Knicks · Bullish on Deuce (page 53)
Posting and Toasting wrote:Deuce McBride became the fourth Knick in franchise history to knock down seven threes in a playoff game, joining Derek Harper (Game 4, 1995 1st Round), John Starks (Game 3, 1995 2nd Round), and Donte DiVincenzo, who did it twice in the 2024 2nd Round, including an NBA Game 7 record nine threes.He did so in 29 minutes, by far the least of any player there. Only he and Jalen Brunson (who hit six in 28 minutes) have hit at least six threes in under 30 minutes of a playoff game.
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Miles McBride’s ‘Golden Child’ tattoo turns sibling rivalry into Knicks fuel
Fred Katz
Miles McBride wears his edge not on his sleeve but under it.
Down his left shin, covered up during games by compression leggings, is a tattoo. It reads, “Golden Child.”
McBride will tell anyone who asks about it that his family has taken to calling him by that nickname. His grandmother called him ‘golden child.’ His parents wade in. His sister, too. And yet, there is one person who doesn’t find the marking so wholesome: His older brother, Trey, a professional baller in Australia who has been Miles’ best friend since birth.
When they were little, Miles would follow Trey around. A two-year age difference did not stop Trey from inviting Miles to pickup games, to hangouts with his friends. They would play ferocious one-on-one matches on a court their father built in the backyard. The first time Miles ever dunked on anyone was while driving to the basket during one of those games. Trey says he’s never felt such simultaneous anger and pride before.
But he can’t support baby bro on everything, certainly not on trash talk forever inked into Miles’ skin. This is no tattoo, Trey insists. It is, “a permanent middle finger.”
Years ago, Trey nicknamed Miles ‘The Golden Child” ironically. Trey was the troublemaker. Miles was the opposite, the reserved, sweet-hearted soul who wore no less than a smile with each step — that is, to everyone but his brother.
“I would do something. I’d get in trouble for it. … Miles does something — he could do the exact same thing, and no one bats an eye,” Trey said. “And I was just like, ‘Yo. He’s doing the same thing! I’m calling it out.’ And he would just look at me and kind of chuckle, because he knew he got away with it.”
So Trey began to call his brother ‘The Golden Child,’ a dig, not a compliment — until the rest of the family adopted the nickname, too, but without the accompanying eye roll.
Then came the tattoo, 11 dark, bold capital letters down Miles’ left shin:
GOLDEN CHILD.
“I swear to you,” Trey said. “He got this as a middle finger to me.”
Behind Miles’ smile is an edge that Trey believes only he can see. But every once in a while, especially on a basketball court, it shows in more perceivable ways.
It shows when the few who know the backstory get a glimpse at McBride’s leg. And it shows any time the New York Knicks guard touches the basketball. McBride could miss 12 consecutive jump shots, and yet, that 13th one will go up with as much oomph as his first. Now, he is one of many on a team readying for its second consecutive conference finals who has forgotten what it’s like to miss a jumper.
McBride was the Knicks’ leading scorer Sunday, when they eliminated the Philadelphia 76ers from the playoffs, polishing off a sweep with a 30-point obliteration that wasn’t as close as the score suggested. He went for 25 points, sinking six of his seven 3-point attempts in the first half and seven of his nine in the game. Each time the rock came to him, he rose for the jumper. He did not stop.
It’s a confidence McBride says he developed leading into his third NBA season, entering 2023-24 having never received consistent playing time as a pro.
“I just felt like my back was against the wall,” McBride said in a conversation at his locker following Sunday’s 25-point eruption. “The only way I could get out of it was to fight and just trust myself.”
The Knicks, in turn, trusted in the numbers.
Though McBride had sunk only 28 percent of his 3-point attempts to that point in his career, New York logged his progress behind the scenes. The Knicks track how each of their players shoots during practices throughout the season. And while McBride was not hitting his 3s in games, he had been one of the most accurate marksmen in drills.
