Stephon Marbury was back in Madison Square Garden last night after a week of absence forced by Isiah Thomas. (Marbury is on the injured list because of ankle surgery, but last week we learned that Thomas had banned the Knicks point guard from home games, and even went so far as to leave his name off a list of backcourt players when talking about the 2008–2009 season.) Marbury said that some of Thomas's comments this week "bothered" him a lot, but that he "prayed to God" he would return full-time next season. From the Daily News:

"Whatever [Thomas] is saying he is going to do I can't change his mind. I can tell you how I feel about the organization and how I feel about Mr. Dolan. He didn't have to sign the bill for me to come here. I respect him a lot despite all of what is going on."

Things have gotten so bad in Knicksville that now announcers rush through reading off Thomas's name so the crowd won't have time to boo. Marbury himself calls it a "circus." Since it's become clear that the feuding duo probably won't both be back next season, but maybe one or the other will, the game of sucking up to Jimmy Dolan has begun.

STEPH: I WANNA STAY [NYP]
Stephon Marbury back in 'circus' [NYDN]