Amare Stoudemire's Knee causes Problems

Amare Stoudemire did not want to talk Tuesday about how his comeback for the Phoenix Suns has been called off after three games.

And that said it all. He seems to be tired of reliving why his knees still ache. He seems to want to avoid rehashing how his past two games regressed into a shell of his former athletic presence. He does not want to give answers because perhaps he has none about what will happen now.

Stoudemire may not be back for the rest of this road trip or the rest of this season, a possibility that many suggested should have been the case all along. He will resume rehabilitation activity with the Suns holding out hope that he could recapture his athleticism with scrimmages and conditioning sessions rather than frustrating games like he had Saturday and Monday.

''It's not fair to him or the team,'' said Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni, who put on his team executive hat to make the Stoudemire decision Tuesday. ''He needs now to stop it, keep rehabbing and play one-on-one and try to get back to where he can run, sprint and jump.''

''He really wants to play and help the team as much as he can. As the franchise general manager, you've got to really think long term. If he's not getting better, then what are we doing?'' the coach added.

Stoudemire hardly was to blame for the franchise's third-worst defeat ever Monday in New Jersey, but it did not help a sluggish start when Stoudemire had no lift in his jumps and no pep to his step.

D'Antoni acknowledged that perhaps many people wanted Stoudemire's comeback to happen ''so fast that it would've been better if we waited.'' But he reiterated that the attempt did not do any harm to Stoudemire's knees, one that underwent a microfracture procedure in October and one that had recent swelling.

After a good week of practices that led to his return last week, Stoudemire's knees have progressively become more difficult for him to loosen up and have prompted him to describe the condition as pain and soreness.

Some NBA veterans suffered the same injury that virtually lessened themselves to a shell of who they once where. Some even had their careers abruptly ended, like NBA superstars Allan Houston and Anfernee Hardaway.

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