The wait for Amar’e Stoudemire continues.
Stoudemire, who hoped tomorrow, New Year’s Day, would represent his return from left knee surgery, went through a full practice yesterday with some approximation of the Knicks’ roster. While claiming he felt better, Stoudemire admitted he is not yet 80 percent and felt soreness on some moves.
Stoudemire wants to soldier on for the banged-up Knicks.
“If I got to sacrifice my health a little bit for the betterment of the team, then I will,” he said.
But he said he needs to see how he feels today to determine whether he plays against the Trail Blazers tomorrow at the Garden.
“It felt pretty good,” said Stoudemire, who scrimmaged with the second unit — which included a coach’s assistant just to get the number of bodies to 10. “Hopefully, I’ll get a good reaction out of it tonight and tomorrow, see how it feels. But it’s all predicated on how I feel the following day after a long hard day like today. … I was able to move how I wanted with little restriction, but not much.
“I can do pretty much anything, but it just feels sore when I make certain moves,” he concluded. “It would be great if I could go on Jan. 1, [but] I can’t determine how I feel tomorrow or the following day.”
Regardless of what Stoudemire says, the Knicks will proceed with caution. They have waited this long.
“We’ve got to be cautious, this is just 30 games we put in,” coach Mike Woodson said. “We still have a long way to go.”
An ominous sign for Stoudemire, who last practiced with the Knicks in October then went through a couple of practices with the team’s D-League affiliate two weeks ago, was the acknowledgment he does not even feel 80 percent.
“I’m not there, 80, yet,” Stoudemire said. “But I am improving. I’m starting to get stronger by the day. [This] was the most that I’ve done since the injury, so we’ll see how it feels.
“[The goal is] 100 percent or at least 80 percent, just to the point where I can feel comfortable on the basketball court with no restrictions, no limitations. I want to get to that point. I’m not quite there yet.”
In a perfect world, the Knicks would be healthy and Stoudemire might take a little more time to feel even stronger. But the Knicks recently have gotten on a first-name basis with medical personnel and X-ray technicians.
“I know a lot of our guys are pretty banged up,” Stoudemire said. “If it’s needed for me to sacrifice my body … I will. But hopefully I’ll continue to improve the next two days where I can feel 100 percent before I get back out there.”
He’s still “getting my legs under me, wanting to have my explosiveness back, I’m not quite there yet.”
And he feels he can make a significant jump in how he feels in just a day or two.
“After a hard day like today when you can feel much better tomorrow, that’d be a great sign,” he said.
As much as the Knicks long to have their All-Star power forward back, they don’t want to have come this far and face a setback. They are the league’s third worst rebounding team — an area where Stoudemire can help. Still, caution prevails.
“He looked good running up and down,” Woodson said. “I thought his conditioning was pretty good. He banged around a little … so it was a positive day.
“Everything is going to be gauged on [today’s] practice. Let’s see how he feels physically, and then we’ll assess it from there.”