If Isiah Thomas' ultimate goal for benching Stephon Marbury was to teach his point guard a hard lesson, the Knicks' coach and president failed miserably.

Thomas announced yesterday that Marbury is a starter again, but the point guard continues to question why Thomas demoted him in the first place. "I mean, to be honest, not a whole lot came of it," Marbury said yesterday. "There's nothing good coming out of all of what went on."

Marbury's return to the starting lineup didn't help as the Knicks were embarrassed by the Warriors last night, 108-82, with the chants of "Fire Isiah" growing louder as the Knicks' deficit increased.

The Knicks (2-8) lost all three games that Marbury was used as a reserve while Thomas seemed to lose the faith of his locker room. The decision to bench Marbury after a 2-3 start never made much sense, and Marbury compounded matters by going AWOL for 24 hours.