STAT became SAT.
Over the final 7 minutes, 56 seconds of yesterday’s 99-93 loss to the Heat, Amar’e Stoudemire did not get off the bench. Mike Woodson pulled his $100 million man with just under eight minutes remaining in a one-point game, and the Knicks coach never put Stoudemire back in.
When Stoudemire came out, the Knicks trailed 83-82. Over that final 7:56, they only scored 11 points — with Carmelo Anthony getting just three shots and hitting one of them.
Stoudemire has not complained about his role this season. And while he again was diplomatic yesterday, he was curt when asked about not playing down the stretch.
“It’s Coach’s decision,” he said. “Whenever my number’s called, I’m ready.”
Woodson said not playing Stoudemire in the final minutes was a match-up issue.
“I didn’t [consider it] because they were small and I went with Tyson [Chandler] on [Chris] Bosh,” Woodson said. “I’m not saying [Stoudemire] wasn’t a good fit. I’m saying that’s the way I decided to go.”
Stoudemire didn’t play in the first two games against the Heat this season as he recovered from a knee injury. He poured in 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, although he grabbed only two rebounds, in a little more than 21 minutes.
Stoudemire is on a 30-minute cap per game, and was at only 17 heading into the fourth quarter. Theoretically, Woodson could have used him as much as he wanted over the final 12 minutes, but chose to play him for just four.
“My max is 30 minutes. I haven’t quite got there yet. We’ll see how that goes,” Stoudemire said. “It all depends on how the coaching staff views the game. I’m just ready whenever they call me.”
Anthony didn’t want to get in the middle of any possible controversy.
“I don’t control that. I leave that up to the coach. When Amar’e is out there, he’s giving us productive minutes,” Anthony said. “As far as the minutes go, you have to ask Coach Woodson.”
Stoudemire insisted that “physically I feel as good as I’ve felt in a long time.”