SAN FRANCISCO — Miles McBride was the last person to notice the obvious.
Finally, with nine and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Monday’s game in San Francisco, the third-year guard jogged to the bench with enough pep that a fresh viewer could never have guessed that he’d been on his feet since tipoff. He re-entered a minute and 29 seconds later — and the reason for such a short stint was clear.
Stephen Curry, a tsunami personified, was about to check back in. McBride had defended him the entire night; he hounded him for most of it. Thibodeau was not about to let anyone else man the greatest shooter ever to touch a basketball.
So back in went McBride, only 89 seconds after he trotted to his seat.
“I didn’t notice (Thibodeau was matching my minutes with Curry’s) until I looked around the court and I was like, ‘Ahh, OK, OK. Yeah, that makes sense,’” McBride said. “But just having that confidence from coach is great, just knowing that he trusts me to guard the greatest shooter in the world. And I felt like I did a great job tonight.”
This was the game of McBride’s professional life.
He went for a career-best 29 points with a career-best six 3-pointers. He dropped in nine of his 13 shots and missed only three triples. He finished with 46:31 of playing time.
The Knicks won 119-112, downing the Golden State Warriors in their home. And it wasn’t just because of McBride. Jalen Brunson went for 34 points, seven assists and scampered around screens as if he was impersonating the Splash Brothers. Josh Hart somehow outdid McBride, running for all 48 minutes and logging his fifth triple-double of the past month and a half. Isaiah Hartenstein has returned to form, moving as well as he did in January, before Achilles tendinopathy sliced at his effectiveness.
Yet, this was McBride’s night — and not just because of the scoring outburst.
He got into Curry’s chest. He picked him up nowhere near the basket. He followed him around screens, up, down, left, right. McBride would have stalked him into the concourse if Curry bought a hot dog at halftime.
Curry finished the game with 27 points on 8-of-20 shooting and 4-of-13 3-point shooting.
When the scariest 3-point threat in history clanks, it’s more about the shooter than the defender. But whether Curry was missing or swishing, McBride was right there, staring in his grill for much of it.
BANG 🚨@deucemcb11 pic.twitter.com/uzKl2YAYow
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 19, 2024
“It’s really impressive,” Hartenstein said. “Just kind of seeing — because I’ve been here for two years — the development, seeing guys like that, maybe at the beginning of the season not in the rotation, not playing that much. It’s impressive. A lot of fans don’t get how hard it is to stay ready in those situations.”
McBride may be a staple in the rotation, but he didn’t know he would start until the day of the game.
The Knicks ruled OG Anunoby out that morning. Placing McBride into the first unit, instead of the usual Precious Achiuwa, represented a change, one that was about offense more than defense.
When these two teams played less than a month ago at Madison Square Garden, the Warriors loaded up on Brunson, an easier task when the starters include three non-shooters in Hartenstein, Achiuwa and Hart. Golden State burst out to a 14-0 lead that night and never looked back. Thibodeau believed that this time, his group required more spacing.
“We didn’t want to fall in that hole again, especially on the road,” he said.
So he inserted McBride, a 40 percent 3-point shooter, into the first unit, which also gave him a pesky guard to chase around Curry. And McBride took care of the rest.
“He was huge for us, obviously,” Hart said. “Everyone’s gonna see the box score and see he shot the ball very well and was very efficient, but he did that while guarding Steph, pressuring him, running around with him all game. So he was huge for us and something that we need.”
McBride didn’t limit his defensive prowess to just Curry. He guarded Chris Paul for the portions of the game that Curry rested. More responsibilities built from there.
On one impressive second-quarter play, he blocked off a passing lane to Paul, forcing Golden State to look elsewhere for late-possession offense. The ball ended up with Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski, who made it to the free-throw line until McBride stunted off his man and swatted at the basketball, throwing Podziemski off course.
Podziemski kicked it to Klay Thompson, who was open — until he wasn’t, because McBride flew his way, closing out so hard that the Splash Bro’s shot fell far short.
“Honestly, it just feels good we got the win,” McBride said. “Because obviously doing all that with a loss would have been way worse.”
Minutes later, on what should have been the final possession of the second quarter and with Curry back in the game, the future Hall of Famer lined up McBride in a pick-and-roll. McBride got hung up on the screen for a moment, but he fought through it.
If there is one lesson the 23-year-old has heard in his lifetime, it’s never to let a pick get in his way.
“My high school coach said, ‘Don’t get screened.’ Coach (Bob) Huggins said, ‘Don’t get screened.’ And Thibs says, ‘Don’t get screened,’” McBride said. “And obviously my father just being a defensive-minded person, just always talking about getting through screens, being physical, making the refs really make that call.”
He hurried back to Curry, realigned himself in front of him, swatted the basketball away, and the Knicks, instead of the Warriors, got the final shot of the first half.
“He chased him all night,” Thibodeau said. “Never stops moving. He’s in phenomenal shape. I thought Deuce did a phenomenal job.”
McBride has refused to give back any cookie the Knicks have handed him this season.
He entered the rotation after the trade for Anunoby in December and immediately began to nail more than 40 percent of his 3s. New York doubted his production, especially as a lead guard, could hold up in the playoffs, so it traded for Alec Burks last month, but once again, McBride is winning that battle. He’s outplayed Burks since the trade, enough so that if the roster returns to full strength, he would be in the rotation over his fresh teammate.
Now, it’s a wonder if Thibodeau sticks with this starting lineup.
Jalen Brunson, shown being guarded by Andrew Wiggins, scored 34 points in the Knicks victory. (John Hefti / USA Today)
There was a time when the coach would not play McBride and Brunson together. When the team was short-handed earlier this season, he had no choice but to play it. It turned out, he appreciated what he saw.
Now, McBride is in the first unit, and considering how he performed Monday, there’s a real chance he’s in it again Thursday, when the Knicks take on the defending champion Denver Nuggets, one of the league’s most-imposing teams with another tough point guard, Jamal Murray.
Once again, McBride has a difficult task ahead. But then again, that’s what he prefers.
“Honestly, when I came into the league, that’s what I figured I’d be doing,” McBride said. “Whatever team I would’ve been on, obviously unless the Warriors, I thought I was always gonna be guarding Steph, guarding the best players in this league. So that’s what I take pride on.”
(Top photo of Miles McBride guarding Stephen Curry: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
