“Amar’e Stoudemire hasn’t played yet this preseason and hasn’t had a chance to build chemistry on the court with his Knicks teammates. But the veteran power forward said that’s about to change, returning to 5-on-5 contact drills yesterday and vowing he’ll “absolutely” play in Friday’s preseason game against the Raptors.

“It feels good. My legs were a little heavy. I was trying to find my wind, but it felt great to be back out there,’’ said Stoudemire, who suffered a bruised left ankle last Wednesday. “I was able to work on a few [post] moves down there, just to get a feel back. I’ve been out of practice the past four, five days. It takes a few days to get back in top shape, but I’ll be ready to go.’’

NY Post

Tommy Dee, theKnicksBlog.com

Amar’e needs his reps and it’s great to hear he will be in the lineup on Friday. Let the games begin.