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There were some halting initial games, and worries about his durability after an operation on his left knee in October, but those concerns seemed to shrink with each rebound and dunk; in time, there were a lot of both. But on Saturday, after 29 games for Stoudemire, the Knicks' worst fears were realized when he woke up with his right knee sore and swollen, and a magnetic resonance imaging test revealed that another operation was necessary.

Stoudemire is expected to miss the next six weeks, the team said before Saturday's game against the Utah Jazz. That is a hopeful estimate, given that he needed eight weeks to recover from a similar procedure — called a debridement — in October.

Any recovery timetable puts Stoudemire's return during the postseason. Without him, the question is whether the Knicks can last that long.

"It's a loss, a major loss," Knicks Coach Mike Woodson said before Saturday's game. "We're going to have to wait on him and continue our climb. We can't sit and sulk."

The Knicks were 21-9 without Stoudemire to begin the season, and they beat the Jazz, 113-84, without him on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks were also without Carmelo Anthony; he has missed three straight games with an unspecified right knee injury.

Woodson said Anthony remained day to day and that he would be re-evaluated Sunday before the team leaves on a five-game trip. In his absence, J. R. Smith continued his torrid scoring stretch, finishing with 24 points in 28 minutes. Raymond Felton added 15 points and Steve Novak went 5 for 10 from 3-point range.

The Knicks (38-22) fell behind, 11-4, but used a 15-0 run in the first quarter to build a lead and then finished the half on a 22-9 run. They held the Jazz to 38.5 percent shooting and won for the sixth time in eight games.

If there was any hangover from the Stoudemire news, the team did not show it. Novak said the players were notified of Stoudemire's injury shortly after they arrived at the Garden.

"We were taken aback," Jason Kidd said. Stoudemire had scored 16 points in 30 minutes against Oklahoma City on Thursday, showing no apparent signs of physical struggle.

But he missed the Knicks' morning shootaround Saturday with what Woodson described as knee soreness. It was revealed later that he had had an M.R.I., and the results were not comforting.

A debridement is a procedure to remove damaged cartilage or tissue in the knee. Stoudemire had a similar operation on his left knee in October, in part because of a ruptured cyst in the area.

He has had two other knee operations: in 2005, he had microfracture surgery on his left knee, and in 2006, he had an arthroscopic procedure on his right. Stoudemire, who has three years remaining on a contract worth $100 million, has not played a full N.B.A. season since 2009-10.

The Knicks had been cautious about easing him back into the rotation in January, bringing him off the bench and restricting him to 30 minutes a game. Feeling better, Stoudemire had pushed that limit twice in the last week, playing 32 and 31 minutes against Cleveland and Detroit.

What affect that might have had on his knee is uncertain. Stoudemire had clearly been playing well enough to warrant the additional time.

He averaged 15.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 24.5 minutes in his previous 10 games. In 29 games, Stoudemire had led the Knicks in scoring once, in rebounding twice, and had scored at least 20 points six times.

"Amar'e's been playing great," center Tyson Chandler said. "He's been one of the best pick-and-roll players since he came into the game. Not having him is obviously a big blow."

Losing Stoudemire reinforced the fragility of the Knicks, who have the oldest roster in the N.B.A. and a litany of injuries. Stoudemire, 30, joins Rasheed Wallace, 38, on the team's injured list, and Anthony, Felton and Kidd, who will turn 40 later this month, have each missed considerable time.

Without Stoudemire, the Knicks will be forced to rely more on 35-year-old Kenyon Martin, whom they recently signed, and a collection of other role players, like Kurt Thomas, James White and Novak. Smith will be expected to pick up his role as the team's second-leading scorer.

"It's unfortunate to try to benefit from someone's injury, but I know that injuries are a part of the game," Martin said. "You try to take advantage of it."

As the season wends into its final stretch, though, the loss of Stoudemire puts the Knicks' pursuit of the Atlantic Division title in jeopardy. Stoudemire provided the Knicks with an instant offensive punch in the low post. Knowing his minutes limit, he was at times electrifying, like a closer in baseball who threw only his best pitches.

He will have at least six weeks to rest even more. The Knicks hope they will still be playing when he returns.

"Amar'e is a big piece of this thing, when you're talking about getting deep into the playoffs," Woodson said. "Amar'e had come back and really established himself to help us from an offensive standpoint on that low block."

He added: "When you start playing playoff basketball, you need some low-post play, you need to mix it up a little bit. So we're going to miss that."