Playing through pain, Miles McBride making an impact in Knicks’ playoff run
Miles McBride has made eight of his last 16 attempts from 3-point range. He’s got 26 total points over his last two games and is shooting almost 48% from deep through the first four games of the Knicks ’ first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks. Plus, he’s playing hard-nosed point-of-attack defense, whether it’s guarding C.
J. McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker or any of the Hawks’ other perimeter scoring threats. Now, here’s the kicker: McBride is doing it all in pain, nearly a month removed from his first game back following core muscle surgery to repair a sports hernia.
“I had surgery, yeah,” McBride said, when asked if he’s still experiencing lingering discomfort from the late January procedure. “It’s something — everybody is banged up at this time of the year. So just gotta go out there and perform.
” Through four first-round playoff games, McBride has posted a plus-21. 2 net rating, meaning the Knicks have outscored the Hawks by an average of more than 21 points for every 100 possessions “Deuce” is on the floor this series. Only one Knick has a higher net rating — Jose Alvarado, who hasn’t logged nearly as many minutes as McBride during this playoff stretch.
Alvarado, however, doesn’t have what McBride has described as a “stabbing feeling” all throughout his core, oblique and pelvic region: The Knicks’ backup guard and sixth man missed two months of action recovering from surgery following a Jan. 27 matchup with the Sacramento Kings. “I’ve dealt with injuries before, but this one was different,” McBride said after practice at the team’s Tarrytown training facility on Monday.