Williams' one-game suspension hurts Knicks

GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Knicks forward Shawne Williams got the lesser punishment for Friday night's last-minute altercation with Atlanta's Marvin Williams, but his one-game suspension presents a destabilizing blow for a team that could be missing two of its top three scorers against Detroit Sunday night.

The NBA handed Shawne Williams a one-game suspension for "throwing a punch"; Marvin Williams will be banished for two games for "throwing punches and fighting." Shawne Williams' absence hardly is helpful at a time when All-Star Amar'e Stoudemire is nursing a knee injury and Wilson Chandler is hobbled by a sore calf.

Stoudemire and Chandler are listed as "questionable" for tonight's game at the Garden, though Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni sounded more optimistic about Stoudemire's availability.

"He said it's better than he thought it was going to be," D'Antoni said of Stoudemire's right knee, twisted when Marvin Williams accidentally clipped him during the third quarter Friday. "I said, 'Can you go [tonight]?' And he said, 'Oh, yeah.' So we'll see."

Chandler, who sat out Friday's game, "will be more of a game-time decision," D'Antoni said.

Should Stoudemire, who has breathed life into the Knicks this season with an average of 26.0 points per game, and Chandler (16.8) both be sidelined, the Knicks will be missing 42.8 points of offense.

"That's the biggest disappointment to me," Shawne Williams said, "because I felt like I let the team and the organization down, because we're kind of down some players right now. It's tough. That's what's really wearing on me."

Williams started for only the second time this season Friday night in place of Chandler and provided 12 points and 11 rebounds, both dramatically above his averages of 7.0 and 3.3. His second-half defensive work on Miami's LeBron James Thursday night drew praise from D'Antoni.

"He doesn't back down mentally," D'Antoni said. "Big games, big players he has to guard, he's very confident with his skills. And when I say he doesn't back down, I mean basketball-wise. You know, New York, big spotlight, guarding the best player on the planet, doesn't faze him."

But it was Williams' failure to back down physically in Friday's push-coming-to-shove moment that general manager Donnie Walsh said must be avoided.

"In retrospect," Walsh said, "he'd have been better off just letting it go. And that's hard for anybody to do. But you really should let it go."

Walsh is the man who originally made Williams a No. 1 draft choice of the Indiana Pacers and who took a chance in signing Williams this season after Williams disappointed the Pacers and Dallas Mavericks and briefly was with the Nets. Walsh said he is confident that Williams is "trying to rearrange his life" after off-court difficulties, including arrests for possession of a gun and marijuana.

Both charges were dismissed, and Walsh said Friday's incident was "a typical NBA altercation" that shouldn't be regarded as a step back for Williams.