Monday, November 15, 2010
BY STEVE ADAMEK
The Record
NEW YORK – A little more than four months ago, Amar’e Stoudemire raised him arms wide and proclaimed, “The Knicks are back.”
Then he spent the summer embracing everything New York had to offer.
Sunday night, following his new team’s fifth straight loss and fourth in five games at home, 104-96 to Houston, the Knicks’ $100 million man sat in his dressing stall and declared, “This is something that’s a foreign land for me right now.”
After a night in which it was clear he wanted the ball early and often _ although he insisted it had nothing to do with his mea culpa in Minnesota following Friday’s stunning loss from 21 points ahead in the second half _ Stoudemire looked like someone ready to take the next flight back to Phoenix.
Where he never became accustomed to funks like this, he said.
“Maybe a winning mentality has never been here,” he said. “I’m not used to that. I’m used to winning. I’m used to talking about winning and having the confidence toward winning.
“You can’t have guys complacent and comfortable with losing.”