season-opening 119-111 win over the Cavaliers<\/a> on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. McBride in particular was a significant difference-maker, scoring 15 points and going 4-for-6 from 3-point range.\u00a0<\/p>\nAnd those 3s came at critical moments. After a 16-2 Cavaliers run in the second quarter brought them within one point, McBride drilled a 3-pointer to wrangle momentum right back, sparking a 19-3 run for the Knicks. <\/p>\n
Later, not long after the Cavaliers had taken the lead to start the fourth quarter, McBride made another 3 that gave the Knicks a six-point lead, part of their 14-0 run that put them in the driver\u2019s seat the rest of the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust staying patient, trusting in my shot, my teammates,\u201d McBride said of his big moments. \u201cHonestly, in the flow of the game you kind of get lost and you find yourself open and you want to knock it down.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He seems to keep getting better and better each year, and coach Mike Brown\u2019s new system could help him grow exponentially. Brown places an emphasis on pace, and McBride is the Knicks\u2019 fastest player who most prefers to play with speed. <\/p>\n
Miles McBride chases a loose ball in the second half at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wednesday, October 22, 2025. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
In Wednesday\u2019s win, he had an average speed of 4.84 miles per hour, according to the NBA\u2019s tracking stats, the highest on the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A former second-round pick, there is no questioning McBride\u2019s importance to the rotation. <\/p>\n
He was part of the Knicks\u2019 crunch-time lineup Wednesday, on the floor with Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns for much of the fourth quarter. That lineup played seven minutes together on Wednesday \u2014 second most to the starting lineup (Ariel Hukporti in place of McBride) \u2014 and was stellar, with a 35.3 net rating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For his own part, McBride was a team-best plus-17.<\/p>\n
Miles McBride reacts on the court in the second half at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wednesday, October 22, 2025. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the best thing about him is, when he wasn\u2019t playing that much [earlier in his career], he was still in the gym every day,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cHe was doing everything he had to do. Once the trade [sending R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Raptors in 2023] happened, he got an extension and he started playing, he fit right in because he was ready. He was working, he was working, he was working and he was ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a testament to him and what he\u2019s been about since I\u2019ve seen him. He\u2019s a hard worker and he\u2019s always gonna be ready when his number is called. If it\u2019s an off night, he comes back better the next night. That\u2019s just who he is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
McBride will also be key to another part of Brown\u2019s vision. <\/p>\n
The new Knicks coach will at times want to go small and have four or five capable 3-point shooters around the perimeter to spread opposing defenses out. Tom Thibodeau was largely hesitant to do that, almost always having non-shooters in Josh Hart or Mitchell Robinson on the floor. <\/p>\n
Miles McBride is seen on the court against the Charlotte Hornets in the first half at Madison Square Garden in New York, Friday, October 17, 2025. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s previous teams almost always ranked near the top of the league in 3-point attempts, and that\u2019s where he wants the Knicks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Knicks took 40 of them Wednesday. Last year, they averaged 34.1 per game, fourth least in the NBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we can generate even more,\u201d Brown said, \u201cbecause we have that many players, in my opinion, that are capable of shooting the ball.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shamet and Kolek contributed six of those 3-point attempts, making three.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s use of an 11-man rotation was perhaps the most dramatic change from the Thibodeau era. <\/p>\n
With Malcolm Brogdon\u2019s sudden retirement<\/a>, Kolek is the only true point guard on the roster to serve as Brunson\u2019s backup. Shamet provides valuable 3-and-D ability.\u00a0<\/p>\nAnd the bench should only get better once Hart is healthy. Newcomers Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson were quiet Wednesday and should have plenty more to offer. The Knicks\u2019 bench outscored the Cavaliers\u2019 35-30.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Depth was almost nonexistent under Thibodeau. Now, it is a legitimate advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we have a lot of talent, so I like our bench that comes in better than a lot of other benches,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cSo come in, put pressure, make [their] guys guard them. Everybody comes in fresh, different looks defensively, different looks offensively. It\u2019s great. Like I said, everybody, even guys that didn\u2019t get in the game, you know can come in right away and affect the game at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So much was made about the new additions to the Knicks bench. But it was the returnees who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7046,4779,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-14544","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-landry-shamet","9":"tag-miles-mcbride","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}