Amar'e Stoudemire hit the panic button last night after absorbing his first Garden boos as a Knick. Stoudemire blistered his teammates for "a lack of urgency," lack of "heart" and going as far as to question whether winning matters to them.
The Knicks shockingly were blown out by the Rockets, 104-96, last night to drop their fifth straight game to fall to 3-7 at the boo-filled Garden, with the West Coast beckoning and Stoudemire finally going off on a rant on his teammates.
Amar'e, you're not in Phoenix anymore.
"I don't understand why we're not playing with the urgency," Stoudemire said. "I'm not used to that. We're not playing like we're on a four-game losing streak, now five. It almost seems as if it doesn't matter."
Neil Miller
TAKING HIS SHOTS: Amar'e Stoudemire, shooting over the Rockets' Luis Scola, ripped the team after its fifth straight loss, 104-96 to the Rockets.
"It's a foreign land for me right now," Stoudemire added.
The Knicks are in crisis mode. Co-captains Stoudemire and Raymond Felton each met separately with Mike D'Antoni in his office well after the reporters left the area, The Post learned.
"I can't keep saying the same things, that we have to step it up," Stoudemire added. "I keep saying it and we're having no reaction. I'm one of the leaders and trying to instill a sense of urgency we have to play with. We didn't win four games in a row. We lost four games in a row. We're not playing like we want it. We're not digging out loose balls, diving on the floor."
Nobody could have expected the revamped Knicks to be world-beaters this season, but they also wouldn't have expected them to be a disgrace.
And that's what they are as they head into a four-game West Coast trip, starting with a match with Carmelo Anthony, with a chance of returning at 3-11.
It was the last game Donnie Walsh watched in person before he undergoes hip replacement surgery this week. When he returns, the Knicks could already be irrelevant and perhaps D'Antoni will be on the hot seat.
"I'm talking to them constantly," Stoudemire said. "Maybe I'm talking too much. I'm not accustomed to it. We have to do a much better job out there. It's not fun. I know we are a young team, but we can't keep doing the exact same thing."
"It is more attitude and more heart, we have to show more heart and go after it," Stoudemire said.
The Knicks rolled over and quit in the fourth quarter against the listless Rockets, who entered at 2-6. It was a must-win situation before their Western escapade and because Houston is able to swap draft picks this June, it could cost the Knicks another lottery pick.
Trailing by nine, the Knicks started the fourth quarter by missing their first eight shots and committing four turnovers.
"Everybody is pressing," D'Antoni said. "Somehow we have to get over the insecurity or whatever causes us to falter at crucial parts of the game."
D'Antoni added shot-making is "definitely a problem" -- something that surfaced in the preseason.
After Stoudemire drove and lost the ball out of bounds with 6:45 left, he heard his first boos as a Knick as the team trailed 93-77. Stoudemire finished with 25 points but was ineffective during meaningful stretches of the fourth, driving against double-teams to the basket and missing a handful of runners.
"I don't think he's the problem," D'Antoni said. "We are asking him to do a lot."
The Knicks didn't notch their first field goal of the fourth quarter until 5:37 left -- a putback by Landry Fields.
As sweet-shooting Kevin Martin (28 points) held the ball to count down the final seconds, the boos rained down loud and good.
"We couldn't score the ball. We have to find ways to score," Stoudemire said. "It's tough when you have to work for every basket."
marc.berman@nypost.com
Nypost.com
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