WORKING IT OUT: Amar’e Stoudemire, Jeremy Lin and the Knicks showed up at the team practice facility yesterday, but NBA rules forbid them from an organized team workout. (ABACAUSA.COM)
Allen Iverson may not have cared much about practice, but the Knicks were talking about the chance to have a few sustained practices together this week as if Christmas had come early.
For much of the week before the NBA All-Star Game, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni repeatedly spoke about how the Knicks were eagerly awaiting the week after the break when they could practice “four or five times” so new additions like Baron Davis, J.R. Smith and even Jeremy Lin could get more accustomed to playing with the other players on the squad, especially Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler.
“We’ve got to get some things sorted out,” D’Antoni said. “We get the All-Star break [and] we’ve got four or five practices and that will help. We’ve got to figure out the identity we have to have and that will be right after the All-Star break.”
The process was supposed to begin yesterday; at least that’s what everyone believed, including Anthony, who arranged private transportation from Orlando just to make sure he was on time for yesterday’s scheduled 2 p.m. practice.
“I’m excited about getting back,” Anthony told reporters in Orlando. “I know how important these two practices are just from the standpoint of getting everyone back together to getting everyone back focused to make a second-half run.”
Problem was, the formal practice had to be canceled because NBA rules don’t allow players who played in games on the Thursday prior to the All-Star Game to practice the following Monday. The Knicks were beaten, 102-88, at Miami on Thursday, meaning anyone of significance was ineligible to practice yesterday.
The entire team actually showed up at the Knicks’ training center in Greenburgh. Players got treatment, probably put up a few shots and talked about how they spent their mini-vacations. But they didn’t get the on-court work they’ve been desperate for since they were revamped this month.
For most teams it would be no big deal, and maybe it won’t be for the Knicks. But it’s one less valuable practice they could have used before a March schedule that will determine whether they’re going to be something special or just a sideshow novelty act because of Lin and Linsanity.
Let’s face it. Linsanity was all well and good leading up to the All-Star break. A disastrous first-half was averted, D’Antoni wasn’t fired, Lin attracted fans who might not otherwise be interested in the NBA, and the Knicks became relevant again. But enough of that already.
This may be the most important week of the Knicks’ season, their only real chance to put back-to-back practices together and figure out what they need to do to get a higher seed in the playoffs and avoid a first-round matchup with Miami or Chicago. And there’s plenty as D’Antoni said, to get “sorted out.”
It includes jump-starting Stoudemire, who needs to have more of an impact than he had during the first-half of the season; developing a rotation for a suddenly deep roster; bringing Davis along so he can take some of the stress off Lin; and getting Anthony in a comfort zone of being able to play his game without wondering whether he’s hogging the ball.
D’Antoni seems open to anything that works.
“Whoever plays well is going to play,” he said before the break. “And whoever plays really well is going to play a lot.”
The Knicks now will formally practice for the first time today, then host the Cavaliers tomorrow before practicing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They’ll play at Boston on Sunday to begin a four-game road trip covering six days. It starts a brutal schedule that doesn’t let up the remainder of the season.
That’s why this week might be their most important of the season. There’s only way for the Knicks to start putting all their pieces together. Yes, we’re talking ’bout practice.
george.willis@nypost.com