INDIANAPOLIS — The worrisome prospect of Amar’e Stoudemire being as rusty as a 1962 Indy race car is not the only issue the Knicks carry into Bankers Life Fieldhouse tonight.
The Knicks are hoping three days off between games have helped. Their second-round series against the Pacers, deadlocked at 1, finally resumes with Game 3 as the Knicks try to retake home-court advantage. Game 4 is Tuesday in Indianapolis.
There’s plenty of stuff that needs fixing, starting with J.R. Smith’s jump shot. He’s shooting 15-of-57 in his past four games. Jason Kidd has not scored a point in six straight playoffs games, center Tyson Chandler has not shown up at full bore and Carmelo Anthony’s 3-point shot is still under the microscope. Anthony missed 26 of 28 3s before he hit two straight in the fourth quarter during the Knicks’ rousing 30-2 run that led to a series-tying Game 2 victory.
Now Stoudemire, who has not played since March 8, likely will be added to this equation. Nobody knows what to expect, including coach Mike Woodson. The last time the Knicks visited Woodson’s home state, in February, the burly Pacers embarrassed them by 34 points, and Stoudemire finished 1-of-5 for seven points. That’s when Stoudemire was sharp.
“I don’t want to replay that in my head,” Woodson said of that February night. “I’m thinking positive vibes.”
Woodson has said he will give Stoudemire 10 to 15 minutes, though yesterday he seemed to add a qualifier.
“He’s followed the first two games of the Indiana series,” Woodson said. “He’s in tune to what we’re trying to do. It’s my job to weigh things out, what he looks like on the floor. I’m not going to risk what we got going. But I am going to play him and see where he is.”
Woodson said Stoudemire is “a big piece of what we do.” But for much of this season he has just been a big piece of their salary cap — in the third year of a five-year, $100 million deal.
Whether Stoudemire and Anthony, who have not meshed, will share the court tonight is unclear.
“Right now he’s in that second rotation, and in that second rotation when he was playing early on, Anthony was on the bench,” Woodson said.
Woodson also said Smith’s slump is vexing. Smith, who won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award, is shooting 34 percent in the playoffs — the worst mark among remaining players averaging 25-plus minutes.
“I worry about everyone struggling to shoot the ball,” Woodson said. “You can’t give up hope. J.R.’s a big piece of what we’ve done this season. I got to help him as a coach. His teammates got to help him and he’s got to help himself.”
Smith wasn’t one of the seven Knicks on the court after practice doing extra shooting, but Woodson said he has been committed, even in the face of gossip items about his late-night activities. Smith did not make himself available to the media for the second straight practice.
“He’s putting his time in,” Woodson said. “That’s what you got to do. When you’re struggling to make shots, you got to put time on the practice floor and he’s done that.’’
“Every shooter goes through a slump,’’ said Raymond Felton, who said he has healed from spraining his left ankle in Game 2. “He’s human. He’s not perfect. He’s got to keep shooting the ball. I tell him all the time, ‘I don’t care if you miss five in a row, the sixth shot, you better shoot it. We need you to score.’ ”
Kidd has missed his last 13 shots and has not scored since Game 2 of the first-round series against the Celtics. His defense in Tuesday’s win, however, was exemplary.
“I don’t have to score to win,’’ Kidd said. “That’s my game. My game is to get teammates the ball. Play defense. If a shot a presents itself, take it.”
Anthony said he believes he’s over his four-game shooting slump. He had a giant second half in Game 2 and finished with 32 points.
“I looked at Game 1 on the film with the coaches,” Anthony said. “I was taking my time [in Game 2], not trying to rush. After Game 1, I felt I was rushing. Game 2, I was settled down, relaxed, took my time. As a team we have to be patient.”
The Knicks are the oldest team in the league, so the lull should help them, especially Felton’s ankle.
“It gives us an opportunity being an older team to rest some guys and some of the nicks we had in the Boston series and the first two games,” Woodson said. “We hope when we get on that plane and get on the floor [tonight] it carries over.”
* Smith was fined $5,000 by the NBA for a flop during Game 1. While guarding Pacers guard Lance Stephenson, Smith ran into a pick set by David West and threw his arms up in an exaggerated fall. He became the third player to be fined for flopping during the postseason.