After undergoing sports hernia surgery in February, Miles McBride's status for the playoffs was up in the air. Luckily, he was able to return at the tail end of the regular season, but except for their regular-season finale against the Hornets, he hadn't really looked like his usual self. The start of the playoffs was no different, as he had six points in their Game 1 win, and none in Game 2 when they lost by one.
It took for the series to head back to Atlanta for Deuce to start to catch fire, as he had 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three with one rebound, one assist, and two steals in 31 minutes in Game 3 (the first time he has hit the 30-minute mark since returning from surgery).
Questions swirled about whether Mike Brown would replace Mikal Bridges, who had zero points in Game 3, with McBride in the starting lineup ahead of Game 4, but the head coach opted not to do that. He made his thoughts clear in other ways, though.
Bridges had a better night, shooting 3-of-4 from the field for 8 points, but he played only 19 minutes. Jordan Clarkson replaced him with 7:34 left to play in the third quarter, and the wing didn't return for the remainder of the game.
Will Miles McBride start Game 5 over Mikal Bridges?
Deuce put together another solid scoring performance on Saturday, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from deep in 23 minutes. He led the bench with a +13, while Bridges was a +0, the lowest among the starting group, with Jalen Brunson's +11 being the closest.
It's worth wondering whether Brown keeping Bridges out for most of the second half could mean he's leaning toward starting McBride in his place with the series going back to New York.
The Knicks' starting lineup through the first three games of the series had a -7.4 net rating across 54 minutes. Things didn't magically start clicking in Game 4.
New York paid a high price for Bridges, so having him come off the bench in the playoffs wouldn't be a good look, but the Knicks are also trying to win a championship. Inserting McBride in his place would boost the starting lineup, giving Brunson and KAT more space to operate, and it could help Mikal, too. Giving him a chance to lead the second unit could be exactly what he needs to start to keep a rhythm offensively.
It's a switch Brown should be willing to make, so let's see if he actually will in Game 5.
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