Amare Stoudemire nearly loses a hand, learns important lesson
Amare learned an important lesson after Game 2
After the New York Knicks’ loss in Game 2 of their first round matchup with the Miami Heat on Monday, Amare Stoudemire was visibly frustrated. The Heat were beating New York to every spot, forcing the Knicks to press, and the referees were coming down decidedly pro-Miami in their calls. While anyone would be frustrated after back-to-back disappointing showings in the playoffs, Stoudemire felt the need to vent his frustration by punching the glass casing of a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. Initial reports were that he suffered slight laceration and that his availability for Game 3 would be doubtful. He left the arena with his arm in a sling, which left many to wonder just how bad this “laceration” really was. Turns out, it was super bad.
From ESPN.com:
“He didn’t haul off and punch the glass; he hit it out of frustration,” a person who witnessed the incident told Broussard. “He kind of slapped it, but with a closed fist. He said he thought it was plastic instead of glass.
“Half of his hand was just hanging off. It was really bad. Blood was just squirting out. That’s why they had the paramedics come in, because they thought he might have punctured an artery because of how much blood was coming out.”
First of all, let’s clarify something: slapping something with a closed fist is punching something. I know he’s trying to make Amare sound less like a crazy person, but let’s call it what it is: a punch.
Secondly: HOLY CRAP AMARE ALMOST LOST HIS HAND. While “half his hand was just hanging off” isn’t medical jargon or at all a true diagnosis of the seriousness of Amare’s hand injury, it certainly paints a horrifically graphic picture. The Knicks have ruled out Amare for Game 3 and could be without him for the rest of the series, and while much has been made about whether or not the Knicks are better off without him as Stoudemire has struggled this season, can you imagine how bad he’d be missing a hand?
I imagine if he had lost the hand, James Dolan would have kept him on the payroll as his own personal J. Walter Weatherman. He’d always be ready to show up to teach some young rookie a lesson by popping off his prosthetic hand in some kind of staged accident to make sure the player never left his sneakers in the middle of the locker room or something like that. You don’t want Dolan to yell, do you? It’s an important job and someone’s got to do it.
Moving forward, if this account is at all accurate, Amare probably won’t play the rest of this series, no matter how long it goes. If the Knicks somehow rallied and moved on, I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have Stoudemire’s services for the next several rounds either. If the injury is as grisly as described, Amare might be lucky if he ever plays again. But at least now he knows that that’s why we always use our words.
(pic via)
