Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) The New York Knicks suspended Stephon Marbury for one game and docked him nearly $400,000 in salary Friday after claiming he refused.

Ongoing feud: Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury hasn't played this season, and now the club is fining him $ 400,000 because it said he refused to play on Wednesday against the Pistons. AP PHOTO

The disgruntled guard insists he never told coach Mike D'Antoni "no" and plans to appeal.

Just another chapter in Marbury's turbulent tenure with his hometown team.

D'Antoni wouldn't go into specifics of their conversation that took place before Wednesday's loss in Detroit, though he made it clear he asked the point guard to play because the Knicks were short-handed.

"I don't want to get into it, guys. I think I already told you, I asked him to play. We just asked. You're a coach, and we needed him to play," D'Antoni said after practice Friday. "So I don't really have a whole lot to say. There's nothing I can say right now. I've already said the piece and what I said from my viewpoint is what happened. So we'll just leave it at that."

Marbury will not be paid when he sits out Saturday's home game against Golden State and will lose an additional game's pay for Wednesday's actions. He earns about $21 million in salary this year, drawing about $190,000 a game.

Marbury was not at the team's practice facility Friday.

"A player's central obligation is to provide his professional services when called upon," Knicks president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. "Because he refused the coach's request to play in the team's last game, we had no choice but to impose disciplinary action."

Walsh was in Indiana for the holiday but is expected to address the issue before Saturday's game.

Marbury told NBC's Bruce Beck in an interview Friday there wasn't even a jersey in his locker in Detroit and he was "shocked" he was "suspended for no reason."

Marbury added he and D'Antoni spoke Wednesday morning and "basically went our separate ways."

"I never told him I was not going to play," Marbury said. "That's basically why I'm getting suspended. If I were to have said I'm not going to play, that's an automatic suspension, which I basically got suspended anyway."

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