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Miles McBride is set to make his return to the Knicks lineup.
He has been marked as questionable for the upcoming matchup against the Thunder scheduled for Sunday in Oklahoma City.
This marks a significant development as McBride has been sidelined since undergoing surgery for a sports hernia. His last appearance on the court was on January 27.
McBride participated in practice on Saturday after the team returned home briefly, taking advantage of a two-day break between road games.
This practice was the first comprehensive session for the Knicks since March 19, providing a crucial opportunity to evaluate McBride’s recovery progress.
That he was able to participate is a strong sign of his readiness.
McBride was enjoying a career year before being sidelined — he is averaging 12.9 points per game on 43.4 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent shooting from 3-point range.
He also plays a critical role as one of the Knicks’ best point-of-attack defenders.
Landry Shamet (right knee contusion) did not practice on Saturday, though, and will miss his fourth straight game on Sunday.
After the Knicks’ previous matchup against the defending champion Thunder this year, a 103-100 loss on March 4, coach Mike Brown railed on the referees – particularly with how they officiated reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Brown said that Gilgeous-Alexander “does a great job of convincing the referees, probably better than anyone in the league, that he’s getting hit.”
Knowing that, how does Brown want his team to approach the rematch?
“You gotta give Shai a lot of credit, because he’s crafty,” Brown said after practice on Saturday. “He’s the one that has figured out how to make sure he’s in a position to take advantage of the situation or the system. We have to do a better job of not helping him or enhancing what he does really well.”
Josh Hart echoed a similar sentiment.
“There’s so much dialogue about it,” Hart said on Saturday. “You gotta adjust to every ref [calling] things differently every game, every player, no two players are the same. You gotta be able to adjust to what the referees are calling, to your opponent.”
With eight games remaining, Brown needs three wins to tie and four to break Pat Riley’s record for most wins by a Knicks coach in his first season. Riley won 51 games in the 1991-92 season.
Brown has bigger goals in mind, though.
“There’s one thing that’s gonna mean a lot to me,” Brown said, “and you know what that is.”