Miles McBride and Landry Shamet share so much in common.
They are two of the Knicks’ three most important bench players, with Mitchell Robinson being the other. They are two of the Knicks’ best 3-point shooters and point-of-attack defenders.
Both, though it’s not their natural position, can handle point-guard duties when needed.
And each had similar struggles down the stretch of the regular season.
They endured shooting slumps from 3-point range.
Shamet, from the start of March to the end of the season, shot just 30.4 percent from deep in 16 games. He also missed five games due to a knee injury.
McBride, after missing 28 games for sports hernia surgery, shot 35.7 percent from deep in the six games he played after returning. He was 6-for-21 before going 4-for-7 in the regular-season finale. That was well below their season-long marks — McBride finished at 41.3 percent and Shamet at 39.2 percent.
“It’s just a matter of them getting into the flow,” coach Mike Brown said after practice Friday. “Their last games, they shot better than what they had been doing, so we want them to let it fly because we whole-heartedly believe in them as shooters, just like they believe in themselves.”
Both have the potential to provide the Knicks an edge over the Hawks in bench production. But if their struggles bleed into the postseason, it could certainly be to the Hawks’ advantage.
McBride in particular is out for a bit of redemption.
He struggled in the conference finals last year, as the Knicks were eliminated by the Pacers in six games — he went just 5-for-16 (31.3 percent) from 3-point range in the series.
Shamet, after barely being used in the first two rounds, actually had a strong conference finals, shooting 7-for-13 (53.8 percent) from deep in the series.
“This is my fourth year [in the playoffs],” McBride said Friday, “but this feels like it’s time to get it done and finish it out the right way.
“I’d say any year you don’t win a championship, you should have an ambitious summer to finish off one of these seasons right with a championship. For me, it’s any year we didn’t win it, I’m thinking, I’m pulling from my second year, my third year — I want to win a championship. Not just selfishly, but for this city, for the guys I fight with, the staff that’s helped us all year and the people behind the scenes.”
McBride and Shamet have been so important to the Knicks’ success this year. They need those versions to reemerge.
