After a difficult start to the 10-11 season, Amar'e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton took control of the Knicks' locker room and the team responded with a five-game winning streak.

“We definitely had to be the two positive leaders,” Felton said, “just to keep everybody focused and say: ‘Look, we can’t be satisfied with losing. We got to get rid of this mentality. And we got to find a way.’ ”

The losing streak “made us mature as a team,” said Felton.

Stoudemire and Felton have developed into a successful pick-and-roll tandem.

“I tried to give you guys a heads-up back then,” Stoudemire said, “that it takes time to build chemistry. I’ve been in this situation before, where I built chemistry with Stephon Marbury in Phoenix, I built chemistry with Steve Nash. And now it’s the same with Raymond.”