Amare Stoudemire's last two practices have him and the Suns feeling optimistic about the strength of his microfracture surgery.

"I think that's the nature of an injury to be up and down," D'Antoni said Monday. "It's just when you're potentially one of the better players in the league you get a lot of attention when you have an off day. It's 'Oh, he can't do it.'

"I'm sure there's a lot of people hoping he can't do it, but I'm thinking he can. He looked good the last couple of days."

"I feel great," he said Monday. "Today was another great day, it was better than yesterday, so tomorrow I should feel even better."