In the wake of two bad losses to the Miami Heat and Fire Extinguishergate, the Knicks are not exactly in great shape heading into Game 3 at the Garden tonight. But even with no Iman Shumpert, Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin, the team is still hopeful they can end their playoff win drought...somehow: “It’s a big challenge but we’ve been facing challenges all year,’’ Carmelo Anthony said after yesterday’s practice. “We all got to do it. I’m not going to do it myself. We just got to believe we can go out there and win the game. “They did what they had to do on their court. Now it’s our turn.”
The Knicks have lost 12 straight playoff games over the last 11 years—which is tied for the post season record. If they lose again tonight, they'll be in the record books for most consecutive playoff losses, which coach Mike Woodson acknowledged: “I’m not one for excuses,’’ he said. “This team hasn’t been together that long. Tyson’s first season. A short season. There are a lot of things at stake. Expectations have been high all year and it’ll always be that way if I’m the coach. My thing is, yeah we got a legitimate shot. We still control our own destiny. I know the [record] is dangling out there, but I’m thinking about [getting] Game 3 under our belts and see if we can force the action.’’
They'll have to fill the holes in their lineup to force that action with Stoudemire definitely out for tonight. Stat has not been left off the hook since his confrontation with the glass casing containing a fire extinguisher after Game 2. A source who witnessed the incident described it in more detail to ESPN:
He didn't haul off and punch the glass; he hit it out of frustration. He kind of slapped it, but with a closed fist. He said he thought it was plastic instead of glass.
Half of his hand was just hanging off. It was really bad. Blood was just squirting out. That's why they had the paramedics come in, because they thought he might have punctured an artery because of how much blood was coming out.
Stoudemire apologized to fans and his teammates in the wake of the incident: "He feels bad about what happened," Carmelo Anthony said. "He understands what was at stake, the situation. The only thing I care about is him being healthy." Stoudemire also thinks he can come back for Game 4. The Star-Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro isn't buying it: "Amar’e Stoudemire says he expects to play in Game 4 Sunday, and he clings to this plan because 'I’ve persevered through a lot of injuries, and work hard to recover from injuries.'... In a related story, the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday published a report about an extraordinary 6-10 man in New York City who is capable of growing three new layers of skin in just 48 hours..."
Wall Street Journal writer Jason Gay—who wrote the definitive oral history of Stoudemire and fire extinguisher—tried to look for the positive: "So frustrating - without Stoudemire, Knicks go from a team about to be swept to a team about to be swept."
At the very least, Heat forward Chris Bosh will likely be out tonight due to the impending birth of his first son. And Anthony has flourished in the four spot in place of Stoudemire—and he had that incredible run toward the end of the season while Stoudemire was injured. So maybe the Knicks can pull one win from the Heat still. After all, they do have the Defensive Player Of The Year, who acknowledged the true spirit of the Knicks franchise while accepting the award yesterday: “I would like to thank my teammates because without their poor defense and letting people fly by them I wouldn’t get credit for stepping up,” Tyson Chandler said.
