Miles McBride is trying to steady his game in the final stretch of the regular season, three appearances into a return that has already included a setback, a rest day and a promising shooting night. After missing 28 games following surgery to repair a sports hernia, McBride said the recovery has been uncomfortable enough that every step back on the floor has required patience.
“Everything, honestly,” McBride said when asked what has been affected. “It’s a tough thing to be out so long, having a surgery in the middle of the season.”
Before the operation, McBride had become one of the Knicks’ most important bench pieces. He was averaging 12.9 points per game, shooting 42.0 percent from 3-point range and posting the Knicks’ best net rating at 10.3 points. He was also one of their best point-of-attack defenders, the kind of player whose value shows up both in the box score and in the way an opponent’s first action gets disrupted.
Read Also: Celtics Injury Report: Tatum to Play Knicks With Playoff Seed on the Line
His first two games back, though, were losses to the Thunder and Rockets, and the numbers were rough. McBride went 1-for-12 from the field and 1-for-8 from deep combined in those games. Against Oklahoma City, he played 11 minutes before aggravating the injury while diving for a loose ball, then grabbed at his groin area, limped into the locker room and did not return. He came back one game later against Houston.
The way McBride described the rehab made clear this was not a clean return from a minor knock. “It’s really just a part of the recovery process,” he said. “It’s just kind of like a tweak, and it’s a painful tweak.” He added: “It’s like someone stabbing your groin, hip and ab at the same time.”
Read Also: Adama Bal gets second 10-day deal as Grizzlies ride injury exception
The Knicks have not had the luxury of easing him back forever. McBride has three games under his belt, and only four regular-season games remain before the playoffs start. That means every minute he plays is being judged against the standard he had already set before surgery.
There were signs Friday that the touch is coming back. In a rout of the Bulls, McBride went 2-for-4 on 3-pointers, a cleaner line than the first two games after his return and a reminder of why the Knicks leaned on him so heavily in the first place. Even so, the contrast is sharp: the player who had been one of the team’s steadiest two-way bench options is still working through pain that he says lingers in his groin, hip and abdominal area.
“It’s not fun. But I’ll get back right,” McBride said. That is the hope for the Knicks, too, with the postseason waiting just ahead and little time left to find out how close he can get to the form that made him so valuable before the injury.
