Amar’e Stoudemire said not to worry about him — he will have enough time to get adjusted to Carmelo Anthony.
Stoudemire said he is “questionable’’ for tonight’s preseason game in Hartford against the Celtics, saying there is no reason “to rush.’’
Stoudemire missed Thursday’s 108-101 victory over the Wizards in the Knicks’ preseason opener with a bruised left knee after knocking knees with Chris Copeland on a drive to the basket at Wednesday’s practice.
Stoudemire participated in the walk-through portion of practice yesterday and did some shooting on the side, but did not scrimmage, as he wore a sleeve on his left knee. He sounded as if he’s leaning toward not playing tonight unless there’s a dramatic improvement.
“I wouldn’t think the worst,” the injury-prone Stoudemire said. “It’s preseason. There’s no reason to force it right now. We have another five games left in preseason. I’ll have time to figure it out.‘’
Stoudemire still has swelling in the knee but claims the medical staff is holding him back, and that he would suit up if it were the regular season. Kurt Thomas will start tonight if Stoudemire can’t go.
“I can’t wait to play and get out there,’’ Stoudemire said. “I want to play but the training staff is telling me to take it easy. Me personally, I want to play. I’ve got to follow their lead.’’
The Knicks will have six days off after tonight before they face the Raptors in Montreal. That would give Stoudemire plenty of time to fully mend.
“I still want to see how it feels [today],’’ Stoudemire said. “We’re taking a precautionary route making sure everything is 100 percent. A bone bruise is never a fun thing. It takes a while for it to heal. We’re just trying to break up the blood that’s in there. Whenever you get a bruise it’s accumulation of blood in that area. It takes a while to loosen that blood up.”
* Rasheed Wallace still has not scrimmaged as he continues conditioning work on the side. He worked yesterday on lateral post defense with strength coach Dave Hancock dribbling about the lane. … The Celtics did well in adding Jason Terry to replace the departed Ray Allen and also have interesting rookies in former Syracuse star Fab Melo and Jared Sullinger.