If the New York Knicks want a better chance at beating the Boston Celtics in Round 2 of the playoffs, they’re going to need stronger performances from their bench. They got away with it against the Detroit Pistons, but the Celtics are a different animal.
Knicks’ Miles McBride needs to step up in Round 2
The player in particular that they need more from is Miles McBride. He struggled mightily in the first round, averaging just 3.8 points and shooting 26.7% from the floor, a complete 180 from his strong postseason last year.
Without his production, the Knicks are left without any true scorers in the second unit. Cameron Payne and Landry Shamet have seen the floor in only limited action, and outside of Payne’s Game 1 explosion, neither has made a strong impact.
The Athletic’s Fred Katz said that McBride will be a major X-factor in the upcoming series against Boston.
“The Knicks’ sixth man has not looked like himself since returning from a knee injury late in the regular season. By the end of the Pistons series, his confidence had dissipated. At one point, he passed up an easy layup in transition, flinging the ball back to the perimeter instead of trying a seamless 2-pointer,” Katz wrote.
“He scored only 23 points during the six games versus the Pistons and shot worse than 30 percent. After a regular season when he was the team’s best point-of-attack defender against guards, he strayed too often from shooters lining the arc. He can’t make the same mistakes when he’s on Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard,” Katz continued.
A strong series from McBride could make a huge difference for New York
McBride struggled highly on both ends of the floor, but head coach Tom Thibodeau can’t just bench him entirely as he is the only backup to Jalen Brunson. They can simply just hope that he snaps out of his funk and provides a strong series against Boston.
McBride had a strong outing against the Celtics way back on Opening Night in October. In that game, he led the Knicks in scoring with 22 points and shot 8-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-5 from three, but New York was manhandled by Boston on the road.
With the team fully healthy now, McBride could make a very big difference if he has a strong series against the Celtics. The odds are heavily against New York, but their chances to win the series will increase dramatically if he can turn around what has been a rough start to the playoffs.