Why Miles McBride Could Be X-Factor in Helping Knicks Get over ECF Hump

At some point on Sunday night, the New York Knicks will find out who they will play in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which begins on Tuesday night. It will either be the Detroit Pistons or the Cleveland Cavaliers.

If it's the Pistons, Detroit will have home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series. But if the Cavs win tonight, the Knicks will have homecourt in front of the best fans in the world at Madison Square Garden.

That said, regardless of who the Knicks play, everyone will need to be on their A-game if they want to get over the Eastern Conference Finals hump and back to the NBA Finals for the first time since the 1998-99 season. We know that OG Anunoby is on his way back, which is a huge relief, as he, along with the other four starters, has been outstanding in the playoffs.

However, for the Knicks to get out of the East, their bench needs to take some of the load off the starters. Guys such as Mitchell Robinson, Landry Shamet, and Miles McBride will be depended on to play defense and make shots.

McBride, for example, has had a quiet postseason for the most part. But in last week’s Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal game against the 76ers, something clicked for McBride. He knocked down his shots from beyond the arc and played with an enormous amount of confidence that Knicks fans hope shows up in the Eastern Conference Finals, despite a long layoff.

Miles McBride’s shotmaking must be a difference maker in the Eastern Conference Finals

In that series-clinching contest, McBride, who started for the second straight game in place of an injured Anunoby, rattled off an impressive 25 points in 29 minutes. The 25-year-old combo guard also shot 7-of-9 from three-point range.

He was not gun-shy in the close-out game, as he stepped into shots and made the Sixers pay, which is what he’ll need to do in the Eastern Conference Finals. The last time McBride scored 20-plus in a playoff game was in Game 6 of the semifinals against the Indiana Pacers in May 2024. He had 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from deep.

The Knicks lost that game by 13 points and the series as they were without Anunoby. This time around, they have a healthy team, which should bode well for them.

Now, New York isn’t going to look for McBride to score 20 or more points every game in this round, even though that would be nice. But if he can be a threat, as he’s shooting 39.1% from three-point range in the playoffs, it will give Detroit or Cleveland another thing to worry about.

Thus far in the postseason, the Cavaliers are allowing opponents to shoot 38% from beyond the arc (one of the worst marks in the playoffs), while the Pistons are holding teams to 33.5% shooting from the three-point line.

During the regular season, McBride has played well against both teams. In the regular season opener against the Cavaliers, he dropped 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range in 25 minutes off the bench. The Knicks won that game by eight points.

Then, in a Jan. 5 matchup against Detroit, where the Knicks lost by 31 points, he scored 20 points (6-of-9 FG, 5-of-6 from three-point range). McBride also grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists.

Both the Cavs and Pistons have guys on their benches who will be looking to score, and it will be up to McBride to slow them down on defense and also to outscore them. When McBride saw this Pistons squad in the postseason last year, he was held to 3.8 points per game on 26.3% shooting from three-point range.

That won’t cut it this time, if the Knicks were to see the Pistons again. Nonetheless, McBride’s goal is simple: to be the difference-maker off the bench. We saw how much of an impact New York’s bench made in the last round with his help. If that were to happen again, the Knicks will be back on the big stage next month.

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