Thanks to Amar'e Stoudemire, Knicks, Suns Swap Places

PHOENIX – By the time Amar'e Stoudemire was summoned to the bench for his first rest Friday night at his old home, the Suns' US Airways Center, he'd hit a long jump shot, made an improbable scoop shot from behind the backboard, blocked an attempt by his old teammate Steve Nash, and otherwise dominated the game for his new team, the Knicks.

In doing it all in less than 10 minutes, he made it clear that the reason he was no longer in Phoenix was bunk. He's not falling apart.

But the team that gambled to let him go is.

This was the overlooked reversal of fortunes this season in the NBA: the Knicks and Suns. The two reasons it didn't register was because the one that landed in Miami was just about unprecedented, and the one in New York was without anywhere near as much acrimony. It is proving of great magnitude, nonetheless, as demonstrated by the 121-96 Knicks win, a victory Stoudemire kick-started with a 19-point first half.

"I had one objective and that was to dominate from the start," said Stoudemire, who finished with 23 points and nine rebounds and sat virtually all of the fourth quarter after his Knicks put up 98 points through three.

"Amar'e has the toughness and the heart and the desire," said his coach, Mike D'Antoni, who also coached him in Phoenix. "So far, so good."

D'Antoni was being modest.

So far, Stoudemire has been as good as he's ever been, maybe better.

He returned to the court where he started his NBA campaign as Rookie of the Year before making five All-Star Games, averaging 26 points per game, equaling the highest output of his career. He was yanking nine rebounds per game, also a mark equaling a career high. He was even making more than half of his three-point attempts, which was easily a career high.

Most important, however, his play rejuvenated the long moribund Knicks franchise. It arrived in Phoenix with a 20-14 record that was second best in the Atlantic Division. People around the country have been talking about New York basketball not as a laughingstock for the first time in a long time.

"He has the swagger," D'Antoni said of Stoudemire. "And he can back it up."

Meanwhile, the team that let go of Stoudemire tipped off against him with a nearly inverted record, 14-19. Suns coach Alvin Gentry on Friday tried aged wonder Grant Hill in Stoudemire's old spot, and against him. Before the game, when asked who he would use to guard the 6-10 Stoudemire, Gentry somewhat humorously reeled off just about everyone on his roster who stood at least 6-8.

Gentry was really just doing what other coaches long did when playing Phoenix the past eight seasons when Stoudemire was its heart and soul. He was a match-up problem then. The Suns bet that multiple knee surgeries over the years would have made him less than that by now.

Stoudemire's departure from Phoenix was nothing like LeBron James' flight from Cleveland. Stoudemire didn't want to go, and Suns fans revealed Friday night that they know that.

The first two Knicks introduced were serenaded with booing. The third Knicks' name called was Stoudemire's and he was serenaded with cheers and applauded.

The Suns' announcer did not introduce the club's majority owner, Robert Sarver. Sarver may not at the moment be to Suns fans what Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert is to Cavaliers fans. He made the ultimate decision to let Stoudemire go by not guaranteeing Stoudemire as many years as the Knicks were willing to do.

The Suns all but stated that they couldn't afford Stoudemire without insurance against his knees. The Knicks, however, could and have.

The Suns didn't believe Stoudemire's ligaments and bones would hold up, but by doing so they caused fraying of what was sustaining their foundation. It may take longer than the five-year deal Stoudemire signed with the Knicks to re-establish.

In one sense, this wasn't just a bad deal for the Suns but for the NBA as well. After all, there were few more fun teams to watch in the league the past several seasons than the high-octane Suns, steered by two-time league MVP point guard Nash, who extenuated Stoudemire's power game by finding him for punctuating dunks after dives down the lane.

Just last season, they were good enough to again get to the Western Conference finals, taking two games from the eventual champion Lakers.

Overnight, or over the offseason to be more precise, the Suns are nowhere close to being as dangerous. You would be hard-pressed, in fact, to find a more precipitous fall off for an NBA team from one season to the next, including the Cavaliers sans James. We're talking about a conference championship participant becoming mere fodder.


"We've lost some confidence," Nash said, "but we've got to fight through it. We've got to be tough and we got to find a way to win some of these games and not feel sorry for ourselves, not hang our heads, not lose our spirit when things aren't going for us."

The Suns' drop is due unquestionably to Stoudemire's departure, not D'Antoni's. Since then, they've jettisoned other parts of their championship-run teams and are now merely a shadow of their former selves. Now Nash is said to be on the block for a trade, which will complete the setting of these Suns.

The Suns' loss is the Knicks' gain, however. And the Knicks' gain is good for the league given the importance and history of basketball in New York.

The Knicks will only get better, too. There are the rumors that Carmelo Anthony wants to return to the state where he won a college championship at Syracuse. There are rumors that Chris Paul, the do-everything point guard at New Orleans, would like to come.

The way the incumbent Knicks point guard Raymond Felton played against Phoenix -- registering a triple-double of 23 points, 11 assists and 10 boards -- suggested Paul was less-needed than Anthony. Then again, the way Stoudemire played, at a level Gentry said before the game made him an MVP in the East, suggested Anthony wasn't needed, either.

Truth is, the Knicks almost have become what the Suns were and the Suns what the Knicks had been. And the only common denominator is a man who moved from one locale to the other. Good for the Knicks; bad for the Suns.