by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Following the Knicks’ second consecutive painful loss in Miami last night, Amar’e Stoudemire briefly lost his mind, and may have doomed New York as a result.
Stoudemire punched the glass case containing a fire extinguisher outside the team locker room, and suffered a severe laceration in his left hand. STAT left Miami with his arm in a sling, and teammate Tyson Chandler guessed that the Knicks would play Game 3 (and possibly longer) without his services.
Per Newsday:
Reporters were prevented by security officials from speaking to Stoudemire as he headed for the team bus. The Knicks said his status would be evaluated upon their return to New York. They are not scheduled to practice Tuesday; Game 3 is Thursday at Madison Square Garden. The team’s locker room was closed to reporters for about 40 minutes after the game — four times longer than usual — and paramedics were seen leaving the room after treating Stoudemire. Both the Knicks and Heat doctors also worked on Stoudemire.
His teammates did not sound optimistic that he will be in uniform Thursday. “We just know right now that he has a laceration and he’s probably going to be out,” Tyson Chandler said. “It’s tough, obviously. Amar’e is a huge part of this team. Without him, it’s going to make it more difficult. We already lost one player [Iman Shumpert]. That’s two players out of the starting lineup. It makes it tougher.” Carmelo Anthony said he did not know much about Stoudemire’s condition, but he shook his head when asked to comment on the latest turn in a postseason already hampered by injuries and illness. “Man, I really don’t know how to put that in words,” he said. “But it’s a tough situation. It seems like it’s always something happening. Snakebit. But it is what it is. We have to move forward.”
Amar’e Stoudemire has struggled against the Heat defense in the first two games, posting mediocre averages of 13.5 points, 6 boards.
Stoudemire’s only postgame comments appeared on his Twitter page, on which he offered an apology to his teammates and fans:
“I am so mad at myself right now, I want to apologize to the fans and my team, not proud of my actions, headed home for a new start … We all have done thing out of anger that we regret. That makes us human. Bad timing on my part. Sorry guys. This [too] shall pass.”
