Starbury Accuses Teammates of Betrayal

The Stephon Marbury business is almost over, promise. (Well ... ) In today's New York Post, Marc Berman talks with world's greatest point guard about the role his Knicks teammates played in the bitter fight between Marbury and coach Mike D'Antoni.

"When things got bad and then worse, guys like Quentin Richardson say, 'I don't consider him a teammate. He let his teammates out to dry.' He didn't care I was his teammate when I was banished. They left me out for dead. It's like we're in a foxhole and I'm facing the other way. If I got shot in the head, at least you want to get shot by the enemy. I got shot in the head by my own guys in my foxhole. And they didn't even give me an honorable death."

For clarity, Q said he didn't consider Starbury a teammate after Starbury reportedly declined D'Antoni's request to play when the Knicks were down to seven healthy players -- and only two healthy guards -- on Friday. Perhaps Marbury has a point about the earlier stages of the tiff -- perhaps teammates should have stuck their necks out a bit more. Surely the team is better with Marbury available for action. He's not a complete basketball disaster.

But at this point, Richardson can't be blamed for his stance. The situation has gotten the team into its current mess (short-handed and pissed off), but Marbury has been the biggest culprit in making it worse. He has a right to defend himself in the court of public opinion, but we have a right to think he's full of it when he compares himself to a soldier killed by his countrymen.