Stoudemire: We need championship mentality
New York Knicks center Amar'e Stoudemire (1) looks at the crowd during a break in the game action against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden. The Sixers defeated the Knicks 106-96. Credit: Newsday/Christopher Pasatieri
Amar'e Stoudemire didn't step into a ready-made situation in New York the way his fellow marquee free agents, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, did in Miami. With the NBA's seventh-youngest roster around him, there are going to be growing pains. Yesterday's 106-96 loss to the 76ers was one of them.
Afterward, Stoudemire talked about the need for his team to have "more of a championship mentality,'' which, as he explained, is "a matter of understanding just how important wins are."
Although the Knicks missed 13 of their last 14 shots and managed only seven points in the final seven minutes - all by Stoudemire - he wasn't as bothered by the sputtering offense.
The pick-and-roll, the play with which he did most of his damage with Steve Nash in Phoenix, is nowhere near as effective here with Raymond Felton running the point.
But despite acknowledging that "we've got to figure out what the plan is down the stretch" on offense, Stoudemire said the game was lost "in the third quarter, with all the fouling." The 76ers were 9-for-14 from the line in the quarter - 5-for-5 by Lou Williams in a sequence in which he caught Landry Fields with a rip-through and then a pump-fake and was fouled twice on long jumpers, the first a three-pointer.
"Imagine if we play guys like Kobe Bryant, who does it all the time," Stoudemire said of drawing fouls. "That would have really been an issue. We can't afford to foul guys like we did."
Injury ends Iggy's streak
After facing the No. 1 overall pick, John Wall, in Friday's win over the Wizards, the Knicks saw the second overall pick, Evan Turner, who made his first career start for the 76ers and had 14 points and 10 rebounds in a solid debut. Turner's ascension into the starting lineup was a result of the loss of Andre Iguodala, who sat out with a strained right Achilles tendon to end a streak of 252 consecutive games started dating to the 2006-07 season. Andre Miller has the longest streak among active players with 619 straight games played.
