The latest refusal came before Wednesday's game in Detroit.

"I think I already told you, I asked him to play," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, who needed bodies after Nate Robinson got hurt earlier in the week. "We just asked. You're a coach, and we needed him to play. 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 disputes the story and plans to appeal.

He was interviewed on WNBC television and claimed D'Antoni never told him to play against the Pistons and noted there was no uniform in his locker.

"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."

He also declined to play against Milwaukee the previous week after the Knicks dealt three players and were left with seven healthy bodies.

It's unclear whether Monday's conversation will yield a divorce settlement. Marbury has been a source of constant aggravation for the past two seasons, but Walsh has been reluctant to give the Brooklyn native a settlement.

KNICKS 138, WARRIORS 125: Defense was clearly optional Saturday.

David Lee spent most of the night finishing with two hands on the rim. He posted career highs with 37 points and 21 rebounds. Chris Duhon had a hand in quite a few of the easy buckets and set a franchise record with 22 assists.

"Chris Duhon did a great job of finding me on the pick-and-roll," Lee said. "And he found me about 18 or 20 times."

Duhon also found Al Harrington quite a few times, and the recent acquisition scored 36 points against his former team.

Lee scored 20 points in the first half, and the Knicks had an 82-64 lead at the intermission. It's the most productive first half in the history of the present Madison Square Garden. The Knicks reached 100 points with five minutes to go in the third quarter.