Amar’e Stoudemire proved he can be the Knicks’ closer, but general manager Glen Grunwald said he still believes Stoudemire has to adhere to the 30-minute cap that was broken in Monday night’s 102-97 victory over the Cavaliers.
Stoudemire played a season-high 31:55 as he played most of the fourth quarter and scored 22 points to carry the club to a comeback from 22 down. Mike Woodson has said he now will find ways to finish games with Stoudemire.
However, the 30-minute ceiling imposed by the team’s medical staff won’t be lifted, despite Monday’s low-post heroics.
“I think he’s been super,’’ Grunwald said on WFAN yesterday. “We’re trying to be smart about things and not try to run people into the ground. Not that he can’t play more than 30 minutes. We’re trying to take the long view to make sure he’s with us this season and future seasons. I think he’s moving as well as I’ve seen him since I’ve been here.”
Stoudemire was asked after the game if he thought the cap will be lifted after his monster performance after Carmelo Anthony went down with a knee injury. With Anthony in doubt for tonight’s game, Stoudemire may be asked to start — and finish — against the Pistons.
“I’m not sure,’’ Stoudemire said. “If it’s needed, I’m pretty sure I’ll play however amount of minutes I need to play. Until then we’ll see.’’
After being pilloried for benching Stoudemire in the final eight minutes of Sunday’s loss to the Heat, Woodson said before the Cavaliers game he will find a way to get Stoudemire to close games paired with Anthony. Grunwald no longer sees as big a chemistry problem between his two max players.
“That’s where the coach has a tough job to figure out rotations and minutes,’’ Grunwald said. “We’re pretty happy when Melo, Tyson [Chandler] and [Stoudemire] are on the court together. We’ve been pretty good. We’ve had much more success than last season with the three on the court.’’
Woodson admitted yesterday he made a mistake in not finishing with Stoudemire against Miami.
“Bad coaching,’’ Woodson said on ESPN radio. “Blame that on the coach. The thing with Amar’e is I’m on a minute restriction, and I’m trying to gauge it as I go along. He should’ve been in at the end of that game, although they were small. Tyson or Amar’e would’ve had to guard a perimeter player, and that’s a tough matchup for any team. So I went with the matchup versus trying to make them match up to us. It would’ve been for us an advantage offensively. I learned from it.’’
* Kenyon Martin was signed to a second 10-day contract. The veteran forward has not played in the past three games. Martin’s situation is further clouded by Marcus Camby’s return for six minutes of action Monday.