DETROIT — The Knicks’ depth was an issue all season, and it’s expectedly become a disadvantage in their first-round series against the Pistons.
Their main bench piece has been right in the middle of the struggles.
Miles McBride hasn’t been able to get going the entire series, which the Knicks lead 3-2 heading back to Detroit after their 106-103 loss Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
He had just four points in 22 minutes off the bench on 2-for-7 shooting from the field, missing all three of his 3-point attempts.
And with the Knicks trailing by three with 2.6 seconds left, he missed two free throws — the second on purpose.
“Just gotta keep playing,” coach Tom Thibodeau said of McBride. “Next play, just keep getting ready, each game is different. How you reset is important. One game really has nothing to do with the next so just put the proper amount of time into preparation to get yourselves ready to play.”
For the series, McBride is averaging 4 points per game on brutal 26.9 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent shooting from deep.
In Tuesday’s loss, he played most of the final three minutes with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart momentarily on the bench with injuries and Thibodeau unwilling to call a timeout to get them back in the game, despite them being ready to check in at the scorer’s table.
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McBride and Cam Payne replaced them with disastrous results, turning a two-point deficit to a six-point deficit before Brunson and Hart returned.
For his own part, Payne has done little since his clutch Game 1 performance.
In the four games since, he recorded just six points and two assists in 32 minutes while shooting 33.3 percent from the field and missing his lone 3-pointer. He committed seven fouls as well.
It’s resulted in a large disparity in bench scoring.
For the series, the Pistons have 153 points from their bench, while the Knicks have 63 — second least among playoff teams, behind the Lakers heading into their Game 5 on Wednesday night.
A lack of depth was expected after the Knicks made blockbuster trades to acquire Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges and gave a franchise record contract to OG Anunoby, leaving them little room in their payroll budget.
They finished the regular season with a league-low 1,783 bench points as a result.
But McBride was one of the few reserves the Knicks could count on, averaging 9.5 points on 36.9 percent shooting from 3-point range. So far this postseason, that hasn’t been the case.
“We’re gonna go look at film,” McBride said. “Make corrections and get the job done.”
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