Nuggets coach George Karl said he thought Amar’e Stoudemire should have been ejected yesterday. Stoudemire picked up a technical foul in the first quarter, and midway through the second quarter he got into it with Nene, the Nuggets’ 6-foot-11 big man.
Stoudemire didn’t get called for anything — no second technical that would have gotten him tossed from the game.
“They said they didn’t see anything. I thought I saw another technical foul,” said Karl. “I saw another elbow from here. At halftime they said they didn’t see anything. But to me that would have been a big play for us.”
Stoudemire not only escaped ejection, but he rebounded from his miserable first half. The Knicks star didn’t hit a shot in the first quarter and had only six points by halftime. But in the second half, Stoudemire put up 24 points on 11-for-15 shooting, finishing with 30 points and catapulting the Knicks to an impressive 129-125 win.
Stoudemire cracked the 30-point barrier for a Knicks-record eighth straight game, the longest run by anyone in the NBA since Kobe Bryant’s nine straight in 2005-06.
“This guy is a monster,” Landry Fields said. “That is the best way I can describe him . . . a monster.”
Added Karl: “I think you’re seeing a very hungry player. He’s showing that he’s very valuable to not only the Knicks, but probably to his contract.”
Just 1:20 into the fourth quarter yesterday, Stoudemire picked up his fifth foul, so he had to sit for the next 4½ minutes. But with more than six minutes remaining and the Knicks up a point, Stoudemire checked back in. He proceeded to hit three jumpers in the next 94 seconds, then scored two more buckets in the final two minutes.
“It’s the fourth quarter. Then it’s really time to be sharp,” said Stoudemire. “It’s the time to really get after it offensively.”
Stoudemire got a technical in the first quarter after Nene dunked on him, and their second alterca tion came with 6:07 to go in the half. Nene drove on Stoudemire, who fouled him, and the two had some elbows and shoves mixed in.
“I guess they call that physical play,” Carmelo Anthony said. “They let it go.”
Nene said he and Stoudemire “have a good relationship.”
“I play hard. I don’t play dirty,” Nene said. “He just tries to play hard too.”
Stoudemire, too, said he and Nene are “actually very good friends off the court.” — Additional reporting
by Marc Berman