PHOENIX – The good news for the Knicks is that Tim Thomas won’t need Tommy John surgery. The bad news is that Thomas missed the final 44 minutes of last night’s game after hyperextending his right elbow on the game’s first possession.

Just when Thomas was starting to emerge after his Sacramento breakout game the night before, the Knicks had to go without him against a hungry Sun team that had lost eight straight and viewed last night’s game against returning Stephon Marbury as its Super Bowl.

Falling behind by 22 points in the second quarter, the Knicks never gave the Suns a true fight, allowed them to dance to the basket and never got within single digits in the second half in dropping their fourth straight since the trade deadline – a 113-95 Phoenix walkover.

It’s all falling to pieces now, and Thomas, who can’t lift his arm over his head, may miss tomorrow vs. the Clippers.

“Mentally, we weren’t there,” Knick coach Lenny Wilkens said. “We played a tough game [Tuesday], but pride and focus has to take over. You can’t allow a team to control the boards like that and run out on you. It was a terrible effort.”

Marbury, who got an ovation during intros, was rather quiet in a 15-point, 13-assist, 7-of-19 effort. And he’s missing Allan Houston, who missed his 12th straight game.

“Now we’re pretty much back to square one,” Marbury said. “I can’t even penetrate. Things will be much easier when Allan comes back.”

On the game’s first possession, Thomas caught his elbow between two players as he chased Shawn Marion through a screen. He kept playing for four minutes, seemingly dragging his arm around before asking to be taken out with 8:32 left in the first after converting a fastbreak backpass dish from Marbury for a thunder dunk.

“Right this second, I can’t lift my arm over my head,” Thomas said. “Thank God we have a day off to get treatment.”

Thomas, who scored 33 in the Sacramento defeat, had a sore wrist entering the match.

“The elbow is killing me right now,” Thomas said.

Early in the fourth quarter, Antonio McDyess, playing his first game against the Knicks since he was traded, even rubbed it in, taking a Casey Jacobsen pass as he cut in the lane and jamming it home. In his third game since coming off the injured list, the former Knick had eight points and four rebounds in 16 minutes.

The Suns broke it open midway through the first, going on a 16-2 run.