Miles McBride had never been part of a playoff rotation.
But after this performance, it’ll be hard to take him out.
The young guard poured in 21 impactful points in the Knicks’ come-from-behind, 111-104 Game 1 win over Philadelphia to open their playoff series at the Garden.
McBride was a staggering plus-37 in just 28:05, eviscerating the Sixers’ bench and turning the tide of this series opener.
“McBride came in and hit some shots — big-time shots,” the Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey said. “He did that at the end of the second quarter and in the fourth quarter he hit some big shots. So we’ve just got to contain him, for sure. In the fourth quarter, he has big shots. And we knew that coming in, especially with the ball.”
Jalen Brunson has looked like an MVP candidate all season, but Saturday he was gushing over McBride.
“It feels great. Obviously, [Brunson] has been our leader all year. He put a lot of confidence in me. He’s been talking to me a lot for the last two years,” McBride said. “Just happy we were able to go out there and get the win.”
McBride made eight postseason appearances last season but logged just 20 minutes total, limited to garbage time.
But handed a spot in Tom Thibodeau’s rotation this year, the third-year guard cashed in with a shocking coming-out game.
Even though he claims it didn’t shock him.
“No, it doesn’t surprise me,” McBride said. “I just learned from last year, try to take that and just be impactful and do whatever I can to help the team win.
“I treat every game as a very big game. Whether it’s the first game of the season, the 10th game, it doesn’t matter. If you have that approach, I feel like it makes these moments easier.”
McBride — who averaged just 7.5 points in 19.9 minutes over the Knicks’ final five games, playing in four of them — erupted against Philadelphia.
He shot 7-of-12 overall, 5-for-7 from behind the arc. McBride had 13 points in the second quarter alone, hitting 4-of-7 and 3-of-4 from deep. And in the fourth quarter, he was a plus-10, trusted to log every single second.
“McBride hit shots,” the Sixers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “[Bojan Bogdanovic] hit some shots. They’re starters on the reserve team, so they’re great players that can get to their spots to get the shots. We just can’t sleep on anyone on this team because they’re a good team.”