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It’s all over the news. Amar’e Stoudemire’s going to be out for a while. It sucks if you’re a New York Knicks fan, or Mike Woodson, but it’s not the end of the world.
The Knicks now have a loss on their bench. However, with Carmelo Anthony making his return against the Golden State Warriors, the bleeding may not be too severe. Anthony has proven that he can defend this year if no one else can help him. This basically means, that whole spacing issue that Stoudemire and Anthony had, that’s over and done with.
Now, it’s officially Anthony’s team and it’s time for him to take over. Yet, even with the enthusiasm of Anthony’s return against the Warriors, what happens if he gets injured again? Stoudemire won’t be around to pick up the offense in the post which he was doing rather well while Anthony was out. Stoudemire’s defense also improved as he continued to play more minutes, but his knee just couldn’t handle it and now look where he is.
The loss of Stoudemire makes the weak Knicks’ bench even weaker. J.R. Smith and Steve Novak are the only guys that can come into the game for the Knicks and score if given the opportunity. However, the two of them are players that run on momentum and when they’re having an off night, man are they off.
When Smith is having an off night, he continues to shoot the ball. Even though he’s been passing slightly more as of late, he won’t have Stoudemire to back him up off the bench. Tyson Chandler will likely pick up more minutes, but he’s already averaging over 33 minutes per game and Woodson can’t play him too much more than that especially if he thinks the team can make a run for the title.
Heading off against a hot Warriors team led by Stephen Curry who went off on the Knicks a few weeks ago, it’s going to be tough for the team to figure out the right defensive stand point. If they want to make a playoff run, they’re probably going to have to find a spark off of the bench, especially a big man.
Joseph Wolkin can be followed on Twitter at @JosephNASCAR.
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