Down 3-0, Knicks hope Stoudemire can play Sunday

New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire watches from the baseline with his arm in a sling during Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden in New York, Thursday, May 3, 2012. Stoudemire sat the game out after a surgeon repaired a muscle in his hand Tuesday after he cut it punching through the glass of a fire extinguisher case following Game 2. AP Photo/Kathy Willens

GREENBURGH, New York — Interim coach Mike Woodson thinks Amare Stoudemire is going to play for the New York Knicks on Sunday (Monday in Manila) in Game 4 against the Miami Heat.

With the Heat up 3-0 in the series, the Knicks got some good news when Stoudemire was able to work out with his lacerated left hand wrapped. He was injured when he punched a fire extinguisher case after Game 2, hitting some glass and needing surgery to repair a muscle.

Stoudemire says he is still doubtful and that the hand is still definitely not 100 percent, but was relieved to be back on the court Friday after an injury that could have been much worse. He says the cut was only a millimeter away from a nerve.