The wheels came off the Amar’e Stoudemire bandwagon last night and their new star might soon start fantasizing about his days with Steve Nash.
The Knicks’ new closer, Stoudemire, didn’t close. Stoudemire lost the ball out of bounds on a key controversial drive down the lane against Marcus Camby in the closing seconds — a play that needed a referee’s review and was the signature moment of his lousy night.
It did not make for a fairytale Knicks home debut for the ex-Sun, and he hardly had help from his new point-guard, pick-and-roll mate Raymond Felton in their 100-95 home-opening Garden loss to the Blazers. Portland closed the game on a 17-3 splurge as the Knicks blew a nine-point lead in the final 5:34.
Stoudemire finished with 18 points, five rebounds and six turnovers and even took a poke at the referees as the Knicks fell to 1-2. Two monster games lay ahead against Orlando Tuesday and the Bulls on the road Thursday.
The loss was also marked by another horrible night by Danilo Gallinari, who finished with four points, his slump now alarming. Gallinari, who shot 2 of 9, is shooting 20.1 percent for the season and was benched again for the final 18 minutes in his third straight disastrous outing.
With the pick-and-roll not working, Felton instead fed Stoudemire at the top of the key and let him go to work with the Knicks down two with 10 seconds left.
Stoudemire drove on Camby, who seemed to push him immediately. There was no whistle, Stoudemire kept barreling toward the hoop, and Camby stripped the ball out of bounds with five seconds left. The initial call gave the Knicks possession but a replay review overturned it, as it showed the ball went off Stoudemire’s shin.
“It was out of bounds off me for sure,” Stoudemire said. “I don’t know if there was contact on the initial drive. Sometimes Camby puts his hand on you and stops you from driving, then goes for the block. I think everybody knows that now in the league but the officials.”
Zing.
Nevertheless, Stoudemire called this a morale victory.
“We gave them a run for their money, and we didn’t play particularly well,” Stoudemire said. “We’ll be OK.”
Felton and Stoudemire may one day be OK, but they looked like they had never met late in the game. With 25 seconds left, Knicks down 1, Felton and Stoudemire tried working magic on the pick-and-roll. Felton drove down the lane and instead of pushing it to Stoudemire he kept it and his runner was blocked by Nicolas Batum with 18.2 seconds left.
“We’re still trying to build that chemistry,” Felton said. “I am who I am, Steve Nash is who he is. Steve Nash did it his way. I do it my way.”
Stoudemire mostly was bottled up, as the Blazers showed a new zone midway through the fourth quarter.
“It was one of those night where they pretty much clogged the lane up and tired to force us to beat them from the outside,” Stoudemire said.
With Gallinari benched, the Knicks relied again on Sixth Man demon Wilson Chandler, who is playing for a new contract extension with his agent, Chris Luchey, in the house meeting with team president Donnie Walsh today.
After a monster first half, Chandler got cold and scored just 7 of his 22 points in the last two quarters. Chandler also had 16 rebounds but shot 8 of 22 shooting (3 of 9 from 3-point distance).
The Garden added an extra snazziness to opening-night pregame introductions, with the players coming out of the side tunnel amidst a laser light and a congo-drum band. Stoudemire was introduced last and received wild applause, and Eddy Curry was not introduced at all for obvious reasons.
Stoudemire and the Knicks couldn’t solve the Blazers’ zone late in the fourth quarter.
Stoudemire was stripped with 3:30 left and Andre Miller soared in on a fastbreak. He got fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws, the Knicks clinging to a 92-90 lead. Batum completed the 9-0 run with a fastbreak bucket for Nicolas Batum, tying the score at 92.
Gallinari, who is battling a sore wrist and who had a lousy preseason, stunk for the third straight game.
“The wrist is not an excuse,” said Gallinari, whose starting-lineup slot could be in question if this continues. “I just have to find my rhythm back.”
“He is pressing,” D’Antoni said.