The New York Knicks front line just lost a big piece to their hopes for making the playoffs. According to Adam Zagoria, the team announced power forward Amar’e Stoudemire will be out indefinitely with a bulging disk in his back. Head Coach Mike Woodson made the announcement during a media session before Monday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Woodson said Stoudemire would not be undergoing surgery to repair the disk, but will receive treatment for the injury. Woodson added guys like Josh Harrellson and Jerome Jordan would be relied on to fill in for Stoudemire.
“You don’t wish it on any player, especially Amar’e who is a big part of what we do,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “All we can do is just hope that it’s not as serious as it may be and that he has a speedy recovery. But it gives our team, me as a coach an opportunity to look at other guys like Josh [Harrellson] and Jerome [Jordan]. Guys like that gotta step in and play. We can’t look back. We gotta continue to play and try to win games.”
The Knicks are just getting destroyed by injuries right now. In addition to Stoudemire’s injury, point guard Jeremy Lin is also out, as is Jared Jeffries and Bill Walker. Carmelo Anthony will slide over and start at power forward tonight, but Woodson didn’t say whether that would be the team’s long term solution. Bigger picture, the Knicks front line now lacks any interior scoring. With the Bucks hot on their trail for the eighth seed, it’s tough to see the Knicks making the playoffs if Amar’e is out the rest of the season.
