By MARC BERMAN

I am sure Donnie Walsh has a recurring nightmare, waking up in a cold sweat after dreaming about the 2009 NBA Finals Trophy presentation, with Kevin Garnett joyously handing over the hardware to a cigar-toting, champagne-drenched Stephon Marbury.

Maybe that happens. Maybe it doesn’t. Point is, Walsh did the right thing today and let Marbury loose. It wasn’t Walsh’s wish to have it end this way. He truly wanted Marbury as part of the program when training camp opened. Walsh doesn’t coach the team and he went with Mike D’Antoni’s wishes and D’Antoni’s wish was to nip any potential controversy in the bud. Everybody looked bad.

We’ll never know what would’ve been, but I do know Marbury was unfairly blamed for 23-59 when he played just 24 games, a handful of them after his father had just died, another handful of them with bone chips in his ankle.

The Knicks won 23 games last season not because Marbury played but because he didn’t play. Isiah Thomas never forgave Marbury for his performance at the sexual harassment trial and you can take that to the bank.

Walsh didn’t have to let Marbury go today. Less than four weeks into the regular season, Marbury had his chance to be a D’Antoni regular and turned his back on his hometown franchise, unable to forgive and forget. That made Marbury human, but also took away much of the sympathy he had gained among Knicks fans.

Now Larry Hughes tries to play the role Marbury could’ve had on Thanksgiving Eve and he is already getting booed. In truth, that is also one of the reasons Marbury did not accept D’Antoni’s offer. He didn’t want to be blamed for another season if things went awry.

He’ll gets his fresh start in Boston and try to win a title. He hasn’t played a regular-season game since January 11th. You saw what Hughes looked like after a month off.

But I think he’ll ultimately be OK in a limited role. After five months of ugliness, maybe it still can work out for both sides. Maybe even Marbury can return to the Garden as the villain in Round 1 and it could all be about basketball again for everyone.