Amar’e Stoudemire Unsure of Status for Game 3

Stoudemire couldn’t sit down during his postgame press conference last night, and remains unsure of just how ready he’ll be to play in the pivotal third game, as the series shifts to MSG. From Newsday: “Amar’e Stoudemire knew something wasn’t right, explaining to his fellow All-Star teammate that he wasn’t feeling all that hot. ‘He came to me and said, ‘My back is messed up,’ Carmelo Anthony said. ‘I was like, ‘Just ride it out with me and just fight it out with me.’ However, it wasn’t much longer until Anthony figured out that Stoudemire’s night probably was going to be a short one, all because of some nagging back spasms. ‘I came down on a pick-and-roll one time, and I got in the paint and I swung it to him,’ Anthony said. ‘And I just seen him grab his back. That was a play that was like, ‘Man, here goes another one of our guys [going down].’ Stoudemire was relegated to spectator status last night for the better part of the Knicks’ 96-93 loss to the Celtics at TD Garden in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series. He apparently injured himself in pregame warmups when he touched the backboard glass with his left hand while dunking with his right. It’s an injury he said he’s never had before, and one that has his status up in the air for Game 3 Friday at Madison Square Garden. ‘I’m not sure,’ Stoudemire said. ‘We’ll see how it goes tomorrow and the next day. I hope I’ll be ready to go by Friday.'”