One game after being benched for most of the fourth quarter in a loss to the Nets, Stephon Marbury seemingly took himself out of the Knicks' offense. Was it a coincidence or cause and effect?

Knicks coach Larry Brown sounded mystified by Marbury's failure to get his normal share of shots, points and assists. But Marbury said he was content to let Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford carry the offense while he tried to play the traditional point-guard role in the Knicks' 105-95 loss to Orlando last night at TD Waterhouse Centre.

The Knicks allowed the Magic to shoot 52.8 percent, gave up 23 points on 18 turnovers, were outscored 20-7 on the fast break and had zero steals to 14 for the Magic. Ordinarily, Marbury would be more involved in the offense, especially in the late stages. But he took only three shots in the first three quarters and finished with five points on 0-for-7 shooting while totaling a mere three assists and no steals.

"I think he just didn't want to shoot the ball," Brown said. "I thought he'd have 15 to 20 assists [if he wasn't shooting]. It's just one of those nights. Maybe he didn't feel like he was on."

Asked if Marbury deferred too much to Curry, Brown said, "I don't know. I know he was 0-for-7 with three assists in 41 minutes. That's tough. But he tried to guard. It's just one of those things."

This isn't the first time Marbury has struggled to find his place in Brown's offense, but the coach sounded puzzled as to why Marbury wasn't more aggressive in finding his shot.

"You know, he's got the ball all the time," Brown said. "I ran probably as much stuff for him tonight as I have at any time. It's just one of those nights. Maybe he didn't feel like he had it. But we got three assists and no steals."

After a postgame briefing from the public relations department, a bemused Marbury looked at the crowd of reporters waiting for him and said, "Uh-oh, something must have happened." Then, he wrote off his performance as a poor shooting night. "Tonight, I was just trying to do everything that coach wanted me to do as far as running the team," Marbury said.