COAST TO COAST

Lining up for

Steph . . . anyone?

With ESPN Radio reporting the New York Knicks are near a settlement with Stephon Marbury, the question is, where is he going?

Miami, Orlando and Boston were reportedly interested, but the Heat is reconsidering with rookie Mario Chalmers playing well.

Making it clear he had no interest, Orlando General Manager Otis Smith said, “We’re on the list?”

Of course, the Celtics would be a natural. They need a backup point guard, Marbury would be on his best behavior, they might actually win 70 games with him, and everybody already hates them, anyway.

Maybe they could trade attitudes

The Celtics are the team with the attitude and the Lakers the one with the talent.

If the Lakers could use more attitude, the Celtics, leading the league in technical fouls, could use a tad less.

“I’m concerned because we’re at 39,” Coach Doc Rivers said, tactfully, “and the next team is at 25.”

If Kevin Garnett is a font of emotion, Rivers isn’t as comfortable with Kendrick Perkins leading the NBA with nine Ts.

Not that Perkins is a hard case, but, asked about Orlando’s Dwight Howard, he replied: “What’s his impression of me? I won a ring. I don’t watch people like him.”

The big experiment: still tinkering

Amid pleas from his players, Phoenix Coach Terry Porter says he’ll stop running everything through Shaquille O’Neal and go back to the Steve Nash-Amare Stoudemire two-man game.

For his part, Shaq doesn’t like the suggestion he’s the problem and has noticed he’s averaging more rebounds (8.3) in 28 minutes a game than Stoudemire (7.7) is in 38.

“If we’re going to run, we should stop talking about it and just do it,” O’Neal said. “We don’t need Coach’s permission to get a rebound and run. I’m going to be the one igniting the break because I’m getting most of the rebounds.

”. . . I’m programmed to play any style. . . . I just like, when I got a little guy on my back, a nice crisp pass.”

Pop goes pop

San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich has always torched his players in his annual “soft” speech, but he used to be able to save it until midseason.

This season’s came after last week’s home loss to Detroit.

“I’m going to say this very succinctly, so after I say it nobody has to say, ‘Well, why do you think that was, Pop?’ ” Popovich said. “. . . Think we can do that?

“I thought tonight we played very poorly. . . . The most disturbing is that I think we were very soft. I think Detroit intimidated us. I think they ran us all over the court with their aggressiveness and their physicality. It was really sad to watch. . . .

“Thus, the loss. Have a good evening.”

Opinions vary

Houston’s Tracy McGrady went to Birmingham, Ala., for a second opinion on his sore knee from Dr. James Andrews, who announced he “would likely miss a week.”

McGrady then announced a third opinion: His.

“That wasn’t said as something I could play through, at all,” McGrady said. “I have to rehab for a couple of weeks and I have to gradually work my way into practice and we’ll go from there.

“But right now I won’t be playing for a couple of weeks. Probably about three weeks.”