Marbury Back at Practice, Plans To Play Tonight
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Knicks guard Stephon Marbury returned to practice yesterday after missing a week while mourning the death of his father.
Marbury plans to play today when the Knicks host the Indiana Pacers. He had missed four straight games after briefly trying to return following the December 2 death of his father, Donald.
Looking noticeably thinner, Marbury said he started working out again a few days ago. He has appeared in just two of the past seven games.
“Eventually I was going to have to get back into it,” Marbury said. “So I knew that I was going to have to start working out and getting myself back into it mentally and emotionally.”
Marbury acknowledged it was difficult going back to Madison Square Garden last Saturday night, where his father was watching the Knicks’ loss to Phoenix on December 2 when he began experiencing chest pains. Don Marbury was taken to a hospital and died before the game ended. Stephon Marbury was told of his father’s death minutes after the final buzzer. He missed the next game, then played in the next two after the funeral. The latter was at the Garden, and Marbury was not with the Knicks the next day for practice.
