"Stephon Marbury is having a rough time of it as he tries to fit into Green. In Wednesday night's loss at Orlando, he played just 6:21 - easily his low as a Celtic - and went scoreless (for his fifth time here) with one assist.

Beyond some brief flashes, the point guard has yet to play the kind of game on which he built his reputation - or even the kind of game that would lead one to believe he can be a factor for this team.

Fittingly, the NBA's reigning Defensive Player of the Year came to Marbury's defense. Kevin Garnett spoke up for his former teammate in Minnesota, both as a player and as a person.

"Steph's leadership I think has been sort of questioned and damaged, if you will," Garnett said. "But once a leader, always a leader. I've been telling some of the young guys who haven't seen a lot of Steph that I thought we got a steal in grabbing him.

"Obviously, for whatever reasons, his different relationships with different ballclubs was a thing of the past. If you look at some of the guys on this team, they haven't always had the best reps before coming. But we deal with each other how we deal with each other, and he fits right in.

"Not only is he versatile, but people forget that Steph was one of the premier guards in this league for a while. And other than him not playing for a year, we all expect big things out of him. But I think he expects a lot of big things out of himself. He works extremely hard. You just don't, excuse my French, be the (expletive) from a point guard standpoint, all them years of being who you are. Obviously, the facts are there, but you just don't become that. You get that through hard work, watching film. I know what kind of drive he has inside, and I think he's going to help us in the long run.""