Miles McBride didn’t just wait for his first real postseason opportunity.
He worked for it.
And now that it’s here, he’s cashing in on it.
The young Knicks guard has been one of the more pleasant surprises in their 3-1 first-round series lead over Philadelphia. Though he hasn’t surprised himself.
“No honestly,” McBride said. “I watch a lot of basketball, I try to absorb as much as I can. So I think the intensity is what I expected. And I’m just trying to bring even more energy, even more confidence and just playmaking to the game.
“[I’m doing what] I’ve been expecting myself to do. I’m just glad I’m getting the opportunity, and able to show other people what I’m capable of.”
McBride hadn’t gotten a chance through his first two seasons, logging just 20 playoff minutes total — all in garbage time.
He’s logged more than that in every game in this series, and is in line to do so again in Tuesday’s Game 5 — especially after earning all the fourth-quarter playing time once reserved for Donte DiVincenzo in Sunday’s victory.
McBride is averaging 12.8 points — fourth-best on the team — on stellar .486/.526/.833 shooting splits.
That tracks with the guard who’d hit just .250 and .299 from 3-point range in his first two seasons breaking through to hit .410 from deep in this career year.
“Just continue to believe in myself, continue to put in work … keep myself confident and allowing myself to go out there and just do what I do,” McBride said of his shooting.
In Sunday’s win, he scored 13 points on 3 of 5 from deep and finished a plus-8. He also played all but two seconds in the fourth quarter of Game 4, supplanting a struggling DiVincenzo.
The latter was the Knicks’ fourth-leading scorer this season at 15.5 points per game, but has shot just .342 in this series.
With the Knicks down 70-63 with 2:42 left in the third Sunday, DiVincenzo drilled back-to-back 3s to pull them within one.
They led by a point when he gave way to Jalen Brunson with 9:35 left to play, and never returned.
McBride played the fourth quarter, his defense helping the Knicks keep Tyrese Maxey at bay. The Sixers tried to get Brunson switched onto Maxey on screens, but McBride frequently handled the responsibility.
“It was a team effort, honestly,” McBride said. “You can’t guard a guy like that just by yourself. So I think with the team in the game plan, we did a good job.”
Tom Thibodeau didn’t directly address the endgame rotation, saying only, “Precious [Achiuwa] gave us great minutes, as did Deuce. And that’s really been the story of our season. Donte had a good stretch where we need everyone. Just hustling like crazy. And if we do that good things will come from that.”