Stephon Marbury made a triumphant return to Madison Square Garden, sitting front row at Sunday's Eastern Conference matinee matchup between the New York Knicks and the Toronto Raptors.

The two-time All-Star spent five seasons with the Knicks, facing plenty of criticism with a hollowed out roster after the surprising retirement of Allan Houston, one of the team's biggest guns. The Coney Island native dealt with his share of flack from the media at the time — the same way star forward Carmelo Anthony has throughout a turmoil-filled season in 2016-17.

“It’s New York, man,” Marbury told Steve Popper of USA TODAY Sports. “It comes with it. If you can’t deal with it you leave. This is what’s going to happen. When you don’t win, they’re going to talk about you. When you win they’re going to love you. Real New Yorkers know that. It’s what comes with it.”

Anthony and the Knicks started off the season in good steps, but it all came crashing down once team president Phil Jackson went into detail about his thoughts on the team's centerpiece, accusing him of being a ball-stopper and in some way, the main reason why his precious triangle offense was rendered useless early on.

The two never exchanged any real fighting words, but rather met in private and reportedly hashed it out. Then the incessant trade rumors were running rampant for months until they came to a close at the trade deadline, with Anthony staying put due to his no-trade clause.

“I think he’s handled it great,” said Marbury. “He understands. He knows. This is the biggest market in the world as far as in the NBA playing basketball. He understands if he wins what it will be like here. Sometimes you’ve got to go through the tough times and all of the dark times in order to get to the light.”

The 40-year-old Marbury knows what it's like to come out of the dark, with his career in near peril after playing a dismal 23 games for the Boston Celtics before making the move to China, where he won three CBA championships and made himself a legend in Beijing.

The MSG crowd showered “Starbury” with affection upon his short introduction in the first quarter.

“Them paying respect,” he said of the applause. “As I said, I’ve always been a Knicks fan since I was growing up. So that will never change. I’ve moved past the things that happened past in order to be able to have done all the things I’ve been able to do in China. That was the only way to move on. It’s great to be recognized in that light and it’s good to be back.”