Like shooting fish in a barrel

I should probably cap the number of posts per month in which I comment on the current state of the New York Knicks. The themes haven't really changed much all year. And yet, my sense of the narrative structure of tragedies is that there should always be some point when outrage and dispair turn into resignation.

Anyway, how much more dysfunctional can the team get?

Stephon Marbury, who has resisted Larry Brown's demands on and off all season, said in a published report yesterday that he plans to go back to playing like "Starbury," his description of the freelancing style he prefers.

In a pregame interview with the Newark Star-Ledger in Charlotte, Marbury said he tried to change his game to fit Brown's controlled style emphasizing ball movement and an inside-out attack in which the point guard creates open shots for others first, but the result is a 17-44 record rather than a winning season and a playoff berth.

"So what do I do now, as far as the way I play?" Marbury said in the interview. "I go back to playing like Stephon Marbury, aka 'Starbury.' I haven't been 'Starbury' this year. I've been some other dude this year ... When you watch the games, that's not Stephon Marbury."