Amare Stoudemire said his sprained left ankle is feeling good. He and rookie Iman Shumpert will be game-time decisions for tomorrow’s contest against the Charlotte Bobcats. Stoudemire appeared comfortable playing in a 3-on-3 full court scrimmage and will be evaluated again tomorrow.
“Today was a great indication of how my ankle feels,” he said. “I came out and was able to practice a little bit today. We didn’t do much as far as physical play but I was about to step my foot back out there on the basketball court and see how it feels.”
Stoudemire has missed the last two games after twisting his ankle last Saturday in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Knicks have struggled even more on offense with STAT sidelined. The offense has leaned heavily on Carmelo Anthony to facilitate the offense and handle much of the scoring. Anthony scored 35 points with 11 rebounds in last night’s disappointing loss to Toronto. But outside of a 12-point third quarter by Toney Douglas, the Knicks didn’t have another scoring threat.
Stoudemire and rookie Shumpert are two of the players aside from Anthony that can create his own shot, but they both had to watch while the Knicks turned in an 11-point second quarter last night and shot a total of 35 three-pointers.
“I can’t wait (to get back),” Stoudemire said. “It was tough watching last night. I can’t wait to get back there to really give us that push that we need.”
The forward is averaging 17.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in three games this season. Stoudemire and his teammates have said it is important that the Knicks star big man return only when he is 100 percent. A packed and shortened season requires some more caution when it comes to potential nagging or lingers injuries.
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