Then-head coach Tom Thibodeau encouraged McBride to keep letting jumpers fly. McBride took the approach to the extreme. Jalen Brunson still remembers when a younger McBride chucked up a hasty 3-pointer and missed it. His coach told him to move the ball the next time he was in that situation. The following possession, McBride released the same shot.
This time, it went in.
“That’s the confidence level he has in himself and what we have in him,” Brunson said.
The McBride who showed up to Game 4, the one who slotted into the starting lineup with OG Anunoby missing his second consecutive game because of a hamstring injury, is not new. Because McBride doesn’t stop shooting, when he gets hot, swishes follow swishes, which follow more swishes.
He had a 22-game streak at one point this season when he drained 45 percent of his 3s on 7.5 attempts a night. Then came the injury, a hernia that required surgery. Even after his return in March, McBride admitted to playing through pain whenever he stretched his body or received shots to the midsection. His jumper was off-kilter.
But he kept shooting, which drew defenders out to him frantically, opening up the middle of the court for the Knicks’ top facilitators.
“His ability to stretch the floor and create space for others is second to none,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said. “He’s got a confidence about him and in himself that just makes us (reach) another level.”
The Knicks need that level to continue into the Eastern Conference finals, whether they face the Detroit Pistons or the Cleveland Cavaliers, whether Anunoby plays or not. They have won seven consecutive games by a combined 185 points, a playoff record. They hit 11 of their first 12 3-pointers to begin Game 4. McBride drained four of those — and he made them all in just 82 seconds.
No matter the circumstance, McBride continues to shoot because he has more of an edge than his mostly innocent persona suggests. It fuels him to seek out his stepback nearly any time he catches a pass beyond the arc; to keep shooting, even after his boss tells him to move the ball. It leads him to gaslight his brother into believing that this notoriously nice guy must have a secret agenda to troll the person who is supposed to be his biggest supporter.
Miles has never told Trey that he got the tattoo just to annoy him. Divulging his true motivations would defeat the purpose. This was art — not just in the physical sense but also the psychological one, a way for one man to convince another that he was living in an alternate universe, where no one could understand his perspective.
“He would never admit he was doing it to piss me off,” Trey said. “He would say he’s doing it because my grandma calls me this or my brother gave me that nickname. Like, ‘It just feels right.’ Some Miles bull—- answer.”
The Knicks were cheerful after their seventh consecutive win Sunday. McBride warned that making the Eastern Conference finals was not the end goal, but the mood was what one might expect from a team on the rise. So, after McBride’s outburst against the 76ers, it was time to settle this sibling feud once and for all.
Was Miles willing to admit on the record that he had gotten his golden child tattoo purely to mess with Trey?
McBride chuckled and turned his head to the right. With a wide grin, he conceded. Finally.
“Yeah,” he confessed. Of course it was true. For a moment, he seemed proud of his deviousness. Then he veered into the route that Trey predicted, straight to aw-shucks mode. “But a lot of other people have called me that so it worked out. Shoutout to my sister.”
Trey knew the truth all along.
“It’s probably a little true, to be honest with you. Like, he probably does like the nickname that I gave to him, because things have gone pretty well for him,” Trey said. “But I swear to you, there is a small piece of him that is like, ‘Yeah, Trey, take that. I’m the golden child.’”
Though McBride had sunk only 28 percent of his 3-point attempts to that point in his career, New York logged his progress behind the scenes. The Knicks track how each of their players shoots during practices throughout the season. And while McBride was not hitting his 3s in games, he had been one of the most accurate marksmen in drills.Then-head coach Tom Thibodeau encouraged McBride to keep letting jumpers fly. McBride took the approach to the extreme. Jalen Brunson still remembers when a younger McBride chucked up a hasty 3-pointer and missed it. His coach told him to move the ball the next time he was in that situation. The following possession, McBride released the same shot.
This time, it went in.
Deuce was also here with a path and played out. While Thibs is gone the process/culture continues.
It is essential we build from within. Some will stick, some won't.
It may be so written Mitch will leave, Deuce traded, and others promoted as the next gen.
Or not.
Lots of things happend we never saw coming. Outside of chips its been a fun few years!