Stephon Marbury saw three people close to him pass away within a matter of weeks at the end of 2007, and sought out a psychiatrist to help cope.

"I found myself going through so many things at one time that it got to the point where it was too much," Marbury admitted on Sunday.

"When it got to that point, I was like, 'I got to get some help.' When I did, I got back to the place where I was able to pick myself back up.

"This girl told me, 'Stephon, the hardest thing to do is pick yourself back up after you get hit by a Mack truck.' I was like, 'Yeah, but [skeptics] don't understand it and they don't get it because they're not going through it. When they go through it, they have a better understanding.' I have a better understanding and know when people are going through it. I can see it."

The passing of Marbury's mentor, Robert Williams, his aunt, Helen Thomas, and his father, Don, greatly affected the guard.

"I didn't even know I was mentally ill from all that I went through," Marbury said. "I didn't know. I was just fighting through it every day. I just broke down and said, 'I can't do this anymore. I need help.' You know when you need help? It's when you can't go to your mother or the people that love you unconditionally to talk to them about feeling better and getting your mind back.

"That's when I knew I was sick. I was mentally ill, man. I was like, 'I got a problem.' "

Marbury said that getting help has allowed him to make peace with himself, and the losses he's had to deal with.