPhone, and that didn't work out too hot. Knicks and Pistons tipped off about a half hour ago. Anybody wanna recap?

Last night's game got me pretty worked up, but not in the way you'd think. The loss was awful, but that was coming. The Knicks don't have much offensive punch anymore, and the three-point defense was never there. The Cavs are one of the best teams in the East, and would smother New York with or without the recent trade. They've got size, shooters, and LeBron James. Add a dash of allspice and that's the recipe for beating the Knicks. Al Harrington and Tim Thomas had active but kind of spastic debuts. They played, you know, like guys who'd never met their teammates before. They'll start to fit in. Now that there's a plan and some hope, I've almost come to terms with losing.

That said, this is crazy! That's ostensibly a game recap, and there's only one paragraph about the game. I wanna know if Nate Robinson's groin is alright! The media are getting way prematurely pumped about this nonsense, and LeBron totally feeds into it:

"I think July 1, 2010, is a very big day," James said. "It's probably going to be one of the biggest days in free-agent history in the NBA. So a lot of teams are gearing up to try to prepare themselves to be able to put themselves in position to get one of the big free-agent market guys."

"Now finish up and go fetch me a sandwich."

Listen, I understand that it's fun to be hopeful, and there's no harm in looking forward to something. But this is silly. The summer of 2010 is so far away. There will be two Christmases between now and then. You'll probably have two birthdays (I'll have six, but that's another story for another time. Let's just say I'm in college but was born in 2004.) before LeBron is even a possibility. In that time, James may be be elected to state office in Ohio, enroll in Akron University and work toward his degree, or grow an ornamental appendage to fend off predators. You think the Knicks would want LeBron if he had antlers? (Yes, definitely, but I'm trying to make a point here). Let's chill a little bit, eh? I've got a solution to help you do just that.

Here it is. It's Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil. It "will find a teen such as Red Riding Hood who will be training in a distant land with a mysterious, covert group called the Sister Hoods. When Red and the Wolf get called upon by Nick Flippers the head of the Happily Ever After Agency over to investigate the disappearance of Hansel and Gretel". I'm sure it's gonna be just as great as Hoodwinked the first. And guess when it comes out? 2010! Thus, if you really must focus your hopes on an event two years in the future, pick this one. It's more concrete, bound to please, and doesn't make the New York media tweak their nipples in delight.

2010 is going to change this organization, LeBron or not, but it's too far down the road to be making such a fuss. So save your breath, settle down, and shuffle your next decade's schedule in anticipation of some animated fun for the whole family.