NEW YORK — Amar’e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton may be thriving amidst the Knicks’ sudden resurgence, but Mike D’Antoni’s bench is not.
In Wednesday’s thrilling 113-110 victory over the visiting Raptors at Madison Square Garden, New York’s sixth straight and 11th in 12 games, the starters scored all but eight Knick points.
Stoudemire powered his way to his sixth straight 30-point outing and scored 18 of his team-high 34 in the fourth quarter. Felton put up 28 points and 11 assists, including the game-winning 3-pointer that hit the rim five times before falling through with 2.7 seconds left.
Danilo Gallinari added 20 points, Wilson Chandler had 14 and Landry Fields nine.
After that, D’Antoni played only Toney Douglas (seven points), Ronny Turiaf (one) and Shawne Williams (none) off the bench.
Williams entered the game averaging 13.3 points in his last three games and had made 10 of 12 from beyond the arc, but missed the only shot he took against Toronto.
Turiaf, the Knicks’ best basket-defender, has missed seven games this season because of knee troubles and played just eight-plus minutes against the Raptors after going for 12-plus against Minnesota.
It would seem almost inevitable that the Knicks (14-9) must deal for another guard and/or another big man as the season moves forward.
How long can Felton average 38.1 minutes a game? D’Antoni will ride Stoudemire, who was showered with “MVP” chants by the Garden faithful, as far as he will take him, but Amar’e entered last night averaging 36.9 minutes.
Gallo averages 33.5 minutes, Chandler 32.6 and Fields 30.7.
Roger Mason Jr., Timofey Mozgov, Anthony Randolph and Billy Walker are all firmly out of D’Antoni’s shrinking rotation at this point.
He just doesn’t trust them.
After that, things go from bad to worse.
Andy Rautins, the rookie guard out of Syracuse, was inactive for the first time this season against Toronto, the team for which his father, Leo, is a TV analyst.
D’Antoni didn’t rule out the possibility of sending Rautins to the NBA D-League, even though the Knicks have never sent a player there.
The D-League would seem a perfect place for Rautins to get playing time and work on making the transition to point guard.
If it was good enough for Terrence Williams of the Nets (who averaged a triple-double before being recalled) and 2010 lottery picks Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich and Ed Davis (who was back in the Raptors’ rotation last night), isn’t it good enough for Rautins, the No. 38 pick?
Kelenna Azubuike, who came over with Turiaf and Randolph in the David Lee deal, was supposed to help the Knicks’ defensively and as a long-range shooter, but D’Antoni sounded before the game as if he simply didn’t think Azubuike might ever be ready to return from patella tendon surgery.
“He’s not ready, physically,” D’Antoni said. “If you watch the scrimmages, he doesn’t have the pop and it’s going to be a while before he gets it back. He can scrimmage, but he’s not strong enough or able to go sideways or able to have an NBA physical talent level. It’s just not there yet.”
And then there’s Eddy Curry, the $11.3 million trading chip at the end of the Knicks bench.
As time goes by, you have to wonder if this guy ever plays an NBA game again.
So as the Knicks are thriving and the Garden is rocking, the bench is shrinking.
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