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Mikal Bridges, New York Knicks
The New York Knicks won 134-117 in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night to end their Western Conference road trip on a positive note. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns did their part. The offense clicked when it needed to. New York came away with the result they required.
Mikal Bridges finished with five points on 2-of-9 shooting and 1-of-5 from three. It was his fourth straight game in single digits. The road trip that was supposed to serve as a reset had not changed much for him offensively.
After the losses to the Lakers and Clippers, Bridges was asked the question that has been hanging over New York for weeks. What exactly is going on?
Bridges Opens Up on His Knicks Struggles
Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty ImagesMikal Bridges #25 of the New York Knicks.
Bridges was candid. He owned the moment without hiding behind anything. But pinning down a specific reason proved difficult.
“The aggression thing is not an issue at all. I don’t think that’s the issue at all,” Bridges told the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy after the Clippers loss. “Even if I miss a couple, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Confidence was not the problem, at least not by his account. Pressed further on what was actually behind the dip, Bridges did not have a clean answer.
“I think it’s just the game of basketball,” he said. “Sometimes you try to get open and sometimes it doesn’t find me. Just try to find ways to stay aggressive. That’s it.”
Those words came before Wednesday’s trip to Utah. Then he went out and scored five points on 2-of-9 shooting against the Jazz. The answer he gave has not changed. Neither have the results.
Since the All-Star break, Bridges has averaged just 11.4 points on 34.1 percent from three. Before the break, he was putting up 15.9 points on nearly 39 percent from deep. Points, minutes, efficiency. All of it has dropped.
The recent stretch makes it harder to look away. He scored 25 against San Antonio on March 1, then followed it with 11, 15, 9, zero, seven, and five over the next six games. He went scoreless against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, was benched in crunch time of Monday’s defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers, and managed just five points against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. His scoring total across those last three games combined was 16 points.
Why the Bridges Question Matters for the Knicks
GettyMike Brown, New York Knicks.
The Knicks gave up five first-round picks to bring Bridges to New York. He logs the second-most minutes on the roster. When he goes cold, the offense feels it.
What makes this complicated is that Bridges is not hurting the team in every area. New York has posted a team-best defensive rating of 105.2 with him on the court since January 20, the kind of number that does not show up in a box score but matters enormously. His playoff heroics last season, stepping up in critical moments against the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics, are not easily forgotten either. He has proven he can deliver when it counts.
But with the postseason approaching, the Knicks need more than defensive reliability from a player of his calibre. They need the version of Bridges that keeps defences honest, that threatens to score 20 on any given night, that does not disappear for stretches when the team needs him most.
“I’m just trying to do whatever it takes to win,” Bridges said. “Trying to find opportunities, try to do all the right things and be aggressive. Sometimes the ball doesn’t come my way. Just try to do other things.”
Final Word for New York
The Knicks won Wednesday. They are still a legitimate contender and the talent around Bridges remains formidable. One player’s slump does not define a championship run.
But history shows that come playoff time, the best teams need contributions from everyone. OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Brunson, Towns. All of them need to be firing.
Bridges has done it before when the stakes were highest. The Knicks need to believe he will do it again.
That belief is still there. The results need to follow.
Keith Watkins Keith Watkins is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers. He previously wrote for FanSided, NBA Analysis Network, and Last Word On Sports. Keith is based in Bangkok, Thailand. More about Keith Watkins
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