Stoudemire eyes Game 4 return and says it's not his fault

Amar'e Stoudemire held a press conference today and— despite his doubtful status— told reporters he still wants to see if he can play Sunday in game 4 of the Knicks-Heat NBA Playoffs series.

 The Knicks forward thinks he can play only five days after surgery on his badly gashed left hand— which is in a cast.

Stoudemire tried to minimize the stupidity of punching the cabinet— which housed a fire extinguisher in the hallway of AmericanAirlines Arena— on Monday night after the Knicks 104-94 loss.  He said fans had "the wrong perception" and had more excuses than remorse for the episode.

He said the whole episode has been blown out of control and said it was all a big accident.

"We're down 0-2 and I knew how important it was to get a win in Miami," said Stoudemire.  "We played somewhat well enough to win game 2. I was more frustrated we were down 0-2.  It wasn't like I was trying to take out the fire extinguisher door.  I wanted to make noise and let out frustration."

"Fans actually think I had a closed fist and punched through that glass door," he continued.  "They have the wrong perception of what happened. I walked by and swung my arm backwards it hit [the] fire extinguisher door and I slashed my hand by accident."

Stoudemire— wearing a T-shirt with the words "Marked Man" on it— went on to blame the gruesome cut on percentages.  Something along the lines of only getting about 33-percent of the shots teammate Carmelo Anthony was getting in the game.

"I just walked by the door and it's made of 85-percent metal and 2-percent strip of glass.  I didn't try to hit the glass.  I walked by and hit my hand on the wall.  I didn't see the glass."

It's a moot point now and the final decision for him to play will up to the doctors and coaches.  Even if he does play, he will be in a severely limited capacity.

"There's a great chance [but] I'm not totally sure yet.  I'll be back soon," said the feisty Stoudemire.

Even if he can play with his injured non-shooting hand, chances are he will be ineffective but that didn't stop Stoudemire from  being pessimistic.

"I've persevered through a lot of injuries and worked hard to recover from injuries," he reasoned.

"It's up to the doctors," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said when he heard about Stoudemire's aspirations.  "[He] used bad judgement" after Monday's game.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.