STEPH ‘TOEING’ THE LINE
PHILADELPHIA – Stephon Marbury has a bad case of “turf toe” and canceled his Caribbean All-Star Weekend plans for treatment, The Post has learned.
With Marbury already plagued with a tendinitis-wracked knee, the turf toe on the big toe of his right foot presents now and even stronger problem, especially on the second nights of back-to-backs. The Knicks have nine more sets of back-to-backs, including last night’s conclusion set against Orlando and Philadelphia.
Marbury, who turned 30 on Tuesday, said at this point, his toe feels way worse than the knee and there’s still a chance he might have to miss games to rest it. Marbury had 12 points with four assists, three steals and one turnover in last night’s 104-84 loss to the 76ers.
Marbury developed turf toe during the West Coast trip before the break. It’s an injury that only goes away with long-term rest.
“My toe’s bothering me,” Marbury said. “I’m trying to go out and do what I’m supposed to do. At this point of the year, me getting turf toe, that was just freaky. It isn’t something like a lingering injury from my knee. That’s something that just happened.”
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Unless the Knicks land Kevin Garnett or Vince Carter at today’s 3 p.m. deadline, it looks as if Isiah Thomas’ prediction will come true – they’ll stand pat.
But Thomas and team officials have given enough hints the past few weeks that the club has inquired about Garnett, who can opt out of his contract after the 2007-2008 season. The Knicks did their due diligence and called the Nets about Carter, according to sources. The chance of landing Garnett would seem infinitesimal at this juncture because the Knicks can’t even offer Wolves expiring contracts any longer because they bought out Maurice Taylor and Jalen Rose in training camp. A package centered around Channing Frye is unlikely to be enough.
The Wolves would rather trade point guard Mike James, the kind of shooter Thomas needs. Chucky Atkins, Sebastian Telfair and Juan Dixon are being shopped, but the Knicks won’t trade a youth.
“I don’t see anything on the horizon,” Thomas said. “I’m very comfortable with what we have in the locker room. That being said, if one of the top four, five players is made available, we all understand that.”

