Mikal Bridges bounced back from a rough road trip by scoring 31 points in a home win over New Orleans on Sunday night.
“The way he was playing, he was confident and it was flowing,” Jalen Brunson said of Bridges. “I love to see it.”
In the four games prior to Sunday, Bridges was shooting just 33 percent from the floor (60 FGAs). He’d missed 21-of-29 threes. On Friday, Bridges was on the bench in the closing minutes New York’s one-point win in Charlotte.
When they sent five first-round picks to Brooklyn to acquire Bridges six months ago, the Knicks certainly didn’t envision the 28-year-old on the bench in the closing minutes of a tight game.
But that’s where Bridges found himself on Friday.
In some ways, it was the culmination of five weeks of uneven play from Bridges.
He wasn’t playing to his standard on defense as @_AnalyKnicks shows in this detailed analysis. He was struggling to hit non-baseline threes.
The uneven play led to outside criticism of both Bridges and the Knicks. But the support for Bridges in the locker room never wavered.
Josh Hart said several times that he wasn’t worried about Bridges. Jalen Brunson echoed those thoughts.
Bridges says he wasn’t pressing. Why?
“Just because the shots I was taking, liking them. And then a new team. (That’s) pretty much it,” he said Sunday. “Never played with an offensive talent like KAT as a big. Never dealt with a popping big a lot. Just something we had to adjust to and it’s just going to take time.”
The Knicks found Bridges early on Sunday – and he delivered. The former Net hit five of his seven shots in the first quarter as New York built on a 33-10 lead on a depleted Pelicans team. He finished the night with seven made threes and 12 makes on 19 shot attempts.
“That’s our guy. We trust him. We trust him to shoot the shots. Mid-ranges, turnarounds. We want him to be aggressive. That’s the Mikal we know,” Hart said after the game. “And in the season, there’s going to be peaks and valleys, ups and downs; that’s why you don’t panic. Think about averages. Everything averages out. So you have a bad 10-game spell or a 15-game spell, you’re going to have a really good 15-game spell. So you never worry about it in the season.”
Hart offered unprompted defenses of Bridges several times in recent weeks. He called criticism of Bridges’ shooting form ‘stupid’ and chided Bridges critiques for wanting him to be ‘perfect.’
Bridges seems to appreciate the support.
“Josh is my guy. I think he knows me,” Bridges said Sunday. “My whole life is surrounded by baskebtall. Everything I do – at home, on off days – just (is) to be ready for our games. So I’m not really tripping.”
FOR THE CUP
The Knicks face the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night in a big NBA Cup showdown.
If the Knicks beat the Magic, they advance to the NBA Cup quarterfinals.
Brunson said late Sunday that he likes the new midseason tournament because it gives end-of-the-roster players the chance to win significant money. Players on the winning team make $500,000.
“You have guys on the team who may be on one year contracts or two ways or whatever. And you get to go out there and try to win for them and it means a lot,” Brunson said. “So I’m not going in thinking ‘How is this going to benefit me? I’m thinking how is this going to benefit the team.’”
