After a long absence, Stephon Marbury finally showed up at Madison Square Garden last night, but the circumstances of his absence remain a mystery. “I ain’t got no comment to that,” was Marbury’s response when asked if Isiah had told him to stay away from the team. Marbury did add that he was happy to be “able” to be on the bench and support his teammates. Was that a reference to the ban or simply......

Photograph of Islanders celebrating a second period goal from Ruslan Fedotenko by Frank Franklin II/AP Islanders 4 Rangers 3 (Shootout): This was not a game for fans of goaltenders. Henrik Lundqvist was terrible, Wade Dubielewicz was too but better when it counted and the Islanders prevailed in a sloppy game. Blake Comeau got things started when he scored by throwing the puck off of Michal Rozsival to put the Islanders in front. The Rangers......

Knicks 113 Bobcats 89 Take a long look at this box score, because you probably won’t see another one like it this season. The Knicks won a laugher Wednesday 113-89, dominating Charlotte over the final three quarters of the game. Apart from Eddy Curry, who didn’t score a single point, everyone had a good time in this one. Nate Robinson had 22 points and 6 assists while Jamal Crawford had 20 points and 5 assists.......

Photograph of the Rangers celebrating as Buffalo Sabres player Ales Kotalik skates away by Frank Franklin II/AP Rangers 5, Sabres 1: Five days off, but only 10 seconds to score. Sean Avery got the Blueshirts off to a great start and they finally got the taste of Sunday's overtime loss to Washington out of their mouths. "I don't think we expected that great of a start," said Brendan Shanahan. He has to be telling......

Photograph of Uno posing with his Best in Show trophy by Jason DeCrow/AP Given the state of the Knicks and Rangers, the Garden hasn't heard cheers as resounding as it did last night during the Westminster Kennel Club Best in Show ceremony for some time. But a Beagle named Uno brought the house down, becoming the first ever of his breed to win Best in Show. The last time a beagle even made it......

The Mets introduced Johan Santana, their newest player and best attempt at getting back to the World Series, in Flushing yesterday. Just last week, the Mets and Santana agreed to a six-year $137.5 million contract that makes the Mets a favorite in the National League. Scores of press were on hand for the introduction, as well as David Wright, Omar Minaya, owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon, and Willie Randolph. Before his official introduction, the Mets......

Knicks 89 Philadelphia 76ers 81: The Knicks enjoyed a team effort in defeating another struggling Eastern Conference team, the Sixers. Five players scored in the double digits, led by Jamal Crawford's 18 pounts and Zach Randolph's 16 points and 14 rebounds. Coach Isiah Thomas said, "We have good shot distribution, everyone feels part of the game, everyone gets to touch the basketball." Late in the fourth quarter, the Knicks' 10 point lead was cut......

Photographs of Brian Leetch's number being retired at Madison Square and Leetch acknowledging the crowd by Frank Franklin II/AP Beloved former Ranger Brian Leetch only made one mistake, mentioning Jim Dolan in his speech and the Rangers only made one mistake, letting Marian Hossa get free to score a goal. Hossa’s goal early in the second period put Atlanta in front and threatened to ruin Brian Leetch Night, but the Rangers recovered. Michal Rozsival......

Rangers 4 Atlanta 0: Tom Renney shook up the lines and the lineup and the Rangers responded. Playing the opening game in their consecutive home game tilt with the Thrashers, New York set the tone early and played great defense allowing only 14 shots. Sean Avery, placed on the top line with Gomez and Jagr got things started with a goal at 12:12 of the first period. Brandon Dubinsky scored a few minutes later and......

Rockets 101 Knicks 92: At least the fans had a couple of things to cheer about Wednesday. Giants’ running back, Brandon Jacobs got a standing ovation and Isiah Thomas got thrown out. Thomas was upset over the fact that Yao Ming wasn’t called for a charge and wandered onto the court, earning the ejection. Thomas may have had a case, but with his team only behind by three, it was a bad time to......

Barack Obama's historic Iowa caucus win is giving him momentum for the New Hampshire primary, but it's also prompting discussion of how other black candidates have failed in the past. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who won a number of primaries in 1988, ultimately lost the nomination to Michael Dukakis, and the Reverend Al Sharpton didn't gain many delegates in 2004. On CNN, conservative commentator Bill Bennett made some comments that suggested America doesn't want......

Rangers 4 Carolina 2: Putting Gomez on the top line certainly looked like a smart decision Wednesday. Gomez fed Jarmoir Jagr, helping him get nine shots and setting him up on both of his goals in the Rangers’ win. Chris Drury and Dan Girardi also scored for New York. The game was stopped midway through the second period after an ugly collision between Colton Orr and former Ranger Matt Cullen. Cullen took this worst of......

It started with the fans booing Stephon Marbury and Isiah Thomas and ended with the fans booing all of the Knicks. The Knicks commited an amazing 27 turnovers in their 108-82 loss Tuesday. Baron Davis had 31 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds as he showed the fans the type of play by a point guard they can only dream about. And, expect it to get worse. After the game Isiah Thomas conducted a bizarre......

Not quite outdoing her husband's 60th birthday bash at the Beacon last year (which starred the Rolling Stones and was filmed by Martin Scorsese), Hillary Clinton entered a new age last night. Choosing the same venue to celebrate her 60th in, the music was provided by Elvis Costello and the Wallflowers (apparently no one from her campaign song list was available), and Billy Crystal provided some humor. The AP reports that she likened herself......

The Fire Department believes a bad connection from the gas line to the stove, not a gas leak, caused the explosion that caused a flash fire at 10 West 119th Street in Harlem on Saturday. Several people were injured, including four children and their mother who lived in the apartment. Initially, the FDNY said a gas leak on the first floor caused the blast, but Con Ed found no evidence of a gas leak. Now......

