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Miles McBride entered Game 4 shooting just 5-for-19 from three-point range across his previous five games. By halftime Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, he had completely flipped the Eastern Conference semifinals on its head.

The Knicks guard erupted for the best playoff performance of his career, scoring 25 points while drilling seven three-pointers in New York’s dominant 144-114 win over the 76ers. The victory completed a 4-0 sweep and sent the Knicks back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season.

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Starting in place of the injured OG Anunoby, McBride immediately changed the energy of the game. He buried four three-pointers in the opening minutes, helping New York overwhelm Philadelphia early while silencing the crowd inside Wells Fargo Center.

By halftime, McBride already had 20 points and six made threes as the Knicks built complete control of the game.

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The explosion felt even bigger because McBride entered the game in a shooting slump. He had struggled badly from deep throughout the previous stretch of the playoffs, yet never stopped hunting shots or playing aggressively.

That confidence is exactly what impressed head coach Mike Brown after the game.

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“He’s just tough-minded,” Brown said. “To have success in anything you do in life, you need to have a short memory, and he definitely has a short memory.”

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McBride’s impact went far beyond scoring. In his 29 minutes on the floor, the Knicks outscored Philadelphia by 33 points, the best mark on either team. Meanwhile, New York finished 25-for-44 from three-point range, setting a new franchise playoff record while tying the NBA postseason record previously held by the Cavaliers and Bucks.

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The performance also came on Mother’s Day, making the breakout even more memorable for McBride’s family. His mother, Kim McBride, was a Division I tennis player at Ohio State, and the athletic background clearly carried over into the Knicks guard’s mentality and confidence under pressure.

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Still, McBride made it clear afterward that the Knicks are not satisfied with simply reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.

“It’s what we expected to do,” McBride said through SNY. “I feel like this group is special, but we can’t take it for granted, you know? It’s something special to do. Obviously, this fanbase has been wanting this, but we have to stay locked in and know that getting into the Eastern Conference Finals isn’t the final goal.”

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OG Anunoby’s Return Could Give New York Another Massive Boost

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Papiya Chatterjee

2,827 Articles

Papiya Chatterjee is a Senior College Football Writer at EssentiallySports, working on the site’s Trends Desk. She has covered two action-packed seasons and played a central role in ES Behind the Scenes analysis, spotlighting the game’s biggest stars. During the draft, her reporting on the surprising slides of Shedeur and Shilo Sanders, particularly Shedeur’s, sparked wide fan debate. An advocate for playoff expansion, Papiya believes a 16-team bracket is the fairest way to give three-loss contenders from tough conferences a real chance. With fresh talent emerging across the college football landscape, she heads into this season ready to deliver standout coverage for fans.

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Ved Vaze

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