Amar’e Stoudemire has been down this road before. So he said playing four games in five nights for the Knicks last month did not bring about another knee surgery. The knee, Stoudemire said, was set to give out.
“It was just a matter of time before it happened and it actually happened at the perfect time because it gives me a chance to have hope to return for the postseason,” Stoudemire said yesterday.
Stoudemire spoke on a conference call promoting a documentary, “Amar’e Stoudemire: In the Moment” set to air on EPIX on April 19. The documentary, shot over three years, was re-worked to include his most recent rehab work after Stoudemire went down.
Stoudemire said the surgery on his right knee was the same debridement procedure he underwent on the left knee, which sidelined him for the season’s first 30 games. He returned with a minutes restriction, played 29 games, then was scuttled. He felt soreness for “a few games” before his last game, March 7 against the Thunder.
“After that game I wanted to make sure everything was OK and that’s when I noticed we were going to need a minor procedure,” Stoudemire said. “[It’s] definitely frustrating because I was starting to play well and I was feeling great. But I keep my spirits up. I just have to attack my recovery the way I attack the rim.”
That recovery makes up much of the documentary, which traces Stoudemire from his youth in Florida through his career and subsequent rehab sessions.
“Rehab’s going well. There is no timetable set on my return. Hopefully I can return soon enough for the postseason. I’m gearing toward that,” Stoudemire said. “If not, I’m going to make sure I’m ready and 100 percent.”
One theory proposed to Stoudemire was simply waiting until next season to be certain all was well and there would be no danger of returning too soon. Plus, he would be stronger for 2013-14.
“It all depends how I feel,” Stoudemire said. “If I feel 100 percent by the postseason, then I should be ready for next season as well. If not, then I probably would have to wait until next season.”
No matter when he returns, he plans to be the player he was. That’s the only way to think.
“You can never have that thought process [of not returning whole],” Stoudemire said. “When you have that thought process you already put yourself in a position to lose. I would never have that thought process.”
* A victory tonight over woeful Charlotte would be the Knicks’ seventh straight, a high under coach Mike Woodson. The Knicks started 6-0 this season. Last season, they won seven straight from Feb. 4-15, before Woodson took over.
* During his weekly ESPN radio interview yesterday, Woodson said he “absolutely” would employ a big lineup of Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin and Tyson Chandler in certain playoff matchups, but specifically against Indiana.
“You play the Pacers and you can take Melo and put him back at the three and put Kenyon on [David] West and Tyson on [Roy] Hibbert. That was the whole idea of assembling all the bigs we had. … That’s a luxury we do have and, yes, there’s a possibility I can pull that out and use it,” said Woodson, who called Anthony “a nightmare” matchup at power forward for opponents.
* Woodson expressed confidence Chandler, who has missed eight straight games with a bulging disk in his neck, would be ready for the playoffs.
“He’ll be back before then. I’m pretty sure of that. [Precisely] when, I don’t know,” the coach said, making tonight sound highly doubtful.