Amar’e Stoudemire was walking slowly back to the locker room at the Knicks’ training facility yesterday afternoon after finishing his first practice since attending the funeral of his older brother, Hazell, in Florida.
“It’s good to be back on the basketball court,” Stoudemire had said earlier in the day after reuniting with his coaches and teammates. But he couldn’t fully hide the sadness in his face and body language. That won’t go away for a while.
As he walked across a practice court, his path led him toward Jeremy Lin, who was shooting random jump shots after skipping practice yesterday to rest a tender right ankle. Stoudemire lifted his right arm from his side, offering a friendly hand to Lin, who instinctively reached out his own hand to make the connection. Stoudemire never lifted his head nor broke stride. Neither did Lin.
If you’re looking for little things to see if all this is going to work out, whether Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony — the Knicks’ two biggest stars — want to play with Lin or can play with Lin, that simple gesture was as good as any. It was a hand tap of friendship and respect with Lin acknowledging Stoudemire’s pain and Stoudemire embracing the Knicks’ new floor leader.
“I think we’ll help each other,” Lin would later say. “It’s my job to get him going.”
Lin was talking mostly about basketball and how he and Stoudemire will mesh on the court should Stoudemire dress for tonight’s game in Toronto as expected. But it’s about much more than that now. As teammates and friends, Stoudemire and Lin must help each other off the court, too, if this Knicks season is going to become something worth remembering.
The Knicks called Lin’s absence from practice “a recovery day,” the first sign perhaps the extended minutes and out-of-control media frenzy is taking a toll. It was a recovery day for Stoudemire, too. He has gone through one of the worst ordeals a sibling can endure.
Nothing will make the sadness go away completely. But winning basketball games and going deep into the NBA playoffs will help. Stoudemire knows Lin gives the Knicks the best chance to do that.
“We tried every point guard we had,” he said. “And we saved the best for last, I guess.”
Stoudemire should thrive under Lin’s abilities in the pick-and-roll game. The floor should open up and there should be plenty of basketball for everybody, including Anthony. Truth is, Lin’s emergence is the best thing that could have happened to them. Stoudemire and Anthony had their best success when playing with smart point guards; Stoudemire with Steve Nash and Anthony with Chauncey Billups in Denver.
“Hopefully, we’ll hit the ground running,” Lin said after declaring himself fit for tonight’s game.
Where Stoudemire helps Lin is in dealing with Linsanity. The ever-growing media attention will keep swelling as long as the Knicks keep winning. Lin is already too much of an economic asset to take out of the lineup. Cablevision’s stock is up; hits on the team website have increased by 3,000 percent; and the Knicks now have entry into the Asian market.
Lin, meanwhile, has held up remarkably well under the national spotlight. But without someone to take away some of the attention and pressure, it will drain him as much as averaging 39 minutes per game.
That’s where Stoudemire steps in. He can school Lin on how to live in the NBA spotlight without letting it overwhelm him. He can play big brother when opposing teams try to rough up the Knicks point guard or when media demands become too much.
Linsanity is the perfect diversion for Stoudemire. He not only has a point guard he can play with, but a point guard he has to protect. Winning basketball games will make Stoudemire smile again.
Perhaps that’s what that quick hand slap was all about yesterday, a gesture that said: “I’ve your back and you’ve got mine.”