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Starter? Role player? It doesn’t matter.
It takes everyone to get the job done in the NBA Playoffs.
We’ve been seeing that firsthand with the 2026 Knicks, and it was again the case Saturday night as they took complete control of the Eastern Conference Finals with a wire-to-wire Game 3 win in Cleveland.
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Landry Shamet was huge for New York, playing 28 minutes off the bench, including big ones down the stretch.
Those closing minutes were where Shamet shined the most, as he knocked down three of his four threes on the night to put any hope of a late Cavs comeback to rest.
He also stepped up big time on the other end of the floor, guarding All-Star Donovan Mitchell.
“It’s just that next play mentality,” Shamet said. “The ball goes in, I’m already thinking about guarding an All-Star on the other end and my assignment or what we’re doing there defensively — that’s the beauty of our team.
“We have five guys on the court who are constantly bought into that mentality — the ball found me a few times and it went in, and we just moved on and made plays defensively and were able to close the game out.”
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Shamet finished with all but nine of the team’s 22 bench points on the night.
He did so on 4 of 5 shooting from three, bringing him to an efficient 7-for-8 during the Eastern Conference Finals, with six of those makes coming during the fourth quarter or overtime.
“He’s been big-time,” Jalen Brunson said. “A true professional.”
“Just a heckuva player and we’re going to need him down the stretch here, so we want to make sure that he has all of the opportunities that he can,” Josh Hart added.
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/landry-shamet-huge-off-bench-035504827.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-24 03:55:00
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