Amar’e Stoudemire did more damage than break a pane of glass Monday night after the Knicks’ 104-94 Game 2 loss to the Heat in Miami. He all but shattered the hopes former Knicks had of seeing a championship banner raised to the rafters at Madison Square Garden this season.
Former power forward Larry Johnson, who will forever be known for his postseason four-point play, paused and lowered his head after he was asked by The Post if the Knicks, down 0-2 to the Heat, still could win the series without Stoudemire.
“It just got a lot harder,’’ Johnson, the team’s Basketball and Business Operations representative, told The Post Tuesday in a subdued voice.
“Obviously, I’m going to say we still have a chance. But it just got a lot harder.’’
That was before Stoudemire had his gashed left hand examined by a hand surgeon in New York. Sources told The Post the Knicks’ 6-foot-11, $99.7 million man would probably miss the rest of the series.
John Starks, the team’s Alumni Relations and Fan Development Advisor, said the Knicks could still win but, he too, sounded less than enthusiastic.
‘They’re going to have play a perfect game,’’ he said. “J.R. [Smith] is going to have to get going. [Steve] Novak is going to have to get going. They’re going to have to limit Miami’s fast-break points and everyone is going to have to rebound. They have to play a perfect game.’’
Actually, they have to play four perfect games, but for now the concern is Game 3 tomorrow night at the Garden. If the Knicks go down 0-3, they can begin booking tee times.
Stoudemire took to Twitter yesterday to apologize for his actions.
Stoudemire smashed the glass plate cover of a fire extinguisher in the hallway in AmericanAirlines Arena that leads to the Knicks dressing room. Paramedics and the Heat’s team medical personnel staunched the profuse bleeding, but the damage had been done.
Stoudemire is likely done for the series and the Knicks are all but done, too.
Johnson and Starks, who were at Grand Central Station to tip off a three-day fan fest, at which fans can win Knicks tickets and attend a Game 3 viewing party, hesitated to put themselves in Stoudemire’s shoes.
But the mood among the former Knicks was hardly celebratory. Starks said he once kicked and shattered a pane of glass after his team lost a rec-league game.
He was not injured.
“I think he was upset and frustrated by the loss,’’ said Starks, who was a fan favorite because of his passionate play. “You can see the passion in Amar’e. I’m don’t think he knew he was putting his hand on glass. He just saw the box and reacted.’’
That reaction caused a severe gash to Stoudemire’s left hand, in what has been a physically and emotionally draining year for the power forward. He missed games late in the season with a bulging disk and lost his brother, who was killed in a car crash.
“I definitely can’t speculate on what he was upset about but I know we need to find a way for him to channel that emotion better,’’ Johnson said. “I just wish I had had a chance to speak to him before this happened because if you wait until he’s just about to hit something, it’s too late.
“Whether he was upset at himself or upset at the team or upset by the loss, it doesn’t matter now. I know fans are upset but I’d rather have a guy that was passionate.’’