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Knicks top Jazz on Marbury's layup at the buzzer

Dec 19, 2006 - 5:17 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Stephon Marbury saved his best for last to brighten a dark day for the New York Knicks.

Marbury scored on a driving layup at the buzzer to finish with 29 points and David Lee added 17 with a career-high 20 rebounds as the Knicks rallied for a 97-96 overtime victory over the Denver Nuggets.

The Knicks were forced to play with just eight players after Commissioner David Stern disciplined four for their role in Saturday's brawl against the Denver Nuggets.

Nate Robinson was suspended for 10 games, Mardy Collins was penalized for six and Jared Jeffries four. Jerome James served a one-game suspension for leaving the bench during the altercation and the team was fined $500,000.

"It's a great win for all of us, our fans and everybody, considering what is going on with our team here," Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said. "We were shorthanded, undermanned and we were playing against an excellent basketball team. Our guys just kept battling and battling."

Entering averaging just 11.5 points, Marbury had his second straight solid offensive performance after scoring 31 Saturday against Denver. He made 9-of-20 shots and added eight assists in this one.

"This was a big win for us because we down in numbers," Marbury said. "Guys didn't show any type of fatigue. This game is pride, period. We knew those guys were going to come out. We never once backed down."

Deron Williams hit a long jumper from the left wing with three seconds left in overtime to give the Jazz a 96-95 lead. Marbury took the inbounds pass, raced the length of the court and hit a finger-roll in the lane as time expired.

"When David (Lee) got the ball on me, I seen we both had eye contact with each other and I saw that everybody was back in the frontcourt, so I just took off," Marbury said.

"Stephon made a great cut," Lee said. "I looked at Jamal (Crawford) first and Jamal was covered and then Stephon just put his arms up. He was headed towards the other end, which is what you want to do in the first place. You want to have a chance to get down there as quickly as possible and I just made the pass."

The Jazz were a little surprised the Knicks did not call timeout after Williams' basket and continued play.

"We've done that a number of times where we don't call a timeout and that's the result of it sometimes," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "If you come and hesitate for a second, there's no time to celebrate and that's kind of what happened."

"You've got to be disciplined," Williams said. "If I take a shot or I go to the basket, someone has to rotate back and protect the backcourt."

After Mehmet Okur sank a 3-pointer for the Jazz with 1:59 to play in overtime, Crawford and Williams traded baskets from the arc, tying the game, 94-94, with 1:15 to play. Marbury hit 1-of-2 free throws with 53 seconds for New York.

Marbury hit a short running jumper with 5:39 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Knicks an 80-70 lead before Utah came back with a 10-2 run. Andrei Kirilenko hit four free throws and Okur nailed back-to-back 3-pointers, to bring the Jazz within 82-80 with 2:21 left.

After Marbury went 1-of-2 from the foul line with 25 seconds to play, Williams made a driving layup to cut Utah's deficit to 83-82 just eight seconds later. Crawford sank a pair of free throws for the Knicks before Williams forced overtime by burying a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in regulation.

Crawford scored 18 points and Channing Frye added 10 for the Knicks, who won their fifth consecutive encounter against Utah. "You can say what you want about us," Frye said. "We just want to come out and play hard. What do we have to lose now? We have pride. We stepped up and played the way we needed to play."

Williams and Carlos Boozer scored 23 points and Okur added 19 for the Jazz, who failed to hold a 14-point first-quarter lead.

"We came out and started out pretty good, execution-wise and intensity-wise," Williams said. "We got out with a lead but they came back and played a heck of a ballgame. They outhustled us. They outrebounded us and they brought more energy than us."

Boozer made 6-of-9 shots to score 17 points in the opening period, including 11 in a 17-7 burst, as the Jazz ended the quarter with a 34-20 advantage.

However, Utah allowed the Knicks to roar back by missing 16 consecutive shots in a 9:30 span bridging the first two quarters, while scoring just 10 points in the second. Marbury scored nine points in the quarter and Lee finished the half with 13 and 12 rebounds as the Knicks took a 46-44 lead at the break.

Marbury opened the second half by scoring New York's first six points and later added a 3-pointer midway through the quarter. Crawford finished the third with two dunks sandwiched around a basket from the arc to help give the Knicks a 66-61 edge.