Stoudemire fades after good start

It’s not going to be all one-handed dunks, fancy passes and defensive stops for Amare Stoudemire in the Phoenix Suns forward’s return from dual knee surgeries that essentially wiped out last season.

It only seemed like it in Stoudemire’s first four minutes against the Lakers on Tuesday night at Staples Center.

Stoudemire made a flurry of impressive moves in the early going to help the Suns build a 19-point lead over a Lakers team missing a recovering Kobe Bryant. But Stoudemire then experienced the kind of spotty moments more indicative of someone coming off major injuries as the Lakers rallied for a 114-106 victory.

He committed two fouls in a matter of seconds in the second quarter and was beaten by Vladimir Radmanovic and Smush Parker on consecutive plays as the Lakers whittled their deficit to single digits. Stoudemire then was a non-factor in the second half, when he played less than two minutes and the Lakers surged ahead.

“Amare’s not ready yet,” Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “If you watched the game, he’s not ready defensively. I’m not going to put him out there and lose the game.”

Incorporating a potential most-valuable-player candidate back into the flow of a team that last season advanced to the Western Conference finals with other players will not be a seamless process.

Stoudemire finished with six points -- all in the first quarter -- and one rebound in 11 minutes and could play a similar number of minutes tonight when the Suns play host to the Clippers at US Airways Center.

“I’m in no-comment mode,” Stoudemire said after the game. “I hope you can respect that. I’ve got nothing to say, partner.”

Stoudemire played in only three games last season after undergoing surgeries on both knees and is slowly regaining the form that made him an All-Star during the 2004-05 season. He did not start any games in the preseason and averaged 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds in 21 minutes. He will come off the bench for the foreseeable future.

“They say it’s going to take a year and a half” to fully recover, D’Antoni said before the game, “and it’s been a year. ... Whatever we can get out of him will be great.”

D’Antoni said Stoudemire was coming off a couple of good practices going into the opener, and the big man played like it early Tuesday.

Entering with 7:19 left in the first quarter, Stoudemire took a pass from Steve Nash and threw down a one-handed dunk in his first minute on the floor, then took another pass from the reigning NBA MVP and scored in the lane before adding a pair of free throws.

More impressive than Stoudemire’s scoring surge was a sequence in which he made a nifty pass to guard Leandro Barbosa for a great look underneath the basket and then blocked a shot by Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf.

The rest of the Stoudemire’s game was a blur of silly fouls, blown defensive assignments and vacant stares from the bench.

“By January, he’ll be fine,” D’Antoni said. “But there will be ups and downs.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com