If OG Anunoby is out for Game 3, Knicks can turn to Miles McBride
Miles McBride of the New York Knicks. Credit: Getty Images/Kevin C. Cox
PHILADELPHIA — In the postgame locker room Wednesday night there was a huge crowd of reporters shoving recorders and cameras close to Miles McBride and it may have seemed odd, the questions coming to a player who had converted just one field goal off of the bench as the Knicks survived to build a two games to none lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series over Philadelphia.
But it was the two minutes and 31 seconds that McBride played at the end that mattered most — and not for the one point he scored. McBride entered the game at that point in place of OG Anunoby, who had walked gingerly to the bench after suffering what the team announced Thursday was a strained left hamstring. While a league source indicated that it was a mild strain, the possibility opened up that the Knicks would exercise caution with Anunoby, who was listed as questionable heading into Friday night's Game 3.
And if Anunoby is in street clothes, McBride is the likeliest candidate to step into a huge role, trying to make up for the absence of a player who has been arguably the best two-way player in the NBA through this playoff run.
“He’s one of the best two-way players in the league so it’s tough to replace that,” McBride said. “But you don’t replace him with one guy. Everyone is going to have to step up.”
It wasn’t long ago that McBride was the one working his way back, hopeful that his recovery from a surgical procedure to repair a sports hernia would allow him to be back in time to join the playoff run. He underwent the surgery on Feb. 6, the day after the trade deadline, and was sidelined until March 29, playing in six games in the final weeks of the regular season to acclimate to playing with what he admitted was still pain from the surgery.
"It’s no excuses,” McBride said earlier in the playoffs of playing through that pain. “I expect a lot out of myself, more than anybody else honestly. And I try not to listen to how I’m feeling day to day. Because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter; if I’m supposed to get a stop, I’ve got to get a stop. If I’m supposed to make a shot, I’ve got to make a shot. So I try not to think about it. Reality is, I’ve got to go out there and perform.”
McBride has, not missing any of the first eight playoff games with his role has shifting throughout. In the opening round against Atlanta when Mikal Bridges was struggling, McBride stepped in — playing 31 minutes in Game 2. Now, if he takes the bulk of the minutes for Anunoby, it would shift Josh Hart and Bridges around, trying to make up for the absence of the 6-7 Anunoby with a 6-2 replacement in McBride.
They certainly aren’t the same player, but there is a common thread. Both made it to the NBA on their defensive prowess and have worked to expand their games and become dangerous three-point shooters. Anunoby can defend any player on the floor from point guards to centers and some of his best work comes when he’s not the primary defender, digging in to help, knocking the ball loose from unsuspecting drivers. McBride earned the admiration of former head coach Tom Thibodeau for his 94-foot relentless pressure refined during his years at West Virginia playing for Bob Huggins.
McBride was enjoying the best season of his career, shooting 42% from three-point range before he was sidelined, first with an ankle injury and then undergoing the sports hernia surgery. In the six regular season games after his return he shot just 33% overall and 35.7% from long range. In the playoffs, he has shot just 2-for-13 from inside the arc, but has improved to 40% on three-point field goal attempts.
Earlier in the playoffs, he explained, “My teammates have done a great job just finding me. I’ve been moving without the ball probably better. That was a big focus of mine, just to figure out where I could get shots moving without the ball, aside from being on the ball. But honestly, it’s just been dealing with pain. You know, I had surgery, and there’s things you just gotta fight through. There’s no excuses from out there. I’m expected to do a job.
“That’s always been my mentality I feel like. I put a lot of preparation into my game. … I just had surgery a month and a half ago and I’m out there and they’re trusting me to do my job. My job is to come in and play defense and come in and make shots I want to be at the best ability I can do it. If I can instill more confidence in my guys for them to let it fly with no hesitancy, I want to do it.”
His teammates do have confidence and with good reason. McBride has been a part of this entire run of playoff seasons for the Knicks, a key part of the team who has been with the organization longer than any player other than Mitchell Robinson.
Asked if he would be comfortable having to fill in for Anunoby, McBride said, “Extremely comfortable. I feel like the coaching staff trusts me, I know my teammates trust me and I trust myself overall. So if that happens, I know I’ll be ready.”
“We’ll see what it is, but next man up,” Bridges said. “That’s really it.”
What McBride insisted he knows is that it won’t just be him if he’s called upon.
“I mean, the guys, just a bunch of leaders in this locker room, a bunch of guys that want this moment,” McBride said. “And we've been here before, so we just got to attack it with an open mind, with aggressiveness and trusting.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
