Amar’e Stoudemire returned to Knicks practice Monday after spending a week home in Florida grieving the death of his older brother Hazell.
“It’s good to be back on the basketball court,” Stoudemire said after practice. “I’ve been away from the game for about a week, so it feels good to be back.”
It is his first time with the team since Jeremy Lin became the starting point guard and lede a five-game winning streak.
“It’s great to see the team’s playing well. That’s a positive for me right now,” Stoudemire said. “The team’s doing a phenomenal job … I just couldn’t wait to get back and join these guys, and continue our success.”
Lin spent practice on the sidelines, with he and Jared Jeffries getting recovery days to rest.
“[Lin] tweaked his ankle,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He’s fine. We’ve played a lot of games, so it’s good for everybody … but he’s OK.”
D’Antoni said Lin and Jeffries could have played if the Knicks had a game Monday, instead of a practice ahead of Tuesday’s game in Toronto.
Carmelo Anthony didn’t practice as he continues to recover from a groin injury he suffered Feb. 6 against the Jazz.
“I’m getting there, feeling better,” Anthony said. “[Sunday] I got a chance to actually just do some running in the pool, pool workouts, on the bike. It felt good today, a little bit better today.”
D’Antoni and Anthony each said he thought the All-Star forward could return toward the end of the week. D’Antoni went as far to say Anthony could go back into the lineup when he’s ready, opposed to practicing first, making Friday night’s game at Madison Square Garden against New Orleans a possible target date.
“That’s what we’re looking for,” Anthony said. “But you know something like this, I want to take it day by day, [and] see how it feels. Last week some days were better than others. Now I’m not feeling too much pain, but there’s still some pain there. We’ll see how it goes.”
Baron Davis was working out on the side during practice but D’Antoni said that other than the fact Davis looked good, he didn’t have any timetable when Davis would make his return to practice.
“Not really, other than he’s looking good, better,” D’Antoni said. “That’s all I keep hearing, but I don’t know there’s a specific date yet.”
tbontemps@nypost.com