Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire performed his good deed early on Christmas, staging a 9:30 a.m. breakfast party yesterday morning for a few hundred Madison Square Garden employees forced to work on the holiday.
“They work here but never get a chance to see the players — the janitors, cooks, ushers,’’ Stoudemire said before yesterday’s season-opening, 106-104 victory over the Celtics. “It was a great opportunity for myself to do something special for them and put smiles on their faces on Christmas.’’
Stoudemire then put smiles on the faces of Knicks fans with an efficient 21-point performance (8-of-11 shooting) that included six rebounds and two blocks, one a final-minute rejection of Celtics terror Brandon Bass.
Stoudemire’s highlight was draining both of his 3-point attempts, tying his career high. During training camp, he bragged about his new 3-point prowess, but did not show it much in two preseason games. Stoudemire’s improved range could be huge because coach Mike D’Antoni wants to use center Tyson Chandler in pick-and-rolls.
“I tried to come back every year with something new to add to my game, and this year it is my 3-point shot,’’ Stoudemire said. “Now I am able to exploit that now because Tyson Chandler does a great job rolling to the basket and [defenders] have to help off the wing shooters.’’
D’Antoni, though he called Carmelo Anthony the club’s “best player’’ in his postgame press conference, went out of his way to praise the team’s captain.
“I thought Amar’e played great today,’’ D’Antoni said. “I know Carmelo had the 37 [points], but I thought Amar’e made some defensively great decisions. He was unbelievable.’’
* Point guard Mike Bibby sat out with back spasms, but D’Antoni said he will be available Wednesday at Golden State where the Knicks begin a three-game Western trip. … Jared Jeffries reaggravated his strained calf and sat out the fourth quarter. He could miss up to a week. … Rookie center Josh Harrellson played just nine minutes and looked jittery, mishandling a couple of passes and not taking a shot.
* D’Antoni said he hopes the Celtics’ collective age will catch up with them and prompt a changing of the guard in the Atlantic Division.
“I just think we’ve gotten a lot better,’’ D’Antoni said. “Is Boston a lot better than last year? We’ll see. Hopefully, people at age 36 don’t get that much better. Hopefully they kind of plateaued, but you never know.”
D’Antoni is now 3-1 in season openers with the Knicks.
* Celtics coach Doc Rivers was not happy with the technical fouls called on center Jermaine O’Neal and guard Sasha Pavlovic in the fourth quarter.
“The game has to be about the players,” Rivers said. “I thought both teams were complaining just the same, and we got two technical fouls … the game has to be about the players on the floor.”
—Additional reporting by Tim Bontemps