Miles McBride wasn’t just waiting for his first real chance in the postseason.
he worked for it.
And now it’s here and he’s taking advantage of it.
The young guard was one of the Knicks’ most pleasant surprises in the first round of their series against Philadelphia, which led 3-1. Although he himself was not surprised.
“Honestly, no,” McBride said. “I watch a lot of basketball, so I try to absorb as much as I can. So I think the intensity was up to expectations. And I want to bring even more energy, confidence and playmaking to the game.” I think.
“[I’m doing what] I expected myself to do so. I’m really happy to have the opportunity to show others what I’m capable of. ”
McBride never got a chance through his first two seasons, logging only 20 total minutes in the playoffs, all of which was garbage time.
He’s had more than that in every game this series, especially after getting all the fourth-quarter minutes in Sunday’s win that was once reserved for Donte DiVincenzo, and he’ll be playing in Game 5 on Tuesday. But I plan to set the record again.
McBride is averaging 12.8 points, fourth-best on the team. Shooting his splits are .486/.526/.833.
This is similar to how the guard went from hitting only .250 and .299 on 3-pointers in his first two seasons to hitting .410 from deep in this career year.
“Just keep believing in yourself, keep trying… just go out there with confidence and do what you gotta do,” McBride said of his shooting.
In Sunday’s win, he scored 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep and finished plus-8. He also played all but two seconds in the fourth quarter of Game 4, replacing DiVincenzo, who was struggling.
The latter was the Knicks’ fourth leading scorer this season with 15.5 points per game, but he is shooting just .342 in this series.
In the third Sunday, with 2 minutes and 42 seconds remaining and the Knicks trailing 70-63, DiVincenzo hit back-to-back threes to close the gap to one point.
He gave up the lead to Jalen Brunson with 9:35 left and took a one-point lead, but he never regained the lead.
McBride played the fourth quarter and his defense helped the Knicks keep Tyrese Maxey at bay. The Sixers tried to switch Brunson to Maxey on screens, but McBride often took the blame.
“Honestly, this was a team effort,” McBride said. “It’s impossible to guard a player like that alone. So I think we did a good job following the team’s game plan.”
Tom Thibodeau didn’t directly address the late rotation, saying only that it’s “valuable.” [Achiuwa] He gave us a great time as well as Deuce. And that was really the story of our season. Donte did a good job of getting everyone where they needed to be. Just hustle like crazy. And if we do that, good things will come from it. ”
