Knicks' Stoudemire having grueling March

Amar'e Stoudemire went into March like a lion and is coming out of it like a lamb.

That immortal swagger he carried earlier this season has been reduced to mortality. The pop in his legs has become a fizz. The strut in his step is more of a limp. And when he rises up against opposing big men, he's no longer soaring to the basket, but it's almost like he's coming up for a brief second of air before succumbing to the under-the-rim depths once again.

"I think it's a product of the team," Mike D'Antoni said. "As soon as we get a lot of things settled and get a couple days off and get over the hump a little bit, then it'll bounce back pretty good.

"But we've got to get Amar'e going," he continued, "and get him feeling good about himself and the team again."

The month mercifully ends with its 17th game Wednesday night against the Nets at the Garden. The lottery-bound Nets are looking to make this a grudge-match game and Stoudemire will have to contend with the size of Brook Lopez and the physicality of Kris Humphries, who has been one of the league's most improved players in the second half of the season.

It'll be the third time in Stoudemire's career that he has played in as many as 17 games in one month, but those were earlier in his career and when the physical demands weren't as great.

This season, Stoudemire has logged the most minutes per game (37.1) of his career. In March, he is playing even more minutes (37.6) and yet his numbers have fallen off slightly from his season averages (-1.1 points, -0.6 rebounds and -0.9 percent field-goal shooting). He failed to reach the 20-point mark in four of the last seven games before he scored 20 in Monday's win over the Magic.

"It's been maybe the hardest month I've ever played in, maybe in my career," he said after Monday's game. "So many games, so many back-to-backs, then they threw in the makeup game in this month. So it was very, very tough. And on top of that, we're trying to get used to our new teammates, so it was a tough month for us. But hopefully we can cap it off against the Nets with a win."

Though many point to the arrival of Carmelo Anthony as the reason why Stoudemire's numbers are in decline over the last 30 days (his field-goal attempts have dipped by just 0.7 per game), the truth is Stoudemire had been showing signs of fatigue before the trade and as far back as late January, when the Knicks lost six straight games. Stoudemire was banged up and dealing with an ailing shoulder, a sprained knee and a sprained big toe. He missed his only game of the season, a 105-95 win over the Nets, on Feb. 12.

A break in the schedule at that time helped him recharge and he played in a win over the Hawks before the All-Star break. The Knicks get a similar break after Wednesday's game, with just one game -- Sunday against the Cavaliers -- over the next five days.