KNICK NOTES

ATLANTA – Quentin Richardson and Eddy Curry were a dazzling outside-inside punch. David Lee was at his scrappy best. Stephon Marbury had his moments. Steve Francis?

Let’s just say he tried Wednesday night. Francis fouled out in the first overtime after scoring just two points in 34 minutes, shooting 0 for 6, including a blown layup and committing five turnovers. Francis bounced the ball off his foot with 1:15 left that led to a Rudy Gay layup that climaxed a 19-point fourth-quarter Knick collapse.

Thomas exonerated Francis, however. And Francis didn’t think he had a bad showing. “I don’t have to score to be effective on the basketball court,” Francis said. “That’s how I am. If I score two or score 30, as long as the team wins, I’m happy with it.” After the buzzer sounded, Thomas put his arm around Francis and told him he followed the game plan, no worries.

“It’s not about the box score for us,” Thomas said. “The way we play offensively, if you’re taking Eddy away inside and the guards, it opens up wing players and ‘Q’ jumps up and gets 30. If he’s looking at the box score, he should be thinking they took mine away and it opened up for my teammates. It’s a about sacrificing for the team, not [the] stat sheet.” Francis is trying to lock his ego in the trunk.

But what happens when Jared Jeffries gets healthy and if Richardson continues to be very solid? Thomas would have to consider benching Francis and starting Richardson at shooting guard.

“I’ve had five different coaches the last five seasons, five different backcourt mates,” Francis said. “So it’s the offensive system [that] is more of an adjustment.

“I’m at a point of my career winning is the most important thing. Fortunate for me, I don’t have to worry about finances. The most important thing to me is to win games.”

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Marbury left after his freshman year at Georgia Tech, where the Knicks practiced yesterday.

Marbury said he never had intentions of spending more than one season there. He admits openly he went to Georgia Tech to become a professional basketball player, not a chemical engineer.

Marbury led Georgia Tech to the Sweet 16 and an ACC regular-season championship.

“People thought I might come out after high school,” Marbury said. “But going to school one year definitely gave me some stability, different atmosphere, different life.”

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Jamal Crawford knows he would have been the goat had the Knicks lost in Memphis after missing potential game-winners at the end of regulation and first two overtimes. But he made the clutch steal in the final 20 seconds. “I shot terrible, but I tried to do whatever I could to get the team a win,” Crawford said.