THANKS FOR COMING: Amar’e Stoudemire gives high-fives to some fans at London’s O2 Arena after he poured in a season-best 17 points as the Knicks pasted the Pistons, 102-87. (NBA/ Getty Images)
LONDON — The numbers are encouraging in their own right: 17 points, 11-for-12 from the foul line, four rebounds, 20-plus minutes.
But to watch Amar’e Stoudemire yesterday was to see a work in progress that will never be defined — or held back — by numbers. To watch him move better, more smoothly, with more confidence — maybe the numbers were a natural byproduct of that.
Or maybe it’s just a matter of feeling good again.
“I’m feeling good again,” Stoudemire said.
Stoudemire is still such a significant piece of who the Knicks are and, more telling, what they can still become that watching him play last night was like chicken soup for a Knicks fan’s soul.
His first few efforts back? Let’s be honest about it: They weren’t just difficult to watch, but painful to watch. The mind was willing, but the body unable to go into the library for moves he used to execute with both eyes closed. His timing was off. He looked stiff, uncomfortable, the way the biggest kid in class looks when he doesn’t have his coordination yet.
For a night, anyway, that version of Amar’e was on holiday.
“Offensively it’s coming, it takes more repetitions, more practice,” he said. “The more I play the better I’ll play.”
That’s been Mike Woodson’s belief from the start.
“His game’s continuing to come and his minutes are coming back and he’s starting to figure out some things,” Woodson said. “His conditioning is starting to come and will continue to grow based on his minutes.”
And those minutes may soon swell to 30 per game, the certain sign that Stoudemire’s knee is ready for the rigors of the season’s second half.
“I’m ready,” he said. “It’s been a progression so far, and it’s important as far as minutes. The fact I’m ready for 30 minutes is a plus for me and I can’t wait.”