Following a sedentary first half, star point guard Stephon Marbury’s historic third quarter (20 points on 7-7 shooting including 18 straight Knicks points, 3-3 treys, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal) put the Knicks in a position to corral the big win. New York led 78-69 with 7:51 to go in the game but, with Marbury taken out for a brief rest, the team lost major momentum and had just one single field goal over the next seven minutes. “In the end, we just didn’t have enough to sustain,” Coach Isiah Thomas said.

“I had to take Steph out to give him a blow for a second,” added Thomas. ”He was pretty winded. And when he is out of the game, sometimes we don’t have enough on the perimeter.”

Yes, the Knicks were missing Jamal Crawford (as well as Quentin Richardson, David Lee and Steve Francis) from the lineup once again, this time quite desperately. The Knicks overly-reliant-on-Marbury attack was the direct cause of the series of poor possessions they had down the home stretch. But where else could they have gone in their depleted state?

Rookie Mardy Collins, not (yet) a premiere perimeter threat, shot 4-13 (1-5 from trey range) while starting and playing 43 minutes. Nate Robinson -- just 5-9, just 22 years old, just a second-year player -- was just 3-9. In fact, the only other outstanding Knick in this game was rookie Renaldo Balkman -- and he’s no outside shooter.

“I wanted to play but, at the same time, I was just running up and down the court for four or five minutes straight,” Marbury said of the breather he took during that crucial stretch. “I got winded. I think it was a great move on Isiah’s part taking me out.”

“If we made a couple of shots we wouldn’t even be talking about that.”

But there was no one to make those shots, not even the whirling-dervish Balkman who had himself a spectacular career game. In the first half he already had a double double (10 points, 11 rebounds plus 2 steals) -- then he really got going, finishing with 17 points and a career-high 16 rebounds (7 offensive) in 30 minutes of time off the pine.

Characteristically, he was more willing to talk about his defense after clamping down on like a 6-7 octopus on Andre Miller on what turned out to be the Sixers’ game-winning shot. “I changed his shot,” Balkman winced in visible agony. ”We played great defense -- but the thing still went in.”

“You know me, I’m all about playing hard, not scoring.”

Without Balkman’s omnipresent high wire act, the Knicks would have been down 20 after the first half. His double double -- surely one of very few for a Knicks rookie throughout history -- kept the offensively struggling Knicks in it, trailing 46-39.

Then Marbury made his run. And then the Knicks simply ran out of weapons.

Marbury finished with 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, while Eddy Curry provided some inside balance with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Collins, in his first-ever NBA start, contributed 9 points and 4 assists and played some exquisitely well timed, hard-nosed defense.

“Sometimes it’s tough when you are playing well but things still don’t go the way you’d like,” said Marbury. “At the same time, I see the upside as far as the progression of Renaldo and Mardy. How they are playing right now is amazing. They took giant steps. There is definitely something to be positive about.”