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January 7, 2008 - 1:58PM
Stoudemire: Missed practice to tend to ill child
Jerry Brown, Tribune
Saying he missed Sunday’s practice to tend to his sick child and not as a protest for not getting enough shots in the second half of Saturday’s loss to New Orleans, Amare Stoudemire was back with the Suns for Monday’s shootaround and will start tonight against the Denver Nuggets at US Airways Center.
Amare a no-show at Suns Sunday practice
“It’s pretty simple. My son (Amare Jr.) caught a high temperature – a 103 temperature – and I wasn't able to make practice,” Stoudemire said. “He’s doing a lot better today. I have a bad cold, and it’s going back-and-forth through my household.”
Suns general manager Steve Kerr said he met with Stoudemire and coach Mike D’Antoni before the shootaround and said there would be no on-court action taken – although he wouldn’t address whether Stoudemire was fined for missing the workout.
“We dealt with it this morning and now we move forward and leave it at that,” Kerr said. “I'm happy with the way we handled it and the way Amare responded. He’s playing tonight and he’s starting. Other than that, it’s the team’s business.”
Stoudemire expressed frustration after Saturday’s game, when he took only 11 shots after averaging 30.3 points and13.3 rebounds in the previous four games, saying the team “needed to get smart about the game of basketball.”
But he said his comments or state of mind had nothing to do with Sunday’s no-show.
“It was strictly for the health of my son. That was the only reason,” he said. “I could see why you may think it's basketball-related because it's a loss, we should have won and guys were upset about the loss.”
D’Antoni said Stoudemire’s absence “was not an issue” but also said, “Obviously, he should have made it (to practice). But he’s fine. It’s your kids … he was genuinely concerned.”
Guard Raja Bell also returned to practice Monday after missing Sunday with a flu bug that limited him to less than three minutes against the Hornets. Bell will also return to the starting lineup. The Suns are 15-9 when Bell starts this season and 6-0 when he doesn’t.
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