He Was The ORIGINAL FREAK Of Nature...

Описание: This was the original freak of nature. The most feared guy in the open court.
Before Giannis and Blake Griffin, Amare was the league's athletic monster at the time.
Dude averaged 37 and 10 against prime Tim Duncan in the playoffs at 22 years of age. I mean check out these box scores, this is ridiculous. The pick’n’roll of Nash and Amare was the most exciting thing in basketball back in the day. At his peak Stoudemire was probably the most complete power forward in the game, before his knee problems cut his career short. But let’s take a step back and have a closer look at STAT’s journey from the very beginning. The Suns were so lucky to snatch him at number 9 in the 2002 NBA draft. And he immediately warned the entire league that he’s going to be a problem. His breakout game was definitely against the Timberwolves and KG himself. Although Phoenix lost, the student demolished the master, as Stoudemire outscored Garnett 38 to 22. He took it personally and poured out his rage on the rim countless times. Amare won the rookie of the year award ahead of Yao Ming and Caron Butler with 13.5 points and 9 rebounds per game, while also helping the Suns improve their record by 8 more wins that the previous season. They made the playoffs as the 8th seed and had to go up against the eventual champions that year - the San Antonio Spurs. But in the 1st game, they shocked everyone. Look at 20 year old STAT banking the 3 point shot to tie the game. Amazing. And in the OT, after Tim Duncan missed the 2nd free throw, Marbury did the unthinkable.
With 4 seconds on the clock, he covers the entire length of the court and drains the running shot off balance to stun the entire building. Unbelievable. However, the Spurs led by Duncan, Parker and Cap’n Jack bounced back and were able to finish the job in 6 games. In less than 2 years together, Amare and Starbury produced a ton of spectacular plays. Their relationship ended quickly, when Phoenix traded Stephon to the Knicks for a bunch of expiring contracts.
STAT was given the keys to the team, so he filled up the boxscore, ending his 2nd season with 20.6 ppg / 9 rpg & 1.6 blocks. Then, in the summer of ‘04, the front office brought back Steve Nash who established himself as one of the best point guards during his 6 years in Dallas.
And they clicked right away. Mike D’Anthony introduced the world “The 7 seconds or less Suns”. With Nash and Amare as the 1-2 punch and guys like Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion and Quentin Richardson around them, Phoenix opened the season 31-4 and went on to win 62 games, grabbing the number 1 spot in the West. They were so fun to watch, genuinely changing the game. Our hero had his career night on January the 2nd, a 50 burger against the Trail Blazers. It was an all-out dunkfest. All 3 of Stoudemire, Nash and Marion made the All-Star game. But, Steve and Amare didn’t wait till the main event on Sunday to make the headlines. I don’t care if the 2nd dunk took them a while to complete. These gotta be few of the most creative dunks in the history of the contest. The orchestrator behind all of this, Steve Nash won his first MVP over SHAQ in one of the closest races of all time. Many people are still discrediting his award, but without him, the Suns would probably miss the playoffs. As the 1st seed, they ran past the Grizzlies in the 1st round in 4 games, and in the 2nd round Amare faced off against one of the premiere guys at his position - Dirk Nowitzki. But the Mavs were no match for the run and gun Suns. Amare totally outplayed Nowitzki posting almost 29 points per game while grabbing 12.5 boards on 54.5% efficiency in 6 games. Nash was phenomenal as well, playing with some extra juice against his former team. 30 points and 12 assists per contest on 50/40/90 shooting splits is an elite performance. However, Phoenix took a huge blow in game 2 of that series when Joe Johnson fell directly on his face and displaced his orbital fracture over his left eye. That kept him out of action until Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. Although having the best player on the court in Stoudemire, the Suns had no answer for Duncan, Manu and Parker who were also on the rise. In game 1, despite STAT dropping 41 points, San Antonio got away with the win. In game 2, fueled by Amare again, the Suns were in the driver's seat until the 3rd quarter. But the Spurs, led by Ginobili stormed back and took the lead in the clutch. Nash had a chance to tie the game with this running 3 at the buzzer but… The shot is short and Phoenix falls into a 2-0 hole. Joe Johnson finally returned for game 3, but to no avail. San Antonio protected their home floor, getting a commanding 3-0 lead. Amare was once again the leading scorer of the game. Game 4 saw him and Iso Joe combining for 57 points on their way to their only victory in the series. Back in Arizona, they hoped for a miracle, and Stoudemire had the crowd buzzing when… STAT was unguardable.