GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Amar’e Stoudemire plans to play Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks despite a sore big toe but isn’t certain if he’ll play in the All-Star Game Sunday in Los Angeles.
“I’m not sure,” Stoudemire said Tuesday after practicing. “We’ll see how the toe feels after the game [Wednesday] and go from there.”
Stoudemire sat out Saturday’s 105-95 win over the Nets with the toe injury, and did not practice Monday.
“It feels much better than three days ago,” he said. “Three days ago I couldn’t hardly walk on it. And now I can run and jump. I haven’t really tried to really jump explosive yet. I’m going to try more [Wednesday], but so far, so good.”
Stoudemire was chosen to start for the Eastern Conference and was also selected to coach the Rookies, including teammate Landry Fields, in the Rookie-Sophomore game.
If he plays Wednesday, the NBA will reportedly insist that he plays some Sunday.
“I wouldn’t mind playing a few minutes [in the All-Star Game],” he said. “But if my toe feels great, then I’ll play. If not, then I’ll just sit out a few minutes or so.”
The last time the Knicks and Hawks met on Jan. 28, the Hawks’ Marvin Williams and New York’s Shawne Williams were ejected for throwing punches with less than a minute remaining in Atlanta’s 111-101 victory.
Marvin Williams served a two-game suspension and Shawne Williams got one.
“No, there ain’t nothing personal,” Shawne said. “I believe I said it that day. There wasn’t nothing personal between me and him. We’re just competing and in the heat of the moment it got out of hand.”
Stoudemire was not 100 percent in that game because he banged his knee, and Al Horford had a big game for Atlanta with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists.
Shawne Williams expects big things from Stoudemire this time around.
“I expect the same I expect every night,” he said. “Every night he’s coming out 20, 30 points and just leading the team. So I expect him to be a leader in the game [Wednesday], as well as every game the rest of the season.”
Stoudemire said he gave no thought to shutting it down Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a very, very intense game,” he said. “After what happened in Atlanta, I think we feel that we could’ve played a lot better than we did after watching film today.
“So [Wednesday] is going to be a very, very important game for us and we feel like we’re ready. And it’s going to be an exciting game.”
FREE THROWS
Danilo Gallinari is also expected to start Wednesday after sitting Monday with a knee injury. He practiced Tuesday…Boxer Sugar “Shane” Mosley attended practice with a documentary crew and spent time chatting with Stoudemire and other players afterward. Mosley will fight Manny Pacquiao May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Showtime is producing a documentary series, “Fight Camp 360°”…Coach Mike D’Antoni said Kelenna Azubuike, who has yet to play this season, was “getting better” after undergoing left knee surgery. “He’s getting closer, that’s for sure,” he said. “I didn’t even think he’d ever even get this close. We’ll keep evaluating him, we’ll see after the All-Star break how he’s doing and see if there’s some opportunities to get him on the floor. But right now to break into any kind of rhythm I think is hard but would be great to get him out there every once in a while.”
