Knicks' Amare Stoudemire Has Hand Surgery, Out For Game 3

NEW YORK (AP) — Amare Stoudemire had a small muscle repaired Tuesday and will not play for the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat.

The Knicks announced that Stoudemire met with a hand specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, a day after he cut his left hand when he punched the case surrounding a fire extinguisher after the Knicks' 104-94 loss in Miami.

The Knicks are listing Stoudemire as doubtful for Game 4 on Sunday.

Stoudemire apologized on his Twitter account for the act, which leaves the Knicks without another key player as they try to rally from a 2-0 deficit. Jeremy Lin is still recovering from knee surgery and Iman Shumpert is out for the season after tearing a knee ligament in Game 1.

It's possible Stoudemire's difficult season is over. He missed time in February after the death of his brother and again late in the season with a bulging disk in his back, and when he did play had his worst statistical season since he was a rookie in 2002-03.

The Knicks played well without him down the stretch by moving Carmelo Anthony to power forward, where he could take advantage of slower opponents. But asking him to carry so much of the offense on his own is probably too much to ask against the Heat, who are 5-0 against the Knicks this season.

Stoudemire scored 18 points in Game 2, though he didn't get into a good flow until the fourth quarter, when the Knicks could never seriously challenge the Heat. But any hope of carrying the momentum from his positive finish into Thursday's game at Madison Square Garden was lost during his walk back to the locker room.

"We all have done thing out of anger that we regret," he wrote on his Twitter page. "That makes us human. Bad timing on my part. Sorry guys. This (too) shall pass."

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