An illegal restaurant may have been the cause of a gas leak that caused a Manhattan apartment building to explode, injuring 20 people late yesterday afternoon. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said a gas leak caused a flash fire that blew out the walls of several apartments in the 20-unit building. Five people suffered serious burns and one firefighter was injured by falling debris while on the scene. Another firefighter was also hurt. Four of the......

An explosion occurred at building on West 119th Street, right off Fifth Avenue and just south of Marcus Garvey Park, around 4PM. Several people were injured - WCBS 2 says that the injured include two babies and a firefighter who was helping people out of the building. Also: "Firefighters on the scene removed pieces of debris from the building's first floor while residents were being treated on stretchers on the street." The situation was described......

The city remembered the sixth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks yesterday with a subdued ceremony. First responders, including police officers, firefighters, and EMTs, read the 2,750 victims' names throughout the morning in Zuccotti Park, near the Ground Zero. Victims' families were allowed to descend a ramp into the "Pit" amid the construction of Ground Zero, where a temporary reflecting pool was placed. Mourners placed flowers in the pool and letters on the......

The Circuit City clerk whose call to the authorities foiled an alleged plot to attack NJ's Fort Dix stepped forward yesterday. Brian Morgenstern, 23, now a manager at different Circuit City, gave his first interview yesterday and spoke on CNN's American Morning about his actions:ROBERTS: Did these guys strike you as being strange in any kind of way? Did they -- did your radar go off at all? MORGENSTERN: No, not at all. They just......

The Fire Department has revealed the cause of yesterday's fire on the roof of 515 West 34th Street: Careless smoking. There are no further details, but we imagine careless smoking means a smoker on the rooftop didn't properly extinguish a butt. Over 100 firefighters responded to the fire which took place in a building the NY Times says "houses some apartments and offices for Coach." Two firefighters were injured, and different city agencies are......

Mets 3 Yankees 2: Willie Randolph deserves the game ball in this one as he allowed Endy Chavez to swing away on a 1-0 count and Chavez hit the game-winning home run. No one in the stadium thought Chavez was going to do anything but bunt with a runner on first, and when Andy Pettitte grooved one, Chavez responded. Chavez’s home run wiped out a 2-1 Yankee lead, which they had taken on a......

The NFL Draft starts at noon today and the local teams will have to wait a long time to pick. With the Giants at 20 and the Jets at 25, we probably won’t see a local team pick until well after 4pm. The time may benefit both clubs, because each has very distinct needs they need to fill today and tomorrow. The Jets have to find a defensive tackle who can fit into their......

Senator Barack Obama made his appearance at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network Conference yesterday. The conference, which is also known as the Sharpton primary, featured many Democratic presidential candidates, including Senator Hillary Clinton on Friday. But yesterday's speech from Clinton rival Senator Barack Obama was especially notable, given the earlier talk that Sharpton wasn't a big fan of Obama. Obama worked to woo the crowd, even joking, when Sharpton's Blackberry buzzed on......

A who's who of the Democratic party has been at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference in Midtown this past week. Opening day saw hopeful John Edwards and Democratic party chair Howard Dean, yesterday included former president Bill Clinton, Senator Joe Biden, Senator Christopher Dodd, and Governor Bill Richardson, today has Senator Hillary Clinton and tomorrow Senator Barack Obama and Representative Dennis Kucinich are appearing - which is why it's called the "Sharpton......

With Alex Rodriguez's two out, game-winning, walk-off grand slam yesterday, New York City is in love with him again. For now. He gets the back page treatment from the News and the Post , with both tabs using "A-Men!" And the Times gets A-Rod to talk about feeling like a little kid again. But the overwhelming demands of New York fans - and the overbearing eye of New York media - will likely be......

Yankees 10, Orioles 7: Yeah, you read the headline right. Alex Rodriguez came through in yesterday afternoon's game in the biggest way - with a two-out game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning. It was his 2nd home run of the game. The bottom of the ninth inning went something like this: out, out, Robinson Cano single, Derek Jeter walk, Bobby Abreu hit-by-pitch, grand slam by Rodriguez into the black seats. Kei......

Update: The NYPD will have to be on alert on Monday now? Earlier, WNBC reported that the grand jury investigating the fatal police shooting of Sean Bell has reached a verdict but will wait until Monday to release it. But now a defense lawyer says the jury voted to indict three of the detectives involved: Michael Oliver who fired 31 shots, Gescard F. Isnora who fired the first of 11 shots, and Marc Cooper.......

Yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 416 points (a significant 3.3% drop) after a plunge in Shanghai's stock market. Well, now the Asian stock markets have fallen again, because investors are worried about the American economy! The NY Times reports that share prices rebounded in China, rising "nearly 4 percent today after state-controlled media reported that the government might allow greater foreign investment in Chinese stocks and would not impose capital gains taxes on......

Columbia students and faculty walked out of classes to rally and march against the war in Iraq. In fact, the Columbia Coalition Against the War called the protest a "strike" and asked professors "to either cancel or allow students to miss class unpunished" so students would be able to participate, according to the Columbia Spectator. The group did request a police permit for 200 people, but expected up to 600 people. Many students support......

The City Council questioned Police Commissioner Ray Kelly about NYPD tactics in the wake of the fatal shooting of Sean Bell. The Council was aggressive and straightforward; for instance, Councilman David Yassky said , "Too many African-American New Yorkers feel that they are at risk or that their family members are at risk of mistreatment, whether it be to be stopped without reason or to be victimized by excessive force." Councilman Charles Barron asked Kelly......