New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire ripped his team following their 105-78 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.
OKC was bolstered by the return of All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook while New York had to deal without Carmelo Anthony, but Stoudemire criticized Knick's lack of effort to the New York Post.
“They played like they wanted it more,’’ Stoudemire said of the Thunder. “At this point, I don’t see how a team wants it more than we do. It’s unacceptable. We should be in desperation mode. We’re a team that’s fighting for a win. Right now we got to have a higher sense of urgency and more enthused and mentally involved.’’ …
“[Oklahoma City] came out with a lot of energy and it seems as if we got taken back by that,’’ Stoudemire said. “We have to have a lion’s heart and can’t be afraid of teams coming out and playing with that type of aggressiveness. We have to retaliate.” …
“It’s intensity level at this point,’’ Stoudemire said. “The learning process is there. We can’t keep saying we’re learning. We’re learning. Teams want it more than we do. We can’t say we’re still learning. We can’t say we had an off night shooting. That happens, but you can still win the ballgame with defense. We have to become students of the game and become masters of our craft.’’
New York trailed by as many as 37 points in the game and has limped to a 4-13 record this season. Their next game is Sunday night at 7:30 at home against the Miami Heat.
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