Amar'e Stoudemire Flattened This Jamoke

At 34 years old, Amar’e Stoudemire doesn’t flex the same explosive, ladder-climbing athleticism he did early on in his NBA career; he’s still fun and destructive on the court, just in a different way.

Stoudemire is in the first year of a 2-year deal with Hapoel Jerusalem—he packed up and moved his family to Israel after retiring from the NBA this August and deciding to play for Jerusalem, which he co-owns. Through the opening eight games, Stoudemire is averaging 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in five appearances. While I can’t speak much about how Stoudemire’s play will boost Hapoel’s chances of winning Israeli Premier League, I can speak to the fact that Stat is a big motherfucker and puny, innocent guards would still be best served by staying on his good side. Prime example: check out what’s left of this Maccabi Rishon Lezion guard after Stoudemire sets what can be most graciously described as an aggressive pick.

Nitzan Hizmochi is the poor sap you see dejectedly accepting his dinner of a full Stoudemire forearm in the above video. As far as I can tell from the highlight clip posted to the team Youtube page, the only preceding action between Stoudemire and Hizmochi was on an and-1 layup in the final minute of the first half.

Stoudemire needs to dial it back a few notches, of course, but it still bears repeating: sometimes, you just have to let them dunk. Shame hurts a lot less when your ribs aren’t shattered from a pick, after all.