MIAMI — Amar’e Stoudemire sat in front of his locker with bandages of ice on his knees and his head in his hands. The frustrating finish to a difficult season was just starting to set in and it didn’t feel good.
A nearby stat sheet showed the Heat had ended the Knicks’ season with a 106-94 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena in a game that Stoudemire scored 14 points before fouling out with 4:48 remaining.
For the second straight playoff season, the Knicks and Stoudemire were ousted in a first round, where he finished half the player he should have been. Last year, it was his back in Boston. This year, it was his severely lacerated left hand, injured when he punched a case holding a fire extinguisher after Game 2.
Yet, in the midst of the defeat, Stoudemire turned optimistic, vowing to return next season and finally be the player Knicks fans have wanted him to be — the player he was for the first half of last season when the Garden echoed with chants of “MVP! MVP!”
“I’m still that player I was last year,” Stoudemire insisted last night, “just a different team. I want to get back to where I was last year.”
He was a long way from that last night, and the Knicks were a long way from being competitive against a Heat team determined to end the series in five games.
What ultimately caused the Knicks’ downfall was they were a patch-work team in every sense of the word — not just last night when Mike Bibby made his first series start at point guard — but for nearly the entire season because of injuries and a coaching change when Mike Woodson replaced Mike D’Antoni.
If there’s one thing Stoudemire craves is consistency heading into next year.
“I think we have to have a better mindset going into the season,” he said. “Definitely, have to have to have a more consistent season. This year has been up and down with the coaching change and so on and so forth. We have to implement our strategies in training camp and get better throughout the year.”
Stoudemire is due to have a better season. This one began with the NBA lockout, hindering his chances of rehabilitating the back injury he suffered at Boston. Then his 33-year-old brother, Hazell, was killed in a car accident. A bulging disk cost him more games, and then he lost that fight with the fire extinguisher.
“It was an up-and-down year for me,” Stoudemire said. “It started off with my brother’s death. I’m still trying to get over that now. I had a few injuries throughout the year. The lockout wasn’t great for me either. Coming off a back injury and not being able to have the proper treatment was not good. Next year, we’re looking for bigger and better things.”
Few would be surprised if the Knicks attempt to trade Stoudemire, though his contract and health issues make that unlikely. He still believes he, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler can form the nucleus of a title contender.
“We haven’t had consistency in the past two years,” Stoudemire said. “The team changed last season. This year we had a coaching change. I’ve been on three to four different teams since I’ve been here and I’ve only been here for two years. Whatever it is, we want to make sure we have a solid group going into next year.”
This ending is getting old already. Reaching the playoffs for the first time in forever held some significance last year. Losing to the Heat in Game 5 is hardly worth bragging about.
“We’re looking for better things than that,” Stoudemire said.
From the Knicks and from himself.
george.willis@nypost.com