Report: Amare Stoudemire “almost certain” to miss Game 3

Let that be a lesson to our young readers — do not punch metal and glass objects.

Actually, you probably didn’t need that reminder.

Amare Stoudemire did. He slammed his fist into a metal and glass fire extinguisher case out of frustration as he walked down the hall to the locker room after the Knicks Game 2 loss to the Heat. He ended up needing stitches to stop the bleeding on his hand and now likely will miss Game 3 Thursday. Here is what ESPNNewYork.com wrote:

A league source told ESPNNewYork.com that Stoudemire is “almost certain” to miss Game 3 on Thursday in New York and there is a possibility that Stoudemire could miss the rest of the series.

Stoudemire is going to see a hand specialist to determine the extent of the problem, to see if tendons or ligaments were damaged, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.

If you don’t trust anonymous sources, here is what Tyson Chandler said after the game, via Newsday.

“We just know right now that he has a laceration and he’s probably going to be out,” Tyson Chandler said. “It’s tough, obviously. Amar’e is a huge part of this team. Without him, it’s going to make it more difficult. We already lost one player [Iman Shumpert]. That’s two players out of the starting lineup. It makes it tougher.’'

Stoudemire has apologized for his actions on twitter. I’m sure the New York Post took that into consideration when they wrote the headline “Bloody Idiot” for the paper’s Tuesday edition.

On the court, no Stoudemire is one less option the Heat have to spread their defense out to cover. They can focus more on making life difficult for Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks margin for error to beat the Heat was already small, it just got minuscule. While the team may be used to playing without him, they are not better when he can’t play.