THE FANS’ PERSPECTIVE: Knicks players, including Ronnie Brewer (second from left), ex-Knick Baron Davis, Kurt Thomas, Jason Kidd and Amar’e Stoudemire, attended the Chelsea-Southampton Premier League soccer match yesterday in England before today’s game against the Pistons. (AP )
LONDON — For all the British pomp and circumstance — the sightseeing with the wives, the clinics with English children, the Melodrama microphones — today’s clash at the sold-out O2 Arena in London against the Pistons takes on significant meaning for the Knicks on the court.
The injury-riddled Knicks are getting back an important piece to their projected championship run. Iman Shumpert makes his eagerly anticipated season debut and steps on the court for the first time since injuring his knee in Miami on April 28 last year. During this morning’s shootaround coach Mike Woodson said he expects Shumpert to start.
When Amar’e Stoudemire made his season debut on Jan. 1, there was some trepidation about how he and his superstar ego would fit in with the Knicks. Shumpert’s debut is without those questions.
In addition, Carmelo Anthony will try to reverse his recent shooting woes and find his energy defensively now that his 15-day fast is over. And Stoudemire’s slow-and-steady comeback continues with his eighth game. He’s now allowed to play 30 minutes but still is trying to get more involved in the offense.
If this is an odd setting for the Knicks to rediscover themselves, in front of British fans who care more about Sunday’s Chelsea-Arsenal soccer match, so be it. The Knicks have cooled off, going 6-8 in their last 14 games. Maybe their good cheer restarts across the pond.
“I’m excited about it and I don’t care what atmosphere it has,’’ said Shumpert, who tore his ACL last spring. “There doesn’t have to be anyone here. It’s going to be big for me either way. If nobody shows up, I’m going to have fun having my jersey on being with my guys again.’’
Woodson admitted he doesn’t know “if I’ll ever have a full deck’’ this season, but Shumpert is one ace in the hole. The ultimate vision is a Raymond Felton-Jason Kidd-Shumpert three-guard alignment that allows Anthony to play power forward and Stoudemire to be a key fixture off the bench. (Felton said yesterday he’ll return Jan. 26 in Philadelphia.)
“It will help,’’ Woodson said of Shumpert’s return. “Our defense has had slippage. It’ll help when we get Raymond and Iman both. It starts with them up front in terms of applying pressure. That’s what Iman brings to the table. He did that for us last season.’’
Anthony, meanwhile, has ended his fast and has stocked up on bangers and mash and shepherd’s pie. Even the British press were well aware of his eating habits, with one TV reporter asking Stoudemire if Anthony not telling the team about his fast had affected morale.
“I’m getting better,’’ Anthony said. “We’ll see it in practice if I have my energy. [It’s] something I wanted to do. There’s times in your life you need clarity on things and you want to rebuild your body and clear you mind and start over.’’
There will be plenty of fans filling the seats tonight at 8:00 London time (3 p.m. in New York). But how loud it gets, before normally reserved British fans, is unclear. This is the same arena in which Anthony and Tyson Chandler won a gold medal in August, but many of those fans were basketball-crazy tourists.
“This is not about vacation,’’ Woodson said. “I don’t think anyone’s treating it that way. It’s a game we got to win. Vacation time is in the summer.’’
The Knicks and Pistons have been out and about — making promotional appearances, visiting landmarks and catching the Chelsea soccer match last night. But today it’s business.
“It’s part of the maturity of being a professional,’’ Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. “You step off this hardwood you enjoy yourself. But when you step back on it you got to be locked in. Between the two teams, it’s who can be most mentally focused.’’
Nobody is more intense than Shumpert, who is unsure if he will show signs of rust today. It doesn’t matter, though. He’s back from a serious knee surgery.
“It’s a huge relief,’’ Shumpert said. “Talking about it with my mother and father about it, taking it all in, it’s a long journey to get back on the court. It makes you appreciate every minute of it.’’
Shumpert has seen the tape of his misstep.
“I watch it all the time,’’ he said. “It was bad. At first I didn’t understand it. I thought it was a freak accident. I was told if I stepped a little closer in I would never have torn it. It was a lazy step. That kind of bothered me. It happened, I recovered and I’m about to be back playing.’’
Cheers.
marc.berman@nypost.com