The Knicks announced encouraging news Tuesday about the recovery of Miles McBride, who is taking contact on the court and “progressing well,” the team said.
McBride has been out since late January and underwent sports hernia surgery, saying last month he hopes to return before the playoffs.
The sixth man has missed 24 straight games, including Tuesday’s 136-110 win over the Pacers.
“Anytime we can get healthy, yeah [I’m encouraged],” coach Mike Brown said before tipoff. “I try not to hear [the updates] though, because does that mean he’ll be back in two weeks, three weeks, a week, 10 days? I don’t know.
“Deuce was playing well for us when this happened. It’s part of the season, so keep fingers crossed, allow our medical crew who has done a fantastic job, and when he comes back we’ll all be excited.”
Before his injury — which was uncovered as the guard underwent tests on a sore ankle — McBride was the top bench scorer, averaging 12.9 points while shooting a career-best 42 percent from beyond the arc.
Armed with the knowledge McBride would miss an extended period, the Knicks successfully pushed to acquire point guard Jose Alvarado in a trade.
Alvarado, Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson have taken up the most minutes at backup guard.
Brown believes Jalen Brunson will play in the next game Friday at Brooklyn.
Brunson missed Tuesday’s win with a neck strain. It was his first DNP since mid-January, a stretch of 27 consecutive appearances. The Knicks are now 2-4 this season without him.
“I imagine [he’ll play in Brooklyn]. … There’s two days off before the next game,” Brown said. “There’s plenty of time to get himself right.”
Brunson needs just one more game to qualify for postseason awards. He’s projected to earn another All-NBA selection, his third straight.
Clarkson, who played 20 minutes Tuesday with 10 points, supplanted Mohamed Diawara (six minutes, zero points) in the rotation.
“Jordan went stretches without playing this season and kept himself ready. Offensively, he’s been good for us. So I decided to throw him out there before Mo,” Brown said. “We’ll see what happens going forward. … [Diawara] just has to keep himself ready like Jordan did.”
A slumping Mikal Bridges was left on the court in garbage time so he might regain confidence.
“He hit a couple shots down the stretch and to try to get anybody that hasn’t shot well from the 3-point line, to try to get him more looks, especially in a game like this, was a good thing,” Brown said. “To try to get him an extra look or two down the stretch is something we wanted to do.”