MINNEAPOLIS – The beginning arrives as a gift, for both of them. For the point guard, it is an opportunity to etch his name, for real, alongside the platinum legacies of all the players who came before him, some of whom he grew up worshipping as a Coney Island kid with stars in his eyes and stardust in his sneakers.
For the franchise, it is something else, and something better: a chance to finally crawl out from the moribund miseries that have choked the past few years. The official NBA record says the Knicks made the playoffs last year, but it’s sure hard to recall even one memorable moment from that blightful blur.
So tonight brings a new dawn for Stephon Marbury. Tonight brings a new dawn for the Knicks. Together they can give the city game back to the city, which is about as big a basketball aspiration as you can ask for around here.
“I think we can be a really good team that can go a long way, I really believe that,” Marbury said yesterday after the Knicks completed their final preseason practice at their facility in Westchester County, before they boarded the team charter bound for tonight’s season opener with the Timberwolves. “We’ve had more time to play together now, more time to learn about each other. I think you’re going to see a big difference.”
It was supposed to be an ideal marriage from the start, when Isiah Thomas engineered the deal that brought Marbury home last January. There were some serious potholes along the way. There was the four-game sweep against the Nets including one game, Game 3 at the Garden, that probably would have given the Knicks at least a little taste of success had Marbury not left his “A” game home.
The plan is, there will be other opportunities.
The plan is, Marbury finally will find the stage, at age 27, to reach the great good place that’s been predicted for him for so long. The Knicks need that in the worst way. They need a new face for this franchise that’s searched so long for the next new face.
The last one, Latrell Sprewell, was in the Minnesota papers the other day, reminding Knicks fans why he never was worthy of their affections, or of their retroactive nostalgia.
“Why would I want to help them win a title?” said Sprewell, who’s unhappy with the fact the Timberwolves have not offered him half the team’s coffers as fair compensation. “They’re not doing anything for me. I’ve got a lot at risk here. I’ve got my family to feed. Anything can happen; it’s a long season. You never know.”
That is the ghoul of the Knicks’ past. Regardless of what happens tonight, it really is time to accept that, for everyone’s sake, and move on.
Regardless of what happens tonight, it is time for Marbury to seize this gift that’s been bestowed upon him, upon his team. It’s time. Even if Marbury isn’t exactly ready to say so.
“Next question,” Marbury said when asked if the Knicks were officially his team.
Which is fine. He doesn’t have to talk about the role. He just needs to live it. Every night.
He endured a humbling summer, a prominent member of the U.S. Olympic basketball team that had to scratch and scrimp its way to a bronze medal. Marbury suffered some high-profile meltdowns against Carlos Arroyo, but he also had enough glittery moments to remind you of all he’s capable of being: scorer, passer, leader.
The Knicks need every one of those things at a time when Marbury should be ready to settle, at last, into the kind of career everyone has been waiting for. The bursts of brilliance won’t be enough, not anymore. For Marbury to fully achieve the destiny that all of basketball New York predicted for him all those years ago, he needs to start playing that role every night.
Starting tonight.
“I’m ready,” Marbury said. “I think we all are.”
—
Opening night
KNICKS at T’WOLVES
Tonight, 8:00
MSG, ESPN
(1050 AM)
*
KNICKS 2004-05 ROSTER
No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt.
1 Anfernee Hardaway G-F 6-7 215
3 Stephon Marbury G 6-2 200
5 Tim Thomas F 6-10 240
11 Jamal Crawford G 6-5 190
13 Nazr Mohammed C 6-10 250
21 Trevor Ariza F 6-8 200
25 Moochie Norris G 6-1 185
31 Jerome Williams F-C 6-9 206
40 Kurt Thomas F 6-9 235
42 Vin Baker F 6-11 240
49 Shandon Anderson G-F 6-6 210
50 Mike Sweetney F 6-8 275
Injured list
2 Jamison Brewer G 6-4 195
14 Bruno Sundov C 7-2 260
20 Allan Houston G 6-6 205
