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Deuce McBride #2 of the New York Knicks reacts after a play against the Philadelphia 76ers during the third quarter in Game Four of the Second Round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The New York Knicks closed out their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday afternoon, dismantling their opponent 144-114 en route to a 4-0 series sweep over their Atlantic Division foe.
Not only did the Knicks win four in a row against Philadelphia, but they’ve won seven straight dating back to their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks.
The vibes have never been higher than they are now, and they’re likely to stay that way until the start of the Eastern Conference Finals, but things weren’t always sunshine and rainbows.
New York fell down 2-1 early in their series against the Hawks, and it felt like the sky was falling at Madison Square Garden.
But a much-needed conversation happened between the Knicks players and coaching staff occured in the wake of New York’s Game 3 loss in Atlanta, and Deuce McBride revealed what needed to be said to spark this elite stretch of basketball.
SNY’s Ian Begley revealed on his podcast, The Putback, that McBride recounted what went down in the locker room after the New York Knicks went down 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks, and how it’s propelled the Knicks to new heights.
“I was talking to him in the locker room after the game Sunday, and he was saying that, look, coaches came in, and they said that they felt that we took our foot off the pedal after Game 3…Sometimes you have to get punched in the mouth. And he felt that the group as a whole kind of shifted their mindset from, ‘Hey, we’re a very good team, so we’re just going to wait for teams to give us an opportunity to go win the game,’ and shifted it to, ‘Let’s go take the game,'” Begley said, quoting McBride.
Deuce McBride recounted to @IanBegley the conversation that the Knicks’ players had with the coaching staff after they lost Game 3 in Atlanta: “They felt that we took our foot off the pedal”
Since then, the Knicks have gone 7-0 with an average margin of victory of 26.4 points in
“And I think you’ve seen that different mindset play out on the floor really since then. I mean, we talked about the margin of victory, and it’s just been remarkable because it’s been both sides of the ball, and it’s been different players each night to really step up in different ways, and true team effort here.”
Clearly, the Knicks have been on a different level since that conversation between players and coaches that fateful night in Atlanta.
On that seven-game winning streak, New York has won those games by an average of 26.4 points, routinely emptying their bench late in the third or early in the fourth quarter.
The conversation was obviously one that needed to be had, and it seems like it’s something everyone on the team needed.
McBride has always been a key piece to the New York Knicks’ rotation, and he seems to be getting in a groove at the right time.
The Knicks guard struggled with his shooting early in the playoffs, but he has gotten hotter the deeper we get into postseason play.
Starting the last two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals in place of the injured OG Anunoby, McBride played a key role defensively against Philadelphia’s guards and had an offensive explosion in Game 4.
In the closeout demolition, McBride couldn’t miss from three-point range, knocking down seven of nine long-range shots, and shooting 70% from the floor.
If New York wants to make it through the Conference Finals and ultimately win an NBA championship, it’ll need McBride to stay hot even once he returns to his usual bench role.
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