There are a few ways in which Amar’e Stoudemire’s lacerated left hand changed the way he played in Game 4 of the Knicks’ first-round series: Catching passes. Dunking. And rebounding.
“If you noticed, a few times I fumbled the ball on catches,” Stoudemire said yesterday. “I can’t dunk with two hands. I can’t really grab a rebound aggressively with two hands. But there’s always ways you can compromise on the court, so I’ll figure it out.”
It was surprising Stoudemire would recite all the basketball restrictions he has, giving the Heat the scouting report on everything he remains physically incapable of doing a little over a week after severely cutting his hand punching the glass casing of a fire extinguisher following the Knicks’ Game 2 loss.
Maybe Stoudemire figured the secret already was out. He figured out how to cope Sunday, delivering 20 points and 10 rebounds in the Knicks’ elimination-avoiding triumph, a performance Carmelo Anthony admitted surprised him.
“He came back. He bounced back. And we respect that out of him,” Anthony said.
Stoudemire now goes into tonight’s Game 5 in Miami trying to replicate that effort. And trying to forget about what happened the last time he was at American-Airlines Arena nine days ago.
“I just don’t want to look at that fire extinguisher at all,” he said.
Stoudemire averaged a middling 12.5 points in two regular-season games vs. the Heat and just 13.5 in the first two games of this first-round series. But he began to emerge in the second half of Game 2, when he racked up 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. After scoring a total of 15 points in his first six quarters of the playoffs, he now has 32 in his past six. And many of those came with an injured hand.
“It’s definitely not easy to play with,” Stoudemire said, “but I seemed to manage.”
Stoudemire — dubbed “Robocop” by Mike Bibby for his machine-like recovery — has now removed the uncertainty of whether he can play with the heavily bandaged left hand.
“I just feel like my hand is sturdy enough and healthy enough to play with,” he said.
mark.hale@nypost.com