Last season the New York Knicks made the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons and it was due, in large part, to the great play of Amar’e Stoudemire. Stoudemire essentially put the Knicks on his back and led them to the Eastern Conference playoffs, but when they arrived they fell flat on their face and got swept out by the Boston Celtics. Stoudemire reverted to his old ways averaging 14.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and it was all thanks to a pulled back muscle, one that Stoudemire has still not resolved. The whole off-season Stoudemire has either ignored the injury, or is just very confident that his back will hold up throughout the NBA season, if there is one.
Stoudemire has been suffering from a nagging back injury that he suffered during Game 2 of the Boston series. Now although Stoudemire did come back in Game 3 and 4, he wasn’t the same player and never fully recovered. So the question here is, should Knicks fans be concerned that Stoudemire did not have off-season back surgery? Well personally I don’t think so due mainly to the fact that if surgery was needed I’m sure Stoudemire would have had it done right after the playoffs.
According to several sports doctors who deal with back surgeries similar to Stoudemire’s, the surgery recovery time is 5 months tops. That would put Stoudemire’s return time at around late September to early October. Now I highly doubt that Stoudemire would refuse to get surgery, endure pain throughout the whole season, and quite possibly put his career in jeopardy. Stoudemire didn’t get back surgery because he didn’t need back surgery. Now I’m not saying nothing is wrong with him, granted he could re-tweak the muscle and require surgery late in the season. But for the time being, Stoudemire’s back is strong enough to allow him to play this season, that is if there is a season.
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