Season likely over for Stoudemire
NEWYORK — Amare Stoudemire’s difficult season may be over.
Stoudemire had a small muscle in his left hand repaired Tuesday and will not play for the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat on Thursday.
Stoudemire met with a hand specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, a day after he was badly cut when he punched the case surrounding a fire extinguisher after the Knicks’ 104-94 loss in Miami.
The Knicks are listing Stoudemire as doubtful for Game 4 on Sunday.
Stoudemire apologized on his Twitter account for the act, which leaves the Knicks without another key player as they try to rally from a 2-0 deficit. Jeremy Lin is still recovering from knee surgery and Iman Shumpert is out for the season after tearing a knee ligament in Game 1.
“We all have done thing[s] out of anger that we regret,” Stoudemire wrote. “That makes us human. Bad timing on my part. Sorry guys. This [too] shall pass.”
Stoudemire scored 18 points in Game 2, though he didn’t get into a good flow until the fourth quarter, when the Knicks could never seriously challenge the Heat. But any hope of carrying the momentum from his positive finish into Thursday’s game at Madison Square Garden was lost during his walk back to the locker room.
“It’s tough. Your emotions run high. Split-second decisions can obviously alter things,” centre Tyson Chandler said after the game.
“You can’t fault anybody because I’m obviously a person that has high emotions at times. So one quick decision, make a mistake and now you’ve got to deal with the repercussions.”
Perhaps it was all the frustration built up during a tough season on and off the court.
Stoudemire missed time in February after his older brother died in a car accident. He then sat out 13 games late in the season with a bulging disc in his back, and when he did play he had his worst season since he was a rookie in 2002-03.
Stoudemire called this an “up-anddown” year for him last week before the Knicks’ final regular-season home game, acknowledging the difficulties he faced and saying how important it was to him emotionally to be playing again. He was looking forward to the postseason.
Reactions to his self-inflicted wound ranged from criticism to disbelief.
“As much stuff as I do, I’ve never did nothing where I’m punching some glass in the middle of the playoffs, where I’m going to hurt my team,” the Spurs’ Stephen Jackson said.
“It was a really stupid thing to do,” Charles Barkley said on TNT on Monday, “but they were not going to beat the Miami Heat either way.”
By the time the news about Stoudemire broke after the game, many Heat players were already dressed and gone — apparently unaware of both the injury and its severity.
The Heat had a day off on Tuesday, with no players or coaches available for comment.