With OG Anunoby expected to return from his right hamstring strain for the Eastern Conference finals, Landry Shamet will likely once again be the odd man out in the Knicks‘ rotation, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post.
Shamet played sparingly during the first eight games of the postseason, averaging just 9.3 minutes per night, but after Anunoby went down, he logged 37 total minutes in Games 3 and 4 vs. Philadelphia.
While he may still be behind fellow reserves Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson, and Jose Alvarado on Mike Brown‘s depth chart, Shamet impressed when given an opportunity during those two victories in Philadelphia, scoring 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting and giving the Knicks’ head coach something to think about going forward.
“Landry hadn’t played a drop all playoffs,” Brown said. “I think the first game (of the first round), he was in the rotation and then the second game a little bit, then he was out. That’s six, seven games that he hadn’t seen significant minutes on the court. … He was huge on both ends of the floor.”
We have more on the Knicks:
- For a second straight year since swapping Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, the Knicks and Timberwolves are both making deep playoff runs. However, Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News (subscription required) argues that New York deserve to be crowned the winners of that blockbuster trade, given the way that Towns and the Knicks have dominated during this postseason. Towns has averaged a relatively modest 17.4 points per game during the playoffs, but he’s filling up the stat sheet with 10.0 RPG, 6.6 APG, 1.5 BPG, 1.1 SPG, and an incredible shooting line of .587/.483/.897. The Knicks had a +24.8 net rating when he was on the floor in the first two rounds.
- New York ranked fourth during the regular season with a 37.3% mark on three-pointers and has converted a league-high 40.8% during the postseason. In a subscriber-only story for The New York Post, Stefan Bondy profiles shooting coach Peter Patton, the club’s secret weapon who has helped multiple Knicks players post career-best numbers from beyond the arc. “I feel like when you have somebody telling you what you need out of your shot and you trust him, it’s big time. I feel like for all of the guys he’s been huge,” said McBride, who hit a career-best 41.3% of his three-pointers in 2025/26. “… I just love the fact that he’s watching, he’s locked in, he’s helping the whole team. … It’s just small technique things. Like if you’re dropping your hand down or you’re turning a little bit. Just anything you’re doing off with your shot, he points out and it helps.”
- Do the Knicks match up better against Detroit or Cleveland? James L. Edwards III of The Athletic considers which Central Division team New York should want to play, ultimately concluding that Detroit has played the Knicks tougher even though the Cavs look like the more difficult matchup on paper. Still, the Knicks should be favored over either team, Edwards notes.
- Although he doesn’t necessarily believe Tom Thibodeau deserved to be fired, Ian O’Connor of The Athletic argues, based on what he has seen from the team this spring, that the Knicks did the right thing by replacing Thibodeau with Brown.