Eighth Place Will Wait As Knicks Fall to Sonics
"Stephon Marbury missed a free throw with nine-tenths of a second left on the clock last night -- a moment painful enough to make him pull his jersey over his head. The Knicks would learn an hour later how costly it was.
On a night when the Knicks missed 14 free throws, Marbury's was simply the last and the most dramatic. It closed out a 100-99 loss against the Seattle SuperSonics, disappointing a spirited Madison Square Garden crowd that had roared as the Knicks erased an 18-point deficit.
The loss ended a seven-game home winning streak that began in late January. It also prevented the Knicks (28-34) from leapfrogging over the Nets (28-33), who lost in Dallas, and into the eighth, and final, playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Seven weeks from now, the Knicks may regret losses such as this one. Last night, Coach Isiah Thomas took the long view.
''I'm not frustrated,'' he said. ''As I told you guys before the game, there's a lot of basketball that's left to be played. This game wasn't the end-all, be-all game for us by no means.''
The Knicks have 20 games left, which means Thomas may have to concede that some of these missed opportunities could keep them out of the playoffs.
The ending marred what had otherwise been a splendid performance for Marbury, who has gone into overdrive since Jamal Crawford was lost to a season-ending ankle injury last week. Marbury scored 40 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, and made 8 of 11 3-pointers.
Marbury's 3-point play with 42.8 seconds left gave the Knicks their last lead, 98-97. But he missed a 3-point attempt from 28 feet that could have sealed the victory. With 4.8 seconds left, Seattle's Rashard Lewis made a 3-pointer that proved to be the winner.
Marbury had gone 5 for 5 at the line when he drove the lane and drew a foul from Ray Allen with nine-tenths of a second left. Marbury made the first shot and stared stoically ahead as he waited for the second one.
After the ball rattled out and the buzzer sounded, Marbury turned away and pulled up his jersey. Quentin Richardson put his arm around him and patted him on the back as they walked off the court.
''I was thinking it was good,'' Marbury said of the moment the ball left his hand. Asked if he was stunned when it bounced out, he said: ''I mean, I missed. I've missed free throws before.''
Said Thomas: ''This is not about the last free throw that's missed. This is about going 24 for 38 from the foul line.''
Three SuperSonics scored at least 20 points: Allen (29), Lewis (24) and Earl Watson (23). They combined for 13 3-pointers. Marbury, who played all but 1 minute 13 seconds of the game, had no such help around him.
With Crawford out, Marbury has become the Knicks' go-to scorer and playmaker. Richardson, who has battled a stiff back lately, went 5 for 15 and finished with 12 points. Eddy Curry, who has struggled without Crawford's shot-making and creative passing, scored 15 points.
Curry was one of the Knicks' worst culprits at the line. He missed 5 of 10 free throws, including 2 early in the fourth quarter. Steve Francis, who scored 10 points, also missed 2 free throws in the fourth. Malik Rose missed another. Jared Jeffries missed all 4 of his attempts, all in the first half.
''You're up there at the line and you miss two or you miss 1 of 2 and it's like, you have a feeling it's going to bite you at the end,'' Curry said. ''It hurts. This loss hurts.''
Seattle led by as many as 18 points early in the third quarter, but the Knicks chipped away. In the fourth quarter, the Knicks scored their first 8 points of the period from the foul line (while missing 5 other free throws). They finally got their first field goal of the quarter on a Marbury layup with 6:49 remaining.
REBOUNDS
The Knicks had hoped to have David Lee back, but his sprained ankle was still too tender; he missed his sixth consecutive game. It was the Knicks' fourth game in a row without Jamal Crawford (ankle surgery) and Nate Robinson (stomach virus).  Lenny Wilkens returned to the Garden for the first time since he was forced to resign as Knicks coach two years ago. He greeted the occasion with a shrug. ''You know how many times I've been in this building?'' said Wilkens, who is now a broadcaster and vice chairman for the Sonics. He expressed no animosity toward the Knicks, but said he was not given a fair shot with the Knicks. ''I think they're a whole lot better talent than I had,'' he said. ''And I got us to the playoffs. I tell you, I would have liked to have that kind of talent.'' Asked about his relationship with Isiah Thomas, Wilkens demurred. ''Before I was hired, we didn't hang out, and we don't hang out now,'' he said. The Knicks are in the hunt for their first playoff berth since 2004, when Wilkens was the coach. ''Unfortunately, the kind of year that the N.B.A. is experiencing, everybody has a chance to make the playoffs,'' Wilkens said.
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