Opening Night @ the Garden, Fans chant for Steph???

"We want Steph! We want Steph!" Um, I'm sorry, I thought you wanted to WIN! And if you want to win, then Steph is NOT who you want!

Fellow Knicks "fans" left me dazed at the Garden on Wednesday as they chanted for Stephon Marbury to come to the floor. D'Antoni paid no mind and left Steph where he belongs, warming the bench.

 The chants began when Chris Duhon commited his first turnover. Unintelligent fans are funny like that...one turnover and they start screaming for an even worse option than the one on the floor. My, oh my, how quickly they forgot how many costly turnovers Steph commited in the past seasons.

All in all, Duhon did a decent job. He had 9 points, dished 3 assists, grabbed 3 boards, and tallied one steal. I won't praise him on the defensive end, because his man did always seem to be a step ahead of him.

Nate Robinson contributed nicely off the bench. He added 13 points to the score board, had 7 assists , 3 rebounds, and grabbed 2 steals. That better-than-decent line in his 24 minutes of playing time leads me to ask, again, why is this man coming off the bench? Another blog at another time...

 With a solid game from Duhon and Robinson, I can't understand why fans were screaming for Steph. Marbury has been on the decline since the 2005-2006 season.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not denying that Stephon Marbury is a better talent than Nate Robinson or Chris Duhon. And, I do sincerely hope that he gets his act together and becomes the player we know he can be. However, when you can't lead a team and don't know how to make use of your talent, then what's the point in having it?! In the 2004-2005 season, Stephon was putting up 21.7 ppg, 8.1 apg, 3 rpg, and 1.5 spg. Those numbers have drastically dropped since then. Last season, "Starbury" put up 13.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.5 rpg, and .9 spg. A depressing stat line like that hardly deserves chants at the Garden. Where are your standards people?!?

 That said, I am content without him on my time. Mental toughness supersedes wasteful talent, so I would rather have Nate Robinson lead my team - a man who has the necessary ability to get his team energized when need be.

Now of course I would rather get my bang for my buck and get an all-star caliber point guard that is worth the money we are wasting on Steph, but that's a management mis-management. Not the first and not the last. We let good guards pass us in the draft and instead took Danillo who has yet to show me anything. I feel bad for all of the Italian hopefuls who were sitting in front of me on Wednesday, standing in anticipation every time he touched the ball....only to slowly sit right back down as he missed all of his attempts. Another blog, another time...

I guess I'm trying to tell these clueless fans not to shout for Stephon just because he is a brand name. Take some time to understand what Duhon and Nate are about. Bottom line...be careful what you wish for.