Late in the fourth quarter last night in the Knicks’ preseason home opener, the Garden fans started to chant “We want Shaq,” referring to Shaquille O’Neal, who was sitting out because of a bad hip.
But the Knicks fans should have chanted “We want Stats” — as in Amar’e Stoudemire, his nickname.
Coach Mike D’Antoni wouldn’t budge on Stoudemire, sitting him the fourth quarter and allowing his 30-point performance in 27:20 to speak for itself in his first game at the Garden as a Knick.
With Stoudemire sitting, the Celtics, who kept in Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo in the final minutes, squeaked out a 104-101 preseason victory.
Pierce hit the game-winner — a 15-footer over struggling Anthony Randolph — with eight seconds left after which he pranced around the court as if the Celtics had just advanced to another finals.
Meanwhile, Stoudemire had a wonderful night in his Garden debut as he made 9 of 13 shots and 12 of 15 free throws, attacking the rim with fury during much of his stint.
Stoudemire’s mother Carrie also made her debut, as she happily walked through the Garden tunnel afterward — with her long, braided blonde hair and designer sunglasses. Carrie also raised Amar’e for part of his childhood in upstate Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Port Jervis, and now she’s back in the area living near her son.
D’Antoni said before the contest he planned on resting Stoudemire at least one exhibition game as the Knicks play five in 11 days, including a rematch Saturday against the Celtics in Hartford.
Asked if he considered bringing in Stoudemire late, D’Antoni said, “Amar’e is too important to me than to try to win this game. There’s no reason to do it. We can’t do that. He’s been practicing extremely hard. We’ll get him through this.”
Stoudemire, who has had microfracture left knee surgery, said he agreed with D’Antoni’s decision.
“You always want to compete with the best in fourth quarter,” Stoudemire said. “It’s preseason, [and] you got to be cautious and get your rest. We will see them again.”
Stoudemire said he was thrilled how the game went as the Knicks had the lead after three quarters, 82-77.
“We did a great job in transition and communicating. We ran with a purpose,” Stoudemire said. “They had a hard time stopping us.”
Before the game, O’Neal, a former teammate of Stoudemire’s in Phoenix, predicted Stoudemire’s numbers this season could be monstrous.
“I know he’s going to put up big numbers,” O’Neal said. “Mike really uses him. He’s always been the focal point of the offense.
“If he does what he did in Phoenix he’s going to put up big numbers.”
As excellent as Stoudemire looks, the Knicks probably need another key new addition, Randolph, to be better than he was last night, because his meltdown in the final minutes cost them the game.
Randolph, the key asset in the David Lee sign-and-trade, is starting to fade in the rotation. He was the 10th man into the game last night and had zero points in eight minutes in the first half. But after doing some decent things midway through the fourth quarter, he choked in the final minutes. Randolph missed a key uncontested dunk with 2:55 left after which he committed a violation in hanging on the rim.
Randolph then threw a cross-court pass that was intercepted. That led to Nate Robinson tying the score with two free throws with 1:09 left. Finally, Randolph mishandled a bounce pass from Toney Douglas with 30 seconds left.
Randoph finished with nine points, was 2 of 6 with five turnovers in 19:30.
“He’s up and down,” D’Antoni said. “We see a lot of potential, but he has to even his game out. He had a few really good minutes, then he goes a little haywire.
“He’s learning,” he said. “[He’s] 21 years old. He’s got a lot of talent, a lot of stuff. It’ll be interesting to see him the next two, three weeks.”
Raymond Felton also had some good moments, but he shot just 3 of 11 with three turnovers and six assists.
The game marked the first start for Russian rookie center Timofey Mozgov, who nailed two early first-quarter jumpers but then was not a factor, except for a bizarre technical he received for commenting to the referee in Russian.
“Funny, he spoke in Russian,” D’Antoni said. “I don’t know if the [referee] could tell whether he said ‘good call.’ ”
Mozgov finished with five points in 15:27 but had four fouls and just two rebounds.
Rookie Landry Fields started the second half instead of Mozgov. Fields went in at shooting guard, with Mozgov coming out. Wilson Chandler moved to power forward and Stoudemire to the No. 2 spot.
The concept of having Stoudemire play center and insert a standard sooting guard rather than Chandler also is being considered. Roger Mason was the first substitution off the bench, for Mozgov.
With the NBA’s new no-tolerance policy on referee baiting, Kevin Garnett was ejected in the second quarter, picking up two technicals.
He was coming to the defense of Jermaine O’Neal, who had just gotten a technical for arguing. The NBA is not permitting any excessive gesture or prolonged or theatrical argument without issuing technicals in their, new “Respect for the Game” mandate.