PHILADELPHIA — With Knicks center Tyson Chandler to miss his third straight game Saturday with a respiratory infection against the Sixers at Wachovia Center, it will be up to big men Andrea Bargnani and Amar’e Stoudemire to provide the dirty work again that beat the Heat.
Stoudemire posted his season’s first double-double — 14 points and 11 rebounds — against Miami and Andrea Bargnani set the tone early with his aggression at both ends and finished with 19 points (9-for-13), five rebounds and stalwart defense.
Stoudemire and Bargnani are putting together a string of decent two-way performances after outplaying Chris Bosh, who had a miserable night at the Garden.
Bargnani was taking a lot of heat in the wake of his boneheaded 3-point shot in Milwaukee last month but during the 4-1 spree, he has been steady, finally learning the defensive system and his mood has lifted noticeably. Not to go unnoticed is he hasn’t missed one of the 35 games after being injury prone the prior two seasons. Durability counts, especially in the injury-wracked culture of the Knicks (13-22).
“The feeling right now is good,’’ Bargnani said. “We got to keep building and keeping the energy. The most important thing is the energy everybody is coming into the game with. You can tell it’s different than a month ago. Our faces are different. Our body language is different.’’
Stoudemire is supplying the low-post presence night in, night out, scoring tough baskets inside, staying healthy and starting to look good on defense.
Stoudemire and Bargnani are playing better team defense than the first two months.
“We played solid defensively,’’ Stoudemire said. “We played great on both ends. Put 48 minutes together defensively. We played solid on switches and picks and rolls and contested 3-point shots.’’
Acting union director Ron Klempner confirmed a Post report that J.R. Smith may file an appeal on his $50,000 fine for “recurring instances of unsportsmanlike conduct’’ in regards to his shoelace capers.
“We’re investigating it and taking in all of the circumstances,’’ Klempner said. The union didn’t appeal any of Smith’s past fines, Klempner said.
One legal issue is whether the fine was excessive considering Smith didn’t untie Greg Monroe’s shoelaces and Smith claimed he didn’t attempt to. Smith called it “a joke gone wrong.’’
The Sixers, despite preseason predictions they would be the league’s worst team, are just one game behind the Knicks at 12-23. This will be the first matchup between two former Syracuse studs in Carmelo Anthony and rookie sensation Michael Carter-Williams, who missed 12 games with knee and foot problems after a blazing start. … Former Garden president Scott O’Neil is now the Sixers president spearheading their revival.