Stoudemire's health Knicks' top priority

NEWARK

The one chance the Knicks have of getting to the playoffs this season walked gingerly to his place on the visitor's bench before last night's game, smoothed the crease in his charcoal gray flannel pants and sat down.

Amar'e Stoudemire sitting on the bench in street clothes? There are few sights scarier for Knicks fans.

Stoudemire's injury might not be very serious - the team announced right before the game that he was sitting out because of a sprained right big toe - but it does launch a very serious discussion.

The Knicks absolutely need to get a second superstar - hello, Carmelo Anthony - someone who can take some of the nightly pressure off Stoudemire.

It doesn't matter that the Knicks found a way to win without him Saturday night, beating the Nets, 105-95. It doesn't matter that they beat a New Jersey team that was playing pretty well. What matters is that the group of players on the floor Saturday night isn't going to be the group that gets the Knicks into the playoffs this season, or gets them deep into the postseason in the future.

The Knicks gave very little information about Stoudemire's injury before the game, other than it occurred during Friday night's loss to the Lakers. One thing is for sure, though: The Knicks need to make sure that Stoudemire is feeling his best before he gets back on the court.

Stoudemire said after the game that he hopes to be back for Wednesday night's game against Atlanta. But he doesn't need to be. Nor does he need to play in next weekend's All-Star Game in Los Angeles. As nice as it would be to see a Knick in the starting lineup, it would be even nicer to know that he is going to be completely healthy after the break.

The Knicks aren't going anywhere without him. Last night's win was a good one, but the team won't be able to play with that kind of emotion every night.

Don't think that Knicks president Donnie Walsh doesn't know this. Walsh knows which player is the foundation of this team, knows it well enough that he admits to wincing every time he sees Stoudemire stumble or fall on the court.

"You always wonder, 'What if he goes down?' " Walsh said. "A couple of times, he's gone down and I've gone, 'Whoa!' "

And with Stoudemire, it's not just injuries that the team needs to worry about. He has 14 technical fouls and is only two away from receiving an automatic one-game suspension. Under NBA rules, starting at No. 16, a player is suspended one game and fined $5,000 for every two technical fouls he picks up. With 30 games remaining, things could get pretty ugly.

How ugly? Sit through a tape of the first three quarter's of last night's game.

The matchup was billed as a showdown between two teams that at various turns had found themselves swept up in the Anthony chase. With the Feb. 24 trade deadline looming, the Knicks believe they are getting distracted by all the Anthony talk.

And they do have the stats to back that up. Even after their loss to the Knicks, the Nets are 7-7 since their owner held a news conference to announce they had dropped out of the Anthony chase. The Knicks are 5-8 in the same period.

"Since the trade talks are over, we can concentrate more on basketball," the Nets' Anthony Morrow said. "We can move on."

Right now, I'll take the fact that the Knicks can't move on. They have less than two weeks to the trading deadline, less than two weeks to wait and see if something is going to happen.

It might not be an easy place to be in. But if I were a fan, I'd rather have them distracted for two weeks and have a shot at a player like Anthony than have to catch my breath every time Stoudemire stumbles on the court.

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