For 47 minutes, Amar'e Stoudemire seemed content to be invisible, to be a mere prop in Carmelo Anthony 's much-anticipated Knick debut. And then, he finally made his appearance, although hardly one that will make Mike D'Antoni smile. With a minute to play in the Knicks ' win over the Bucks at the Garden, Stoudemire bumped a driving John Salmons and was whistled for his sixth foul.
I had no idea until after the game. It was that kind of night for Stoudemire. As Anthony was launching shot after shot and scoring a crowd-pleasing 27 points, and Chauncey Billups was reminding the Knicks that they actually got two star players in Monday night's blockbuster, Stoudemire, who carried the team for 54 games, was reduced to third wheel.
The NBA 's third-leading scorer managed just 19 points on a mere 13 shots the fifth time this season that he's taken that few and never seemed to get into the offensive flow. He didn't seem bothered afterward, however, reiterating that the trade was "what we wanted. Knick great Walt Frazier talked about the team's current stars sacrificing their games and checking their egos at the door before the game, and if Wednesday was any indication, Stoudemire may be the one who will sacrifice the most.
He said he wanted Carmelo to play naturally Wednesday, to play "Carmelo basketball. For Anthony, who scored 50 points without a single assist earlier this month, that often means hardly passing. D'Antoni promised that eventually, "We'll get it to where everyone is good with their touches ," but in the first game of the new Knicks era, Anthony was limited to bulling his way to the hoop or settling for jumpers.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/64599930/700567690.0.jpg "Call girl in Carmelo")
He rarely looked Stoudemire's way. But the big man said he didn't mind watching. After all, somebody had to carry the Knicks in that final minute, when Stoudemire had fouled out. Skip to content. Amar'e Stoudemire pleads his case to Knicks assistant coach Phil Weber after fouling out of Wednesday's game with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists.
