Francis 27 Marbury had since in his first game in NY so how did Marbury touch Francis.
Recap
New York vs. Houston
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Rockets ruin Marbury's home debut with Knicks
Jan. 8, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports
NEW YORK -- Chants of "Fire Chaney" echoed through Madison Square Garden on a night that was supposed to be all about Stephon Marbury's home debut and Jeff Van Gundy's return.
In a game that turned into a blowout just moments after the opening tip, Van Gundy's Houston Rockets scored 23 of the game's first 25 points to humiliate the revamped New York Knicks 111-79 on Thursday night.
"Awful, awful," Chaney said. "We played like strangers at both ends of the floor."
The buzz that filled the building turned into boos in a matter of minutes as Chaney's team came out flat. The first "Fire Chaney" chant began with 6:49 remaining in the first quarter after the Knicks fell behind 19-2, and the chant was revived and got louder several times.
"I didn't hear it. I heard a chant, but I didn't know what they were saying. I found out later," Chaney said. "It's a good chant. We stunk."
The loss was the fourth in a row for the Knicks, their second straight since acquiring Marbury and Penny Hardaway in an eight-player trade with Phoenix.
Marbury played poorly for the second straight game, scoring six points on 3-for-12 shooting. His lowlight came late in the third quarter when he went up softly on a two-on-one break and had his layup rejected on a spectacular leap by Steve Francis.
"I would never think it would happen this bad," Marbury said. "We cannot dwell on this. After a win, this all goes away."
Francis dominated the point guard matchup, scoring 27 points with six assists and three steals. Every Houston starter reached double figures, with Jim Jackson getting 21, Yao Ming scoring 15, Cuttino Mobley adding 14 and Kelvin Cato 10. The victory margin matched Houston's largest of the season.
Moochie Norris and Keith Van Horn had 17 points to lead the Knicks.
The Rockets made their first seven shots and eventually went ahead 23-2 after Francis dribbled through three defenders for a virtually uncontested layup. Marbury did not have an assist in the first quarter, and he didn't make his first basket until converting a tip-in with 10 seconds left in a first quarter that ended with the Rockets ahead 31-14.
Van Gundy shook his head in disgust midway through the second quarter as the "Fire Chaney" chant broke out again. Van Gundy never endured that kind of treatment from the New York fans when he was the Knicks coach -- even after he quit with two seasons remaining on his contract.
When he first returned to the Garden on the night the Knicks retired Patrick Ewing's number, Van Gundy got the second-loudest ovation.
"The chant was totally unfair," he said. "We know all about the good part of coaching. In New York, that (the chant) is the bad part. That game had nothing to do with coaching."
Van Gundy received another warm ovation before this game, sitting stone-faced on the bench while the crowd cheered. That reception, however, paled in comparison to the one Marbury received during player introductions.
After what transpired in the first few minutes of the game, however, they were the last ovations of any kind.
Marbury had the initials TYT written on his ankle tape, an acronym for "Take Your Time." But with the Knicks dropping to 14-23, team president Isiah Thomas trying to make more personnel moves and the fans already targeting Marbury's coach, patience at the Garden is in short supply.
"Our fans were ready to be very supportive tonight and we just didn't get the job done," Knicks forward Kurt Thomas said.
More than half the crowd was gone by the time the final buzzer sounded and Van Gundy knocked fists with Ewing, one of his assistants, before walking off wearing a satisfied smirk.
"I was ready to go," Chaney said, "and I was surprised our guys didn't get up for a game that had a playoff-type atmosphere."
Chaney took over as coach following Van Gundy's abrupt resignation Dec. 8, 2001, that stunned the Knicks organization. Publicly, Van Gundy said he had simply lost his focus, though he told his players he had personal issues he needed to address. Chaney has compiled a record of 71-111 with the Knicks.
Allan Houston said he still hasn't gotten over the way Van Gundy left, noting that a player with similar problems would have been treated differently.
"I'm not saying his situation didn't call for what happened. But players can't have personal things and say, 'I'm done.' In that way, I have mixed feelings," Houston said.
Notes
Houston, the league's leading foul shooter, missed two from the line in the second quarter -- just his ninth and 10th misses of the season.
Jackson, an 89 percent free-throw shooter, was fouled on a 3-point attempt and missed all three foul shots.
A fan behind the Houston bench got the dour-faced Van Gundy to laugh when he yelled to the coach: "Hey Jeff, you smile on Christmas?"
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
The Knicks starting lineup watches the loss to the Rockets with the rest of the sold-out crowd.(AP)
Scoreboard
Final 1 2 3 4 T
Houston ? 31 23 32 25 111
New York 14 23 23 19 79
HOU:S. Francis 27 Pts
HOU:M. Taylor 9 Reb
HOU:S. Francis 6 Ast NY:K. Van Horn 17 Pts
NY:K. Van Horn 11 Reb
NY:S. Marbury 10 Ast
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
New York Houston
M. Norris
S. Francis
Pts Rebs Ast Pts Rebs Ast
17 2 1 27 8 6
Houston Rockets
STARTERS M FG FT TR A PF PTS
S. Francis, PG 40 7-14 10-12 8 6 3 27
J. Jackson, SF 39 8-11 1-4 7 3 2 21
C. Mobley, SG 38 5-13 1-1 3 3 1 14
K. Cato, PF 27 2-6 6-6 7 0 4 10
Y. Ming, C 27 5-10 5-6 9 2 2 15
BENCH M FG FT TR A PF PTS
M. Taylor, PF 27 5-9 5-6 9 1 3 15
E. Piatkowski, SG 17 1-6 0-0 2 0 0 3
S. Padgett, PF 15 1-1 0-0 1 1 5 2
M. Wilks, PG 8 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 2
B. Nachbar, SF 2 1-1 0-0 1 0 0 2
C. Weatherspoon, PF Did Not Play
Totals 35-71 30-37 48 16 22 111
49.3% 81.1%
Complete Box Score
New York Knicks
STARTERS M FG FT TR A PF PTS
S. Marbury, PG 41 3-12 0-0 4 10 2 6
K. Van Horn, SF 37 6-12 3-4 11 1 4 17
A. Houston, SG 26 3-11 1-3 5 0 2 8
D. Mutombo, C 25 2-2 2-2 6 0 2 6
K. Thomas, PF 16 1-7 4-6 2 0 4 6
BENCH M FG FT TR A PF PTS
S. Anderson, SF 28 3-11 4-4 3 2 2 11
M. Norris, PG 26 6-11 1-2 2 1 2 17
A. Hardaway, SG 25 1-8 3-4 4 1 1 5
O. Harrington, PF 13 1-3 0-0 3 0 2 2
C. Trybanski, C 3 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 1
F. Williams, PG Did Not Play
Totals 26-78 19-27 40 15 21 79
33.3% 70.4%
Complete Box Score
OTHER GAMES
Port 75 Final
Min 